HURGHADA - The best of all on the third day at the World Cup in Hurghada was Filippos Kasidokostas with a magnificent score of four match points and a 2.400 average. The Korean Sung-Uk Oh also made a huge impression. Martin Horn was in the top three after his first appearance, Dion Nelin, Juan David Zapata and Glenn Hofman were among the best Europeans in the run up to the final qualification and Therese Klompenhouwer, the best of all ladies, ran into the sublime Japanese Hideaki Kobayashi, who already made the gab in the first four innings, 20-4, to finish it off at 30-18 in 17. The difference was seen in the runs: Kobayashi a best of 9, Klompenhouwer of 2!
Filippos Kasidokostas entered the Hurghada World Cup as he finished in Seoul. There, in South Korea, the Greek left-handed man played the final against Eddy Merckx. He showed the same power in Egypt's first round, making clear again that his great come-back continues, as he advances on the ranking. Filippos closed the day after victories over Egyptian Ahmed Emam (30-11 in 13) with 14 and 2 in the two final innings and over Korean Seung-Il Jeong in his second match, 30-7 in 12, averaging 2.400 to bring him on top of the ranking of this third day.
Martin Horn had nothing to fear from Murat Tüzül (30-16 in 18) in his decisive match in the group stage after a first performance against Sousa in sixteen innings. Korean Sung-Uk Oh impressed with victories over Savas Gungor (30-20 in 12, run 12) and against good old Ragay Henri (30-11 in 15). Juan David Zapata knocked down Mehmet Goren in the match for the group winning 30-9 in 15 and Glenn Hofman showed his very best in his second match against Chi Yeon Cho, the surprising finalist in the last Survival Masters. The Dutchman had a rocket start with 20 in 3 and eventually won 30-16 in 14 innings.
Manol Manaoglu had a flashy start against Salem Khaled (30-13 in 13), but had to deal with Arnim Kahofer in his second round. The Austrian hungered for revenge after the bad opener (loss against Khaled 30-24 in 34), but lost his advantage against Manaoglu, making the Turkish outsider winner of the group.
Two Dutchmen competed for the group win: Barry van Beers defeated Jean Paul de Bruijn 30-25 in 22. The brave attempt by De Bruijn (30-14 win in 15 innings against Egyptian Mahmoud Ayman) was not enough. Van Beers also outplayed Ayman, he recorded 30-16 in 26.
Ronny Brants, the Belgian never-give-up man, fought himself against Tolgahan Kiraz to a minimal win (30-29 in 22) and needed a draw against Kostas Papakonstantinou, because the Greek lost to Kiraz 30-25 in 18. The three players all finished with two match points after Kostas' victory over Kiraz (30-19 in 21). The top finisher on average was Kiraz with 1.475 ahead of Papakonstantinou with 1.410 and Brants, eliminated with 2 points and 1.139.
Jakob Haack Sörensen judged over two Greeks, Kostas Kokkoris and Dionisis Tsokantas and two of the Nguyens players, Duc Anh Chien and Trung Hau Do finished with varying success. Duc Anh Chien defeated Yusuke Mori (30-24 in 17), Trung Hau Do won against Thomas Andersen (30-23 in 20), but the Dane ended on top of the group on average.
Top 16 of preliminaries on Tuesday:
1 Filippos Kasidokostas 4-2.400-14
2 Sung-Uk Oh 4-2.222-12
3 Martin Horn 4-1.764-8
4 Juan David Zapata 4-1.714-9
5 Glenn Hofman 4-1.666-11
6 Dion Nelin 4-1.578-5
7 Manol Minaoglu 4-1.395-11
8 Jacob Sörensen 4-1.395-6
9 Seung Jin Lee 4-1.363-8
10 Jae-Guen Kim 4-1.333-9
11 Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 4-1.333-8
12 Barry van Beers 4-1.250-6
13 Hyun-Suk Kim 4-1.090-8
14 Thomas Andersen 2-1.514-5
15 Tolgahan Kiraz 2-1.475-7
16 Hideaki Kobayashi 2-1.351-9.
Runners-up:
1 Jean Paul de Bruijn 2-1.486-10
2 Kostas Papakonstantinou 2-1.410-8
3 Trung Ha Do Nguyen 2-1.384-6
The groups for the last qualification day on Wednesday:
Group A: Hyun-Suk Kim, Barry van Beers, Tayfun Tasdemir
Group B: Thomas Andersen, Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, Jérémy Bury
Group C: Tolgahan Kiraz, Jae-Guen Kim, Dani Sánchez
Group D: Hideaki Kobayashi, Seung Jin Lee, Eddy Leppens
Group E: Dustin Jäschke, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Jacop Sörensen
Group F: Adnan Yüksel, Manol Minaoglu, Dong-Koong Kang
Group G: Lütfi Cenet, Mohamed Abdin, Dion Nelin
Group H: Can Capak, Glenn Hofman, Myung-Woo Cho
Group I: Tonny Carlsen, Riad Nady, Juan David Zapata
Group J: Roland Forthomme, Birol Uymaz, Martin Horn
Group K: Anh Vu Duong, Xuan Cuong Ma, Sung Uk Oh
Group L: Filippos Kasidokostas, Javier Palazón, David Martinez.
Martin Horn, top three finisher in the run-up to the last qualifications
Dion Nelin, among the best Europeans on the day ranking