HO CHI MINH CITY - An ovation descended on 24- year old Korean Tae Jun Oh in the arena of the Ho Chi Minh World Cup, and it was shared by 40-year old Vietnamese Chi Minh Truong. The Korean had just treated the spectators to a match of 30 points in 6 innings (5.000). The Vietnamese had won his qualification flight, beating the renowned opponents: young Korean Myung Woo Cho and feared Vietnamese Dinh Nai Ngo.
The bespectacled Tae-Jun Oh was the undisputed star of the day with his master class against Abu Tayeh from Lebanon, a match he both started and ended with a run of nine. His full score sheet: 9-2-4-5-1-9. His opponent still averaged 1, but that was just for the statistics. Tae-Jun Oh lives in Seoul and is a pupil of the illustrious Jae Ho Cho. Oh was un unknown quantity up till now, he has only ten ranking points which put him 280th on the list. He survived the round before with a win and a draw, placing him 14th of the 16 that advanced, with 1.463 average. Today, in his second appearance, Tae Jun first beat Hideaki Kobayashi, albeit narrowly (30-29 in 16).
His flight average is certainly impressive for a qualification: 2.727. Tomorrow, in the final round of the pre-tournament, Tae Jun Oh will meet one of his better known countrymen, Hyung Bum Hwang, and Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma. Vietnamese Chi Minh Truong, who lives in Ho Chi Minh, is married and father of a 7-year old son, came up with a piece of heroics. His countryman Dinh Nai Ngo has a longer and deeper palmares, but he was clipped and shaved in the first match: 30-19 in 9 innings. It turned the other match, against the Korean prodigy Myung Woo Cho into a decisive one, as Cho had beaten Ngo in 12 innings. Truong and Cho raced to the finish with equal chances. Cho missed twice for his last point, then Truong could finish at 30-29.
The top sixteen of the third day showed a more mixed bunch, but still nine Koreans and three Vietnamese, two Spaniards high on the list, and two Turks. Next to Tae-Jun Oh (2.727) and Chi Minh Truong (2.000), high averages came from Hakan Incekara (1.818), Wan Young Choi (1.727), Quang Hao Truong (1.678), Javier Palazón (1.538) and Jin Pyo Hong (1.500). Dustin Jäschke was first on the reserve list, ahead of Myung Woo Cho and Tae Soo Lim. A summary of the flights:
Group A: Hakan Incekara in his last match drew with the star of Tuesday, Duc Anh Chien Nguyen (30-30 in 18). It was enough to qualify, after the win over Birol Uymaz, 30-15 in 15.
Group B: Wan Young Choi, in the pre-tournament from day 1, advances for the third time as flight winner thanks to a fine victory over Tolgahan Kiraz (30-16 in 15, in spite of an 11 run by the Turk).
Group C: Oh Bok Cho won this flight where averages were not sky high. The Korean managed just over 1, Khaled Salem was second with 0.932.
Group D: Hyun-Suk Kim beat the seasoned Japanese Tatsuo Arai 30-27 in 19 and won his flight.
Group E: Carlos Crespo made it to the next round in the decider against Tae Soo Lim, 30-18 in 17. The Spaniard had 1.363, the Korean nr 2 had 1.600 thanks to his 13-inning win over Jorge Bastos.
Group F: The best flight by far, the group of death. Two Vietnamese players and Korean Myung Woo Cho. The averages told the story: Chi Minh Truong played at at a 2.000 pace, Dinh Nai Ngo was third with 1.809, Myung Woo Cho had 1.787.
Group G: Javier Palazón gave his calling card with two wins in 18 and 21 innings, averaging 1.538.
Group H: Another Truong won this group: Quang Hao, and he had to dig deep against Do Nguyen and Yoon. The three matches were played in 12, 16 and 20 innings. Truong had 1.678.
Group I: Byeong Ho Kim won on average, in this flight where all three players ended on two match points. Kim played 1.227 and scored a run of eleven. Japanese Sasaki came in second with 0.765.
