BINH THUAN - The absolute star on the first two days at the World championship three cushion in Vietnam is in a flow for a top finish. When asked for an interview one day before the start in his hotel Eddy Merckx just had taken a short sleep at the swimming pool. He was totally relaxed, just coped with the jet lag and was ready for the big adventure. Looking ahead to this World championship, he knew that with two World Cup wins, Vietnam is one of his favorite countries to play billiards. The champion of finals (rarely does Merckx lose in matches for gold medals) he lived up to his ambitions. The preliminaries were played in two days, Eddy Merckx is the undisputed leader with four match points, 3,200 and a high run of 15. What a flawless, never seen run-up to the World championship.
Two world titles to his name, on the ranking list Eddy Merckx does not have very many ranking points (39) to lose. The Belgian is the number 7 player on the ranking. For the World’s winner, there are 120 to be earned, but that is still a long way off. Which players seem to be in a good form? What could we still see in Merckx's shadow, in the preliminaries in Binh Thuan, where Vietnam's first World Three-cushion Championship is being played.
Phuong Vinh Bao, the reigning champion, made a good impression with four match points and 2,000. Dick Jaspers had a modest start (1.702), but already showed a magnificent final sprint against Hong Chiem Thai.
The Vietnamese are looking for the winning mood in front of their own crowd. Phuong Vinh Bao, Hong Chiem Thai were sharp from the start, Duc Minh Tran (4 match points, 2.222, runs of 12 and 10) was even the best of his compatriots in the group with Germans Horn and Lindemann.
Peter Ceulemans unexpectedly faced an anxious final round as Ramon Rodriguez outdid himself in the match against Tayfun Tasdemir. The Turkish leader was nowhere near as good as he was when he faced Ceulemans. The Peruvian even ran to a 32-18 lead in 17 innings and threatened to knock Peter Ceulemans out of the tournament. Ramon, the versatile artiste, eventually won 40-37 in 23, leaving him - and not Ceulemans - with Tasdemir in the top 32 on average. The other famous players who had to go home were Nikos Polychronopoulos, Chang Hoon Seo and Jeffrey Jorissen.
Jung Han Heo (1.860), Jun Tae Kim (1.744), Myung Woo Cho (1.777) and Haeng Jik Kim (1.600) are the Koreans with the highest expectations. Torbjörn Blomdahl had to save his tournament against Abdin (40-25 in 18) after losing against Brian Knudsen (40-32 in 33). Jérémy Bury (after losing against Legazpi 40-19 in 21) had to get past D'Agata for the qualication. The Frenchman led 18-18 but let the Italian come back (21-21), but Bury took the match.
Berkay Karakurt and Nikos Polychronopoulos, both after losing against Nguyen, battled it out with each other for the second position: the Turk had a much better start and consolidated his lead towards the end. Another Turkish player, Tolgahan Kiraz, was with 1,568 and 4 match points ahead of two Vietnamese in a group with two runs of 13: TL Tran and TT Le became two and three.
The final group results:
Group A:
Phuong Vinh Bao 4-2,000-10
Takao Miyashita 2-1,303-6
Naser Awwad 0-0,730-4
Group B:
Dick Jaspers 4-1,702-7
Hong Chiem Thai 2-2.081-12
Turgay Orak 0-1,380-6
Group C:
Quyet Chien Tran 3-1,702-10
Daniel Morales 2-1,372-11
Kostas Kokkoris 1-1,462-6
Group D:
Jun Tae Kim 2-1,744-10
David Pennör 2-1,531-9
Ryuuji Umeda 2-1,340-8
Group E:
Myung Woo Cho 4-1,777-9
Javier Vera 2-1,250-5
Radek Novak 0-0.933-5
Group F:
Duc Minh Tran 4-2,222-12
Martin Horn 2-1,212-5
Ronny Lindemann 0-0.860-6
Group G:
Eddy Merckx 4-3,200-15
Jose Juan Garcia 2-1,351-6
Gerhard Kostistansky 0-1,044-8
Group H:
Sameh Sidhom 3-1,818-8
Mikaël Devogelaere 3-1,739-7
Jeffrey Jorissen 0-1,187-7
Group I:
Marco Zanetti 4-1,777-9
Raymon Groot 2-1,203-5
Chang Hoon Seo 0-1,017-1
Group J:
Brian Knudsen 4-1,481-7
Torbjörn Blomdahl 2-1.274-6
Mohamed Abdin 0-0.797-6
Group K:
Jung Han Heo 4-1,860-11
Rui Manuel Costa 2-1.237-9
William Villanueva 0-1,083-6
Group L:
Haeng Jik Kim 4-1,600-8
Hugo Patino 2-1,250-6
Miguel Labrador 0-1,018-4
Group M
Tayfun Tasdemir 2-1,750-8
Ramon Rodriguez 2-1,642-7
Peter Ceulemans 2-1,525-13
Group N:
Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1,568-13
Thanh Luc Tran 2-1,384-13
Thanh Tran Le 0-1,540-5
Group O:
Ruben Legazpi 4-1,481-15
Jérémy Bury 2-1,229-9
Alessio D'Agata 0-0.983-6
Group P:
Van Tai Nguyen 4-1,600-9
Berkay Karakurt 2-1,947-7
Nikos Polychronopoulos 0-1,250-6
Matches in the best 32 on Friday:
12.00:
Merckx-Groot
JT Kim-Devogelaere
HJ Kim-Garcia
Nguyen-Myiashita
14.30:
Knudsen-Pennör
Cho-Vera
Sidhom-Rodriguez
Heo-Costa
17.00:
Bao-Bury
QC Tran-Karakurt
Zanetti-Patino
Legazpi-TL Tran
19.30:
Jaspers-Blomdahl
Kiraz-Morales
Tasdemir-Thai
DM Tran-Horn.
Duc Minh Tran, the best of the Vietnamese so far
Dick Jaspers, facing Torbjörn Blomdahl in the first knock-outs
Peter Ceulemans was out after Rodriguez win over Tasdemir