NEW YORK - The first day at the Verhoeven Open, when the flag went down for the main event in Carom Cafe in New York. It was launched by Danish player Dion Nelin with a 25-point match in 7 innings facing American Rich Kim. Myung-Woo Cho started his mission to roll over in the first round, Roland Forthomme, Arnim Kahofer, Hugo Patiño and Ad Broeders did not need all hands on deck to pass the first laps smoothly.
Dion Nelin pumped himself up after a slow wake-up (1-0-0 with a run of 16 in the fourth and then finished the game 2-2-4. The pre-rounds are two matches on the way in all groups and continue today in the 14 groups of 7 with the next sessions, in which the selection must be more clear.
The four seeded players, Dani Sánchez, Eddy Merckx, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Semih Sayginer will join in the second round.
The group overview on Monday:
Group A:
The Austrian Arnim Kahofer leads after two sessions with the maximum score and 1.562 on average. He won against Ronald van Geyt (Netherlands) 25-16 in 17 and Tae Kyu Lee (USA) 25-17 in 15 (run 13). Hyuk Yoon (USA) is unbeaten, 0.806.
Group B:
The Korean Chang-Hoon Seo is the big contender for group win and has the maximum match points after 2 laps (1,282). Vandenver Reina (Col) won his two matches with 0.561, the Dane Claus Pedersen is the best of the pursuers with 2 match points and 0.903.
Group C:
Two players are unbeaten: Korean Jun-Tae Kim (4 points, 1,162) and American Eric Kwon (4, 0,925). Carlos Villegas (USA) played the best match so far aginst German Werner Klingberg (25-8 in 15), but lost his first match against Kim. Yuko Nishimoto, in the women's top four, won and lost one match and scored 0.785.
Group D:
Hugo Patiño should smoothly finish off the group phase. The American champion won his first matches in 15 and 19 innings. Three players are in the lead: Patiño, Markus Dömer and Brian Knudsen. Allan Jensen scored the best run (10), but lost his match to Dömer 25-13 in 20.
Group E:
Dutchman Ad Broeders made a powerful start with victories over Frenchman Michel Dauphin (25-3 in 24) and Dane Kaj Olsen (25-8 in 19). He leads the table ahead of Carom Cafe owner Michael Kang, who has two wins, 0.925.
Group F:
William Oh, the favourite for group win, started with an unexpected loss against Lukas Mortensen, who decided the match by a run of 7 (25-17 in 23). The Korean recovered against Flores (25-5 in 14) and is the main pursuer for Raymon Groot, the Dutchman who has followed his girlfriend to America. Groot leads the group ahead of Cristian Tejada (1,063 vs. 0,892).
Group G:
Dion Nelin leads after his flawless start with four match points and 1,612 (run 16) followed by Luis Fernando Carrasco, who has four match points as well. Young Austrian Nikolaus Kogelbauer seems to stand up as the main competitor for the leading twosome.
Group H:
The group in which the upcoming Korean world top player Myung-Woo Cho will certainly seize power. Volkan Cetin (Neth) went hand in hand at the start (11-10 Cetin after four innings), but then lost sight of his opponent, 25-16 in 14. Cho is unbeaten with 1.515 ahead of George Harry Peña with 1,282. Volkan Cetin is the main competitor.
Group I:
Ngoc Ahn Thi Pham, one of the few Vietnamese in the field after the cancellation of the top players, leads the group with 4 points and 1,315. The Americans John Park and Jose Rodriguez are the two chasers. Japanese Sakai, who played in the women's, gathered 2 points out of 2 and 0.816.
Group J:
Two Austrians, Gerhard Kostistansky and Alfred Nebuda, take on the fight with Miguel Torres, who is the leader with 4 points and 1,219. Torres started the series with the best match against Dong Uk Oh (25-18 in 20).
Group K:
French ex-junior world champion, Adrien Tachoire, the women's winner, Jieun Han and American Manuel Bello were unbeaten after two laps, the Frenchman with the best average (1,250), Han with 0.819. The American Raye Raskin, regularly pouring out his billiard heart on social media, is in lower part.
Group L:
Sameh Sidhom did not made an impressive start, although with 4 match points, but only 0,892 due to a very poor start against Swede Thomas Tullberg (25-12 in 33). George Karam (USA) leads the field with 4 points and 1,000, the Vietnamese Luu has 2 points and 1,065.
Group M:
Colombian Andres Lizarazo and Danish Dan Johansen are the only two players unbeaten with 1,041 and 0.943 on average. The Dane played the best match so far against Khalil Diab (USA), 25-15 in 16.
Group N:
The group looking very nice for Europe with Roland Forthomme, his girlfriend Karina Jetten, Frenchman Xavier Buttner and Dutch globetrotter Sylvia Eckel. The American Kang Lee is the main competitor (4 points, 1,315). Forthomme won his two matche, with 1,219, the American Ahmed Magraby being undefeated with 0,757. Forthomme and Jetten meet today, Tuesday. Xavier Buttner and Sylvia Eckel are at the bottom with 0,785 for the Frenchman and 0.306 for the Dutch lady.
Arnim Kahofer, smoothly on his way to the second rounds
Myung-Woo Cho in the warming-up at Carom Cafe
Carom Cafe owner Michael Kang, two wins, on top of his group