ANTALYA - There they were on the first day of Antalya World Cup. Father Bayram Ibraimov (41) from Düsseldorf with his two sons Ali (17) and 10-year-old Amir. "He's a pretty good talent, that little one'', said Dutchman Jordy de Kruijff, after he faced off against the father and the little Amir. Bayram, actually coming from Turkey, moved to Germany. But for a real World Cup, they liked to make a trip to Turkey.
They didn't get to stay very long as they were eliminated by Jordy de Kruijf on day 1. Jordy played 0.750 against Bayram 0.597 and Amir 0.313. The other brother, Ali, finished last in the group with Ronny Lindemann and Vangelis Moulis playing 0.449 with a nice run of seven. Today, at the start of the second day, they sat together in the stands to watch the top players still in the tournament.
Two known players in European three cushion were facing each other on Monday. Omer Karakurt started with a loss against Tarik Yavuz and then played one of the best matches of the day against Carlos Crespo: 30-13 in 13. The Turk could therefore advance to the second day, the Spaniard was eliminated despite a nice recovery against Yavuz with 30-23 in 20.
The long tall, friendly Turk Emrullah Basegmez was in the spotlight once again, like Mehmet Yavaz. Ronny Lindemann played a draw against Vangelis Moulos and got it on average. Muharrem Peker was the number one of the day with matches in 20 and 30 innings. The total level was not very high. The best average came from Omer Karakurt, 1.365. the two front runners both finished 1.200.
The Dutch Karina Jetten, girlfriend of Roland Forthomme, had some luck and some bad luck. She won her first 30-29 against Ilhan Ürküt in 37 innings and lost her second 30-29 against Samer Kamel in 28. The average was pretty good, 0.907, but Jetten was only third in the group and without any chance.
The top sixteen on the first day of play:
1 Muharrem Peker 4-1.200-8
2 Mehmet Bolsu 4-1.200-5
3 Serdar Bas 4-1.153-4
4 Mehmet Yavas 4-1.090-6
5 Tae Jun Oh 4-0.983-7
6 In Seok Kang 4-0.909-5
7 Emrullah Basegmez 4-0.869-8
8 Kim Le Hoang 4-0.833-3
9 Fadi Abousaleh 4-0,759-5
10 Jordy de Kruijf 4-0.750-4
11 Adam Kulak 3-1.200-5
12 Ronny Lindemann 3-1.090-6
13 Furkan Senel3-1.052-6
14 Omer Karakurt 2-1.365-6
15 Ilhan Ürküt 2-1.092-5
16 Sun-Woong Lee 2-0.936-7
Peter Ceulemans opens today in a group with Sung-Woong Lee and Ahmed Emam. There are other groups with Glenn Hoffman, Lukas Stamm and Ilhan Ürküt, with Murat Túzúl with Omer Karakurt, Mehmet Gören with Nalle Olsson, Ronny Lindemann, Gökhan Salman and Namiko Hayashi, Sung Kuy Oh, Fadi Abousaleh and Ahmet Alp, Emrullah Basegmez, In-Won Kang and Savas Gungor, Ta-Jun Oh, Gwendal Maréchal and Ivo Gazdos, Antonio Montes, Mehmet Yavas and Thanh Tien Le.
The Ibraimov family: Ali, Amir and Bayram in the stands at the World Cup
Omer Karakurt, the best on average
Karina Jetten, one win 30-29, one loss 30-29