3-Cushion
HURGHADA - A former Hurghada World Cup winner, Adnan Yüksel, was the last to leave the arena after he had been the surprise victim of a dressing down by Korean Jae Guen Kim (40-27 in 24). The Turk had made a good start to the qualification day, but could not keep up his high level. Eddy Leppens could: he was the player of the day and was awarded the applause he deserved, having won twice with a combined average of 2.500.
The Turkish gala, still in with twelve players on the last day of qualification, had its highs, but a few disappointing moments as well. The lanky school teacher Emrullah Basegmez starts to climb the ladder and shone with a top performance at the expense of Polychronopoulos (40-15 in 20).
Murat Naci Coklu dominated the flight he shared with Tonny Carlsen and Markus Dömer. Ahmet Alp sent one of the stars of the World Championship home: Jean Paul de Bruijn. There was even room for a comedic moment near the end of the match, when he walked to his chair in celebration, still a point away from the finish line. ,,I had misread the scoreboard', he said later.
Adnan Yüksel ended the hopes of Pierre Soumagne (40-27 in 16), but ran into a Korean who had just manage to edge the young Frenchman 40-39. His second match of the day was astonishing, and it landed Yüksel on his rear.
Lütfi Cenet tripped over Vietnamese Vinh Ly The, Tolgahan Kiraz and Yavuz Güngördü were also left empty handed, but Savas Bulut remained undefeated in his group with Christian Rudolph and Birol Uymaz.
Three Dutch players went out: the only man in Orange left is Dick Jaspers, and automatic seed in the main draw. Jean Paul de Bruijn and Therese Klompenhouwer both lost twice, an already prospectless Glenn Hofman managed a draw in his second match, against Jin Pyo Hong.
Two of the four Belgians advance: Roland Forthomme first got the better of Mehmet Goren, than beat Palazon in the decider (40-32 in 23). Eddy Leppens put in the day's peak performances, with wins in 13 and 19 innings.
Jae Guen Kim defeated Adnan Yüksel, who was one of the runners-up
All the Koreans but one advanced: Choong-Bok Lee was in a flight with Therese Klompenhouwer (and beat her 40-39 and a closing run of six) and Yavuz Güngördü. Jung Han Heo lost his last match to Kostas Papakonstantinou, but still emerged as group winner with two points and the highest average. The second Korean in that group, Tae Soo Lim, beat Papakonstantinou 40-39, but it was not enough.
Hyung Bum Hwang had two Turks in his flight, and beat them both: Tolgahan Kiraz and Murat Tüzül. Jin Pyo Hong won the group with Arnim Kahofer and Glenn Hofman, and Jae Guen Kim closed up shop when he beat Adnan Yüksel.
The best sixteen on the final day of qualifications:
1 Eddy Leppens 4-2.500-8
2 Murat Naci Coklu 4-1.777-8
3 Savas Bulut 4-1.600-9
4 Jae Guen Kim 4-1.568-13
5 Roland Forthomme 4-1.538-5
6 Ahmet Alp 4-1.355-7
7 Choong-Bok Lee 4-1.290-7
8 Hyung Bum Hwang 4-1.250-7
9 Vinh Ly The 4-1.250-5
10 Jin Pyo Hong 3-1.095-7
11 Jung Han Heo 2-1.727-9
12 Emrullah Basegmez 2-1.500-8
The three runners-up:
1 Adnan Yüksel 2-1.675-11
2 Javier Palazón 2-1.636-7
3 Kostas Papakonstantinou 2-1.612-8.
Vietnamese Vinh The Ly outplayed Lütfi Cenet and will meet Torbjörn Blomdahl
The draw for the main tournament (local time):
12.00:
Frédéric Caudron-Hugo Patino
Jae Guen Kim-Javier Palazón
Eddy Leppens-Mohsen Fouda
Sung-Won Choi-Sameh Sidhom
14.00:
Jae Ho Cho-Emrullah Basegmez
Dong Koong Kang-Anh Vu Duong
Murat Naci Coklu-Jung Han Heo
Dick Jaspers-Adnan Yüksel
16.00:
Eddy Merckx-Jérémy Bury
Dani Sánchez-Choong-Bok Lee
Filipos Kasidokostas-Hyung Bum Hwang
Kyung-Roul Kim-Jin Pyo Hong
18.00:
Marco Zanetti-Kostas Papakonstantinou
Savas Bulut-Roland Forthomme
Tayfun Tasdemir-Ahmet Alp
Torbjorn Blomdahl-Vinh The Ly.