GURI - The first winner of a Masters tournament in this format, Spaniard Dani Sánchez, is not yet one of the main contenders for a next victory. The Belgian Eddy Merckx, who won the first Survival, was the best of all for the final rounds on the opening day of the Survival 3C Masters in Guri. Dick Jaspers, the world champion, needs a second chance, like Sánchez, to reach the knockouts. Six groups of four players, four together at the table, played for the first twelve places in the final rounds on the opening day.
The best score was Eddy Merckx' result (163 points), ahead of Dinh Nai Ngo (111) and Nikos Polychronopoulos (97). Tomorrow, Friday, twelve players go for the second chance. The numbers three and four from the six groups on Thursday. Four players in three groups of four meet for the second chance, the three winners and the best number two complete the field for the knock-out with sixteen.
The group winners on the opening day were Eddy Merckx, Dinh Nai Ngo, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Chi Yeon Cho, Jae-Ho Cho and Torbjörn Blomdahl. Eddy Merckx showed a sovereign performance in his flight, in which Dani Sánchez and Nguyen Quoc Nguyen could not impress and also Dick Jaspers, later in one of the other groups couldn't show his high class to the audience in the Korean playing arena. Other players who missed direct qualification were Marco Zanetti, Jung-Han Heo, Tayfun Tasdemir, Sameh Sidhom, Sung-Won Choi and Eddy Leppens.
Before the start of the tournament, 24 players played in a pre-qualification for two places in the Survival. Seung-Il Jeong and Hong-Gi Lee were the winners. The playing room in Guri can welcome 500 spectators, a day ticket costs 8 euros.
Group A:
Nikos Polychronopoulos was strong from the start, scored 70 points before the break, but later dropped from 105 to 97. That was enough for the group win with an excellent average, 2,533 and a best run of 13, the highest of the day. Semih Sayginer ended second in this group before Eddy Leppens and Jung-Han Heo.
The ranking:
1 Nikos Polychronopoulos 97-2.533-13
2 Semih Sayginer 73-2,000-11
3 Eddy Leppens 37-1.400-9
4 Jung-Han Heo 33-1.333-7
Group B:
The Vietnamese players Dinh Nai Ngo and Quyet Chien Tran led the field, Marco Zanetti, who barely scored more in his last five innings, ended in Tran's shadow. The group winner attacked in the first part to 70 and ran out to a comfortable lead. Dong-Koong Kang stayed far behind the top three.
The ranking:
1 Dinh Nai Ngo 111-2.266-6
2 Quyet Chien Tran 55-1.333-6
3 Marco Zanetti 51-1.266-5
4 Dong-Koong Kang 23-0.800-4
Group C:
Eddy Merckx towered far above his three opponents with a regular score: 80 at the break, 163 in the final score with a best run of 11 and the best average of the day at 2.555. In average it was the weakest group of this first day. Tonny Carlsen, who makes his debut in the Survival, takes second place with 35 points just before Dani Sánchez with 31. The Vietnamese Nguyen Quoc Nguyen was already in the minus during the break and did not not improve in the second part. He finished with the lowest average of the day: 0.444 and only a run of 2.
The ranking:
1 Eddy Merckx 163-2.555-11
2 Tonny Carlsen 35-0.777-6
3 Dani Sánchez 31-0.722-3
4 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 11-0.444-2
Group D:
The Koreans HaengJik Kim and Chi Yeon Cho finish in points (85) and played a shoot-out by mistake for the group win. HaengJik Kim is the group winner due to his run of 11. The top three stayed together until the break: Cho 43, Sidhom 39, Kim 31. Sameh Sidhom had a setback and finished third. Tayfun Tasdemir had a disappointing start and couldn't improve in the second part.
The ranking:
1 Chi Yeon Cho 85-1.937-6
2 HaengJik Kim 85-1.937-6
3 Sameh Sidhom 53-1.437-6
4 Tayfun Tasdemir 17-0.875-6
Group E:
Dick Jaspers took the lead in the early part with 49 against 29, 29 and 13, but then lost his way. Murat Naci Coklu and Jae-Ho Cho were on top before the break with runs of 7 and 9. In the decisive part, Cho and Coklu fought for the group win: the Korean and the Turk finished on equal points, 75. Seung-Il Jeong , a qualifier, even finished before Jaspers.
The ranking:
1 Jae-Ho Cho 75-1.647-9
2 Murat Naci Coklu 75-1.647-7
3 Seung Il Jeong 55-1.352-9
4 Dick Jaspers 35-1.058-7
Group F:
Torbjörn Blomdahl sprinted out in the end rush and finished ahead of two players fighting for second place. Frédéric Caudron came up with Sung-Won Choi by his last run of two. The shoot-out had to make the decision. Choi started 3 from the spots, Caudron answered by 4 and was the last player to advance for the last 12.
The ranking:
1 Torbjörn Blomdahl 72-1.750-5
2 Fre1déric Caudron 68-1.687-8
3 Sung-Won Choi 68-1.750-7
4 Hung-Gi Lee 32-1.125-8.
