Duc Minh Tran the best, many big names must go home

HO CHI MINH - Vietnamese Duc Minh Tran was the very best on the third day of play at the Ho Chi Minh World Cup. He won his two matches with 2.692 on average and finished well above Hyeong Kon Kim (2.000) and Frédéric Caudron (1.944) in the daily rankings. This third day, just before the final qualifying round, was a doomsday for many sub-top players, of whom Turkish ex-PBA player Birol Uymaz was one of the best known. With 2 points and 1,035, he finished number 29 on this third day of the qualifiers. Five players from home country Vietnam were among the group winners, like also four Koreans. The Europeans going along to the final qualification are Frédéric Caudron, Pierre Soumagne, Arnim Kahofer, Lukas Stamm, Mehmet Goren, Emrullah Basegmez and Ronny Lindemann, who, as first reserve with a lucky draw, is allowed to join the 16 group winners. He is Roland Forthomme's replacement, because the Belgian cup winner had applied for his visa too late and was not allowed to fly to the World Cup country.

Duc Minh Tran delivered his sterling performance as the day's best winner with wins over David Pennör (35-24 in 18) and Jun Hyuk Son (35-10 in 8, the best match of the day). Hyeong Kon Kim, previously often among the better Koreans, won against TTT Nguyen and Takeshima O in the group of death: 35 in 17 and 35 in 18. Frédéric Caudron beat Takao Miyashita 35-16 in 19 and Claus Maurer 35-12 in 17. Birol Uymaz was eliminated by Dong Ryong Kim 35-24 in 29, Ryuuji Umeda by Mehmet Goren 35-34 in 25.

The list of eliminated players is remarkable. The group with 1 win and 1 loss includes Ryuuji Umeda, Van Ly Dao, TTT Nguyen, Birol Uymaz, Ji Hun Ahn and Ali Ibraimov. The notable names in the group of 16 without a win are Ahmet Alp, Turgay Orak, Ja In Kang and Takeshima O.

The list of day's winners:

1. Duc Minh Tran 4-2,692-9
2. Hyeong Kon Kim 4-2,000-9
3. Frédéric Caudron 4-1,944-8
4. Chi Thanh Tran 4-1,794-8
5. Quoc Ho Le 4-1,750-12
6. Duy Thanh Pham 4-1,666-9
7. Riad Nady 4-1,590-11
8. Nguyen Chi Long 4-1,590-7
9. Pierre Soumagne 4-1,400-8
10. Dong Ryong Kim 4-1,346-8
11. Arnim Kahofer 4-1,346-6
12. Park Jeongu 4-1,320-10
13. Lukas Stamm 4-1,272-7
14. Jaein Jung 4-1,250-9
15. Mehmet Goren 4-1,228-8
16. Emrullah Basegmez 3-1,346-8

The final qualifying day, with 12 groups of three of which the winners and three best runners-up move on to the main draw, shows many great encounters. The best draw is the one with the two brothers Berkay and Omer Karakurt, who are grouped with Egyptian Riad Nadi. And also Frédéric Caudron and Glenn Hofman are playing for group wins together with Portuguese routine player Rui Manuel Costa. Jeffrey Jorissen has to duel with Burak Hashas, the junior champion playing his last World Cup. Jean Paul de Bruijn meets two strong Koreans of whom Hyeong Kon Kim was among the best on Wednesday. Gwendal Maréchal meets Sam van Etten in his group, Peter Ceulermans duels with Pierre Soumagne and Turk Basegmez.

The best-known players in the groups for Thursday:

Group A with Lukas Stam and Nikos Polychronopoulos

Group B with Chang Hoon Seo and Arnim Kahofer

Group C with Tolgahan Kiraz, Mehmet Goren and Dong Ryong Kim

Group D with Peter Ceulemans, Emrullah Basegmez and Pierre Soumagne

Group E with Robinson Morales and Mashhour Abu Tayeh

Group F with Berkay and Omar Karakurt and Riad Nady

Group G with Ruben Legazpi and Gerhard Kostistansky

Group H with Sam van Etten, Gwendal Maréchal and Quoc Ho Le.

Ronny Lindemann replaces Roland Forthomme