PELOPONNESOS – For sure it was not Koray Kirman’s dream when he signed in for the Peloponnessos World Cup in Greece. The Turkish player, a subtop player in his country, faced a so far unknown player of the last Korean World Cup in the group stages. Ngo Dinh Nai from Vietnam is one of the new talents from the Asian generation. He made again a flying start, today, after his top four place in Korea. Two runs of five and one of eleven led him to a strong performance against Kirman (30-22 in 19) .
The Turk said right after the match: ,,He is a wonderful player, Ngo, with a lot of discipline, a beautiful stroke and he flawlessly knows which speed he mus give to his cue ball.’’ Moreover, said Kirman, he is a very sporting player. When I was counted down by the referee for a foul, he remained on his chair, without making any movement, because he wanted me to go on.''
Dinh Nai Ngo, the number one of his country, outplayed in the Guri World Cup successively Eddy Merckx (40-38) , Lütfi Cenet (40-38) and Jae Ho Cho (40-19 in 15), before he was stopped in the semifinal by Koong Kang Dong, the eventual winner of the tournament.
Tonight, Ngo will play against Tae So Lim in his last match, another Korean who like Ngo won his first match in nineteen innings.
Besides the Vietnamese, two other Koreans, Hyun-Suk Kim (30-5 in 17 innings against George Thliveros), Jin Pyo Hong (30-24 in 18 against Can Capak) and Jose Maria Mas (30-12 in 18 against Apostoleos) were the stars in the Wednesday sessions so far.
Two Frenchmen Jérôme Barbeillon and Pierre Soumagne, started in their group with a draw, means for Barbeillon that he has to beat Mehmet Goren and Soumagne has to defeat Francesco Orlando.
Peter Ceulemans closed a big gap against Apostoleos after a poor start, but he finished with a win 30-27 in 33. ,,I showed a bit too much sympathy for my opponent, but only before the break’’, he said.
Michael Nilsson, since 2000 the six-fold world champion for teams with Torbjörn Blomdahl , needs a small miracle to survive. The Swede lost in his first match against Nikos Chatzipavlis , tonight he plays against Ly The Vinh.
Barry van Beers defeated the coming man Birol Uymaz from Turkey in a titanic battle. The Dutchman won 30-27 in 33 innings.