HO CHI MINH - Sixteen of the 36 players who come to the tables at the Ho Chi Minh World Cup today (Wednesday) are the lucky ones to advance for the main tournament. Twelve group winners and four runners-up (best on match points and average) advance to the final rounds with the twelve seeded players and four wildcards. Kwang Yeol Park launched the day with a fabulous final run of fifteen in his match with another Korean in his group, Hyun Min Seo (40-34 in 26). The Japanese veteran Tatsuo Arai is the third man in the group.
Dinh Quang Hai, from day one in the preliminary rounds, was the best winner in the first session against O Takeshima 40-21 in 20. Eddy Leppens put himself in serious problems (loss against Korean Hyung Kon Kim, 40 32 to 25) and has to enforce his placement in the second match with a strong performance.
Three matches were in balance until the finish in the first round. Hyung Bum Hwang, who moved up to eighth place in the world ranking after he was in the final of the Porto World Cup, shared the win with Tae Soo Lim (40-40 in 35) and plays against one of Vietnam's top guns, Ly The Vinh, who won on one carom vs Tae Soo Lim.
Ji Hun Ahn and Duy Trung Nguyen played a draw, like Tae Jun Oh and Durk Hee Hwang did: the number one on Wednesday, Hwang (4 points, 2.400, run 14), was just a shadow of his matches then: forty points in 41 innings.
Jung-Han Heo, former number one in his country, was one of the first Korean contenders who came to the table. He finished with a tremendous bankshot for his winning point against Vietnamese Hao Tri Vo.
Murat Naci Coklu was beaten by one of the revelations so far: Ji Hun Ahn, a qualifier, defeated Semih Sayginer yesterday 30-23 in 23 and now Coklu 40-23 in 23.
Some of today's matches live on Kozoom (Vietnamese time, five hours difference with Western Europe):
16:00: Eddy Leppens-Dae-Kwon Shin, Hyung Bum Hwang-Ly The Vinh.
17:30: Lütfi Cenet-Arnim Kahofer, Pedro Piedrabuena-Tolgahan Kiraz, Murat Naci Tüzül-Keon Cho Hwi.
Hyung-Kon Kim defeated Eddy Leppens.
Jae Guen Kim