3-Cushion
NEW YORK - The owner of the Carom Cafe in New York, Michael Kang, played the master of ceremonies, the dollars were thrown on the billiard in an American lottery, good for 45.000 dollars income. From the crowded and noisey stands people offered until 3.000 dollar for a (purchased) place in the second round of the tournament. Forty players for the so-called play-offs posed in the arena and after that traditional break and finally the balls were brought to the billiard tables again. The tournament for the Verhoeven Open, after three days of qualifications, is ready for a fresh start.
The forty names for the second and last selection for the finals are known. The first pre-selection was completed with fifteen group winners, fifteen numbers two and two numbers three from the groups. Tayfun Tasdemir was the leader of the bunch with the maximum of six match points and 2.419 average. In three days of preliminary rounds, 315 matches were played. The best came out of the cue of the American champion Hugo Patino, 25 in seven innings. The last match after three days of qualifications was also the very worst: the Dane Jan Olsen defeated the Egyptian Walid Elkhwon after a marathon performance 25-24 in 82 innings.
The highest run came to the name of Tasdemir with fourteen. The most remarkable results were those of Patino against Wienke, Kang against Campbell and Choi against Bartzos, which all ended in 25-1.
The strongest group was that in which Keonhwi Cho was the winner with 1.437 average and Haeng Jik Kim second with 1.296. The young Korean was saved by the bell in the last round, because Chris Bartzos lost, what meant that Haeng Jik Kim took the second spot. ,,I've been lucky'', realized won the four times junior world champion, who started with two losses and then won four times in a row.
The least powerful group was headed by Hugo Patino. The American played with 1.240 as the only player over one average, Song Lim was second with 0,652. The overall average in that group was 0.581.
The Swede Nalle Olsson gave the final rounds an unexpected turn. His chances to advance were minimal when he faced the undefeated Korean Jae Ho Cho in his last match. ,,I could only continue when I won'', knew the 49-year, cold-blooded Swede, who had a very poor start (11-4 down), but then put up a great final sprint (8, 6 and 4). That brought him up to two points from the end, one inning later he won 25-19 in 15.
The final laps on Wednesday raided the tension imost of all in the battle for the second places and the two best numbers three. Four second finishers, Poul Bjerring, Haeng Jik Kim, Lars Dunch and Jong Myeong Hong went along to the main draw with two losses. The Vietnamese Quoc Nguyen Nguyen, who lost his last match against William Oh, reached the main draw as best third player together with the Turk Gökhan Salman.
The Danes, with a record number of seventeen players in New York, advanced with six men to the main, four players from the qualifications, one who won the lottery and Dan Johansen, who was the highest bidder with the Frenchman Joel Switala for two places in the playoffs (2300 and 3300 dollar).
The further field of forty players consists of seven Koreans, six Americans, four Belgians, four Vietnamese, four Turks, three Frenchmen, two Swedes, one German, one Colombian, one Dutch and one Egyptian.
Michael Kang as the master of ceremonies during the lottery
The group winners were:
Tayfun Tasdemir 12-2.419-14
Dong Koong Kang 12-1.923-13
Jae Ho Cho 10-1.756-13
Murat Naci Coklu 12-1.579-8
Martin Horn 12-1.515-7
Jérémy Bury 12-1.500-9
Keonhwi Cho 12-1.437-10
Quyet Chien Tran 12-1.471-9
Roland Forthomme 12-1.402-9
Semih Saygıner 12-1.456-8
William Oh 12-1.261-11
Hugo Patino 12-1.240-13
Michael Kang 12-1.230-9
Huberney Cataño 12-1.220-8
Sonny Cho 12-1.136-5.
The main prizes for the Open Verhoeven:
First prize: 9.000 dollar
Second Prize: 6000
Third prize: 4000
Fourth prize: 3500
Fifth prize: 3200.
Highest run 25 or more: 1.000
Highest run 29 or more: 10.000.
The forty players to start up the play-offs to the final round with sixteen
William Oh, one of seven Koreans in the play-offs
The Swede Nalle Olsson surprised against one of the favourites for the win Jae Ho Cho
The Danes came with seventeen to the Carom Cafe and are with seven in the next round
The format for the semi-finals (playoffs) with five groups of eight players, of which the numbers one, two and three and one best forth play the knock-outs with sixteen:
