WONJU - The latest World Cup winner, young Korean Myung Woo Cho, is the best example of how the matches in the World Grand Prix in Wonju go up and down. The much lauded billiard player, who shone again with a fantastic "banana shot' last Tuesday, came through Wednesday's day of play with a great win over Jun Tae Kim (2.294, runs 14 and 12) followed by an extremely poor loss against Kwang Hyun Kim (0.750), which dropped him to fifth in his group's rankings. Dick Jaspers (4 wins, 2.070), Jung Han Heo (3 wins, 2.071), Myeong Jong Cha (3 wins, 1.298), Quyet Chien Tran (3 wins, 2.021) and Marco Zanetti (4 wins, 1.816) are the five players from a field of 48 with the maximum wins. The tournament is halfway through and has 3 more days of preliminary rounds to go. From each of the six groups of 8, the best five players qualify for the next part of the event.
The overview of the groups:
Group A:
Dick Jaspers leads with the maximum 8 match points after defeating Pedro Piedrabuena 2-1 in his last game (7-6 in 9, 2-16 in 6, 21-5 in 3, an average of 1.666 against 1.500 for the American). Jun Tae Kim recorded his important win over Myung Woo Cho and climbed to the number six position with 2 match points. Piedrabuena is number two with equal points to Bong Joo Hwang: 5 out of 4.
Group B:
Sung Won Choi lost his leading position due to a weak performance in the last session of the day against Chang Hoon Seo. Choi lost 2-0 and only 0.812 average. He was passed on average by Dani Sánchez, who also won three of four matches and leads the rankings ahead of Choi (2.079 against 2.092) after the 2-0 against Soares. Nikos Polychronopoulos needs a strong final sprint after his loss against Choi.
Group C:
The battle for the five places has erupted in Group C after young Dutchman Sam van Etten beat world champion Tayfun Tasdemir 2-0 (2,076 to 1,538) and Burak Hashas played a draw against JJ Garcia. Jung Han Heo leads the group (six points, 2,071) after the 2-0 win over Murat Naci Coklu, who is fifth in the rankings. Sam van Etten moved up to fourth place.
Group D:
Myeong Jong Cha is the unbeaten leader in this Group D with 1,298 on average, where Torbjörn Blomdahl recovered after losing against Miyashita in a very mediocre match against Huberney Cataño. Myeong Jong Cha continues to win, despite moderate averages (1,000 against Miyashita). Haeng Jik Kim is ranked number three ahead of Miyashita and Choong Bok Lee.
Group E:
Quyet Chien Tran is fighting a battle for top spot in Group E with Dion Nelin, Sameh Sidhom and Hyung Kon Kim. The Vietnamese gathered six match points as did his three pursuers, who have played one more match. Ruben Legazpi, with one stunning win (4.500 on average), dropped far with three losses, but is still in fifth place.
Group F:
The proud leader in Group F is Marco Zanetti, with 4 wins and 1.810. Su Yeong Park, Pedro Gonzalez and Duc Anh Chien Nguyen are the main chasers, but Eddy Merckx is lurking and Therese Klompenhouwer still can move up. Zanetti won his Wednesday match against Son, Merckx beat Vietnamese Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 2-1. Group F is the least in averages and promises an exciting final battle.
Dani Sánchez surpassed Sung Won Choi and took the leading position
Dick Jaspers, the unbeaten leader after his win over Piedrabuena
Quyet Chien Tran, a hard fight for the leading position