ANKARA - The two Asian teams lead the rankings ahead of the two European teams after the qualifications in the WCBS championship in four disciplines of billiards. The matches in the semi-finals are between Asia A and Asia B (13:00 Turkish time) and between Europe A and Europe B (11:00 Turkish time). The Africa/Rest of the World and America teams have been eliminated. The Asia A team had a slight lead over that continent's B team after five matches in the round robin format (93 against 90). Europe A finished third with 85 points ahead of Europe B with 82 points.
Dick Jaspers shone on the last day of the qualifiers with world class matches against Haeng Jik Kim (40-15 in 8 innings with run of 20. The Dutchman also won later in the day against Quyet Chien Tran 40-22 in 10 (run 12), making him by far the best player in three-cushion. The world number one played 4.444 on average on the final qualifying day and 2.086 overall with wins over Tran, Kim, Horn and Gonzalez and only a loss against Sidhom.
The Asians in the A team with Quyet Chien Tran (three-cushion men), Chae Won Heo (three-cushion women), Lim Kok Leong (snooker men), Waratthanun Sukritthanes (snooker women), Robbie Capito (pool men), Annita Kan Jaya (pool women), Zhao Ruliang (heyball men) and Narantuya Bayarsaikhan (heyball women) owed the lead positions to two matches with 22 and 21 points against America and against Africa. The two European teams both scored the best against America (21 and 20 points) and had lesser games against Asia A and Asia B.
The maximum five wins were scored in men's heyball by Zhao Ruliang from China and in women's by Shi TianbQi, also from China. Silvana Lu from Indonesia remained unbeaten in women's pool with four wins and a draw. The same did Belgian Wendy Jans and Thai Waratthanun Sukritthanes in women's snooker.
Dick Jaspers looked back on the first two days of the WCBS championship with great satisfaction at the end of a memorable day. ’’The tournament is very special with all those nationalities and different disciplines. I really enjoy talking to other players and watching their games. For example, Chinese pool, heyball, is completely new to me and will be introduced at the World Games because it is a hugely popular discipline with a lot of players.'' Jaspers certainly does not consider his team (Europe B), which finished fourth, a favorite for the title. ’’We are with eight players in a team, you just have to make sure you play good yourself, for the rest you depend on your teammates. In my team, Charlotte Sörensen is very strong and 17-year-old snooker player Liam Davies from Wales is playing particularly well.''
''We did not qualify so easy,'' Jaspers noted. ’’Tomorrow, Sunday, we start again and meet Europe A right away. That will be a tough mission for our team, also in three-cushion, where I play against Martin Horn and Charlotte Sörensen against Therese Klompenhouwer. We must not underestimate anyone.'' A day like today, with two world matches in a row, doesn’t happen many times in a career, Jaspers soberly points out. ’’I made that run of 20 against Kim when I was trailing 12-8 and went out a moment later with seven. And against Tran, I jumped away very quickly with 30 in six innings.''
''The billiards are quite difficult at times,'' Jaspers said. ’’The cloths, on which we never played before, are slow, but reliable and the lines run fantastic. With a lot of defending, it is difficult. The rails are a bit stiffer, the collision with the balls is tough at times. I was struggling with it in the beginning, but on the second day it al ran great for me.''
The best players in each discipline over five matches were:
Snooker men:
1 Amir Sarkhosh (Asia B, Iran) 12 points
1 Liam Davis (Europe B, Wales) 12
3 Lim Kok Leong (Asia A, Malaysia) 11
Women's snooker:
1 Waratthanun Sukritthanes (Asia A, Thailand) 14
1 Wendy Jans (Europe A, Belgium) 14
3 Vidya Pillai (Asia B, India) 11
Men's three-cushion:
1 Dick Jaspers (Europe B, Netherlands) 13
1 Quyet Chien Tran (Asia A, Vietnam) 13
3 Sameh Sidhom (RvdW, Egypt) 12
Women's three cushion:
1 Therese Klompenhouwer (Europe A, Netherlands) 13
2 Gülsen Degener (Africa/RvdW, Turkey) 11
2 Charlotte Sörensen (Europe B, Denmark) 11
Pool men:
1 Konrad Juszczyszyn (Europe B, Poland) 11
2 Robbie Capito (Hong Kong), Mario He (Austria), Clark Sullivan (New Zealand), Bader Alawadhi (Kuwait) 10
Pool women:
1 Silvana Lu (Asia B, Indonesia) 14
2 Meng-Hsia Hung (Africa/RvdW, Australia) 12
Heyball men:
1 Zhao Ruliang (Asia A, China) 15
2 Moh Keen Hoo (Asia B, Malaysia) 313
Heyball women:
1 Shi TianQi (Asia B, China) 15
2 Kelly Fisher (Europe A, England) 13.
The semi-finals are:
11:00 Turkish time: Europe A-Europe B
13.00 Turkish time: Asia A-Asia B
15.00: Match for 3rd and 4th place
17.00: Final
The final standings after the qualifiers (total points and points per match):
- Asia A 93 (22-19-21-14-17)
- Asia B 90 (20-18-15-18-19)
- Europe A 85 (20-13-18-17-17)
- Europe B 82 (21-15-15-18-13)
- Africa/RvdW) 73 (20-11-14-14-14)
- Americas 57 (10-12-12-12-11)
Dick Jaspers before his historical match with Haeng Jik Kim: 40-15 in 8 with a 20 run
Sameh Sidhom from Egypt, one of the stars in three cushion, missed out the final day with Africa team
Therese Klompenhouwer, the very best in ladiies three cushion
The referees in the WCBS event in Ankara
The two European teams for the semi finals on Sunday
The two Asian teams for the other semi final