The silver medal at the World Cup was followed by a setback in the competitions, but it seems that Eddy Leppens is back in town. With two victories, the first on the Korean Heo, the second this afternoon on Tayfun Tasdemir, the Belgian player shared himself among the last eight in Hurghada. The show goes on for Leppens, tonight waits a new major collision with his countryman Frederic Caudron.
The climax of this first session took place at a different table. Kyung-Roul Kim was beating his compatriot Sung-Won Choi and appeared in a lead of 2-1 in sets in his first inning impassively towards the table, for, what it seemed to, the maximum run of fifteen. The rhythm however stopped at thirteen, because the fourteenth point, with the cue ball to the cushion, missed the long cushion in the far corner.
The first eight of the remaining sixteen players paved the way for the next round. Jérémy Bury (3-0 against Emilio Sciacca) and Eddy Leppens (3-0 against Tasdemir) overwhelmed their opponents in swift matches. Bury played close to 2.000 average, Sciacca, yesterday winner against Blomdahl, now missed his finishing touch at crucial moments. The Frenchman won 15-7, 15-11 and 15-13.
Eddy Leppens didn't have any problems with the Turk Tasdemir, won two sets 15-11 and gave in the second set a lesson in how to play three cushion: 15-3.
The Egyptian audience lost in this round his sympathetic compatriot Sameh Sidhom. Frédéric Caudron allowed the young talent one set (the first with 15-8), then the Belgian showed who was the strongest in this match (15-6, 15-11, 15-10). Nevertheless, Sidhom may be very proud of his performance in his homeland.
Kyung-Roul Kim finally needed, after his run of thirteen, another seven innings to determine the match against Choi. The Korean meeting, with two players from the top twelve of the world, turned into a tame fight with a logical winner (15-10, 12-15, 15-3, 15-7). It was a prestige match for Kyung-Roul Kim, who showed with his performance who currently is still the very best in the country with hundreds of top players.