PORTO - The high peaks, like with Peter Ceulemans at the starting day (2.857), were missing on day two at Porto World Cup. The Belgian star player on the first day had a total off-day and was eliminated. Jef Philipoom led the field in the Tuesday session scoring 1.666 followed by David Zapata (1.500) and Carlos Crespo (1.463). The 'three-point players' were not so far away in average. Filippos Kasidokostas was twelfth with 3 points and 1.666 just before Dion Nelin and Ahmet Alp with 1.621 and 1.463. Danish dynamite Nelin needed a strong final sprint to finish with a draw against Spaniard Antonio Montes, Filippos Kasidokostas saved his chances against the Dutchman Barry van Beers, also with a draw.
The top of the ranking showed a striking diversity of countries. The Greeks and the Spaniards were with three in the majority before the Belgians with two, the Koreans with two, the Turks with two and the Japanese, the Portuguese, the French and the Danes with one player. Three players from the reserve list went on to the Wednesday session: Barry van Beers, Antonio Montes and Jacob Sörensen.
Peter Ceulemans' sudden relapse after his flying start in Porto was remarkable. The Belgian, who was on the podium four years ago in this World Cup, was not a shadow of the player he was on the first day. The first loss against José Maria Mas (30-19 in 21) put him almost out, against the Turk Minaoglu, Ceulemans narrowly scored a draw in 32 innings. The difference in average was miraculous: 2.857 on Monday, 0.914 on Tuesday.
Jef Philipoom had a non-score opener against Sylvia Eckel, even surprisingly saw a 5-0 on the scoreboard. Then he came on tour with a run of 13, won 30-12 and in the final round beat Savas Bulut 30-23, good for the day's victory. David Zapata followed with a solid 1.500 ahead of Carlos Crespo, Yusuke Mori and Young Hoon Lee.
Dion Nelin and Antonio Montes fought a great match, in which the Spaniard took a quick lead (21-10 in 7 after a run of ten), seemed on his way to victory (25-11), but Nelin bounced back after a breakdown of his opponent and finished just before Montes. The Spaniard equalized with one and earned the qualification as top three player in the runners-up. Filippos Kasidokostas was under pressure against the Dutchman Barry van Beers, but took the group win by a high class draw (30-30 in 16). The Greek finished with five, the Dutchman made a draw with 4.
Carlos Crespo kept the young Frenchman Gwendal Maréchal out of the next round, Kévin Perrotin did the same with Raymon Groot, who finished just outside the top three of the reserves. Manuel Sousa was the only Portuguese in the winning table.
The day ranking:
1 Jef Philipoom 4-1.666-13
2 David Zapata 4-1.500-8
3 Carlos Crespo 4-1.463-6
4 Yusuke Mori 4-1.428-6
5 Young Hoon Lee 4-1.63-6
6 Kostas Papakonstantinou 4-1.200-10
7 Sung Uk Oh 4-1.153-8
8 Apostolos Balogiannis 4-1.132-5
9 Henk Blauwblomme 4-1.111-8
10 Savas Gungor 4-1.052-9
11 Manuel Sousa 4-0.833-5
12 Filippos Kasidokostas 3-1.666-6
13 Dion Nelin 3-1.621-5
14 Ahmet Alp 3-1.463-5
15 Kévin Perrotin 3-1.250-7
16 José Maria Mas 3-1.250-6.
Runners up:
1 Barry van Beers 3-1.363-8
2 Antonio Montes 3-1.304-10
3 Jacop Sörensen 3-1.176-5.
Jef Philipoom was the best in the day table, the Belgian now will face Martin Horn and Arnim Kahofer
Antonio Montes ran out to a big lead, but missed the finish and played a draw against Dion Nelin
The most striking groups for Wednesday:
Poule A: Hyung Kon Kim, José-Maria Mas, Atsushi Kiyota
Poule B: Gökhan Salman, Kévin Perrotin, Chi Yeon Cho
Poule C: Tolgahan Kiraz, Ahmet Alp, Jean Paul de Bruijn
Poule D: Barry van Beers, Jung Ju Shin, Dion Nelin
Poule E: Filippos Kasidokostas, Dionisis Tsokontas, Murat Tüzül
Poule G: Dustin Jäschke, David Pennör, Savas Gungor
Poule J: Hugo Patino, Jacop Sörensen, Sung Uk Oh
Poule K: Kostas Kokkoris, Kostas Papakonstantinou, Ahmed Emam
Poule L: Glenn Hofman, Young Hoon Lee, Jérôme Barbeillon
Poule M: Antonio Montes, Yusuke Mori, Ji Hun Ahn
Poule N: Therese Klompenhouwer, Carlos Crespo, Hideaki Kobayashi
Poule O: Wan Young Choi, Hyung Bum Hwang, David Zapata
Poule P: Jef Philipoom, Martin Horn, Arnim Kahofer.
David Zapata returns on stage in a group with two strong Koreans
Barry van Beers as a runner up to the Wednesday rounds
Filippos Kasidokostas, a come-back and a great finish