Group J: Kwang Yeol Park beat both Therese Klompenhouwer and Ngoc Tri Nguyen to lead the group with 1.276. Therese, the ladies world champion, lost twice and her 0.953 was not good enough.
Group K: Can Capak advanced thanks to his draw against Dustin Jäschke (30-30 in 25), The Turk averaged 1.200, the German 1.111.
Group L: Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma started impressively with a win in 14 innings, but then used up 34 innings to beat Atsushi Kiyota of Japan.
Group M: Jin Pyo was much too strong for his opponents Gungor Bastunali and Volkan Cetin, whom he beat 30-11 and 30-12 in 25 and 15 innings (1.500 average).
Group N: Tae-Jun Oh was the glorious winner of the day with 2.727 average and an historic match in six innings. The Korean showed enough class to be called a promise for the elite.
Group O: Hyun Min Seo started with a win in 17 innings, then ended with a win over Japanese Onodera in 20 innings, enough to qualify with an excellent 1.405.
Group P: One of the highlights of the day: Jing Ju Shin ended his match against Ji Hun Ahn at 30-17 in 29 innings. His Korean opponent then rose above himself and equalled with a run of thirteen! Jung Ju Shin won the flight because Ahn lost his second match. The young Korean needs to survive just one more day to make it into the main draw.
The top sixteen:
1 Tae-Jun Oh 4-2.727-9
2 Chi Minh Truong 4-2.000-9
3 Javier Palazón 4-1.538-10
4 Jin Pyo Hong 4-1.500-10
5 Carlos Crespo 4-1.363-9
6 Hyun-Suk Kim 4-1.363-9
7 Kwang Yeol Park 4-1.276-8
8 Minh Cam Ma 4-1.250-6
9 Oh Bok Cho 4-1.016-6
10 Hakan Incekara 3-1.818-7
11 Can Capak 3-1.200-8
12 Jung Ju Shin 3-1.071-6
13 Wan Young Choi 2-1.727-11
14 Quang Hao Truong 2-1.678-10
15 Hyun Min Seo 2-1.405-9
16 Byeong Ho Kim 2-1.227-11.
The flights for the final day of qualifying:
Group A: Jung Han Heo, Jin Pyo Hong, Carlos Crespo
Group B: Javier Palazón, Pedro Piedrabuena, Hyun-Suk Kim
Group C: Murat Naci Coklu, Chi Minh Truong, Kwang Yeol Park
Group D: Hyung Bum Hwang, Tae-Jun Oh, Minh Cam Ma
Group E: Riad Nady, Regay Henry, Oh Bok Cho
Group F: Bung-Won Choi, Hyung Kon Kim, Hakan Incekara
Group G: Xuan Cuong Ma, Eddy Leppens, Can Capak
Group H: Choong-Bok Lee, Jung Ju Shin, Quoc Nguyen Nguyen
Group I: Jérémy Bury, Wan Young Choi, Adnan Yüksel
Group J: Haeng Jik Kim, Chi Yeon Cho, Quang Hao Truong
Group K: Jae Guen Kim, Hyun Min Seo, Nick Polychronopoulos
Group L: Lütfi Cenet, Semih Sayginer, Byeong Ho Kim.
The Vietnamese Chi Minh Truong defeated Myung Woo Cho and Dinh Nai Ngo
The star player of the day, Tae-Jun Oh with his Seoul teammates Jae Ho Cho, Tae Hyun Lee and Hyun Min Seo
Spanish player Carlos Crespo (right) after the match he won against Tae Soo Lim
Javier Palazón was the best European player on the third day
Can Capak qualified after a draw against Dustin Jäschke
Jung Ju Shin ran into an equalizing inning of 13 (Anh), but topped his group after two matches
Therese Klompenhouwer, the women's world champion, was eliminated after two losses
Hakan Incekara won his group after he beat Birol Uymaz
The streets in Ho Chi Minh outside the billiard room