CAIRO - Who would have put his money on Filippos Kasidokostas one year ago, when the young player's career was in danger due to a nervous disorder? The Greek wonder boy who was world champion in three cushion at a young age of (26), was almost desperate because of his trembling right hand. He left the scene for awhile and definitely returned this year. At this years World championship in Cairo, Filippos plays with his 'wrong' hand, so his left arm, these days after a long preparation. The changeover is amazing and on the second day in Cairo, the Greek defeated Korean HaengJik Kim, the world's number three by a big margin of 40-25 in 28 innings. We must say, the former Asian champion, who happens to be 26 now, is suffering a lack of form for some months. Anyway, we must show deep admiration for the Greek champion, who is the number 71 on the world ranking after his stop, one place behind Therese Klompenhouwer.
Insiders predict him to advance, although there are still doubts whether Filippos can reach his former top level again. The progression goes along with his bravado, as he showed during his first attack against Kim (run of eight, 11-2 in 6 innings) and at the end of the match with two decisive runs of three and the knock-out for the Korean. The first mission is successful. Kasidokostas is the winner of his group with four match points and 1.600 ahead of HaengJik Kim with two match points and 0.984. He was one of the first players to qualify for the 32-player knockouts.
,,I started this World championship without great expectations'', said Kasidokostas after his two matches. "The game fascinates me, I love it and it is hard to stay away from. I am happy with my progress in such a short time and I am happy that I can enjoy the game again.''
Dick Jaspers was the best winner so far in the tournament with his 40 in 11 against Robinson Morales (40-8, 3.363 average), followed by Jae-Ho Cho 40 in 12 and Frédéric Caudron 40 in 13. The Dutchman launched his attack with two runs of 9 in the sixth and seventh inning. He is the number one on the ranking so far after the preliminaries with 2.666 average over two matches and feels great after two days at the World championships. ,,The ambition to score as high as possible is always there, but in my first matches, I had a very good feeling at the table. Don't ask me for a prediction, that's impossible with so many good players. You can go up and down in every match.''
Frédéric Caudron also went smoothly through the knock-outs with a victory over Arnim Kahofer (40-27 in 21) and 2.352 over two matches. Eddy Merckx, the other Belgian favorite, had to put up a big fight against Erick Tellez after his loss in the first round against Murat Celik. The match with the South American was not just a walk-over after being 13-2 down in 6, but at the end Merckx found his way to victory with 40-34 in 32.
There was not so much tension regarding the numbers one and two in the group stage on the second day of this years World Championship. The frontrunners in the groups so far are: Dick Jaspers, Frédéric Caudron, Filippos Kasidokostas, Marco Zanetti, Jung-Han Heo, Sung-Won Choi, Tonny Carlsen, Pedro Piedrabuena, Anh Vu Duong and Minh Cam Ma, Jae-Ho Cho and Eddy Merckx. Jae-Ho Cho and Ruben Legazpi played a draw the last group match, the Korean is leader by a better average.
The second last round of the prerounds yielded victories for Minh Cam Ma over D'Agata (40-16 in 19), Tonny Carlsen over Coklu (40-35 in 25), Pedro Piedrabuena over Blomdahl (40-38 in 23) and Anh Vu Duong over Sidhom (40-38 in 25).
With four matches to play, the sixteen number threes from the groups are eliminated. For Mohsen Fouda, Erick Tellez, Guido Sacco, Christakis Christoforou, Dustin Jäschke, Mohamed Abdin, David Pennör, Riad Nadi, Jose Juan Garcia, Radkovan Hajek, Alexander Salazar, Pedro Gonzalez, Harrie van de Ven, Juan Patino and Yasser Shehayeb the tournament is over after two days.
The group win is important for the positions in the knock-outs, but none of the top favorites missed out for the start. Dick Jaspers and Frédéric Caudron lead the table when the draw will be made. Tomorrow, Thursday, the last group win is at stake in Group M, N, O and P.
The matches played at 11.00 am:
Sánchez-Kang
Bury-Nguyen
Sayginer-Leppens
Tasdemir-Ngo.
Then, the first four matches for the knock-outs with 32 players are scheduled for 14.00 pm.
Dick Jaspers tops the ranking after the prerounds: 2.666 average
Pedro Piedrabuena, the better of Torbjörn Blomdahl in the last group match
Raymond Ceulemans, the all time star, guest of honour at the World championship in Cairo