NEW YORK - The numbers one and two of the world, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Frédéric Caudron and two famous invitation players, Raymond Ceulemans and Semih Sayginer, are the four seeded players for the main event of the Open Verhoeven in New York.
The men’s tournament starts today (9.30 American time) with the qualification rounds. 64 players are divided into eight groups of eight players. The first seeded players in the groups are Miguel Torres, Eddy Merckx, Roland Forthomme, Hugo Patino, Pedro Piedrabuena, Javier Teran, Sameh Sidhom and Eddy Leppens.
The Verhoeven Open for men is divided into three phases:
1 Qualifications
2 First final phase
3 Finals knockout.
Qualification format:
64 players are divided into eight groups of eight players and play round robin.
The top two finishers from each group plus the two best third place finishers advance to the next round.
Matches are played to 25 points.
18 players plus 1 Auction & 1 Lotto will advance to the first phase of the finals. 20 players total.
The tournament director reserves the right to seed up to one player into each of the separate Qualification Groups. The remaining players will be assigned by random draw.
Final phase 1:
24 players are divided into 4 groups of 6 players, playing round robin.
Four players will be seeded: Frédéric Caudron, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Raymond Ceulemans and Semih Sayginer.
The top two finishers from each group advance to the finals (knock-out).
Matches to 40 points.
Finals knock-out:
Eight player in single elimination
Matches to 40 points
Therese Klompenhouwer, the winner of the women's tournament is classified in Group E including Pedro Piedra Buena, the previous winner, Julian Torres, Steve Anderson and Michael Kang.
The tournament starts today (Wednesday, 9.30 US time) with the qualifications. Friday at 15.00 starts the first final phase. Saturday at 15.00 the final round starts.
The quarter-finals are on Sunday at 10.00, semifinals and finals at 12.00 and 15.00.
Kozoom will broadcast the matches live for Premium pass members, starting off today.
Some famous players In the first schedule of the qualifications, today (Wednesday):
9.30: Eddy Merckx, Luis Aveiga, Roland Forthomme.
10:20: Hugo Patino, Pedro Piedrabuena, Therese Klompenhouwer.
11:30: Javier Teran, Eddy Merckx, Luis Aveiga, Roland Forthomme.
12:45: Mazin Shooni, Pedro Piedrabuena, Therese Klompenhouwer, Michael Kang.
The group format in the qualifications:
Group A:
Miguel Torres, Jerry Geist, Edward Gomez, Gary Eadke, Hugo Flores, Allan Jensen, Karina Jetten, Alfonso Torres.
Group B:
Eddy Merckx, Peer Harpsoe, Luis Aveiga, George Ashby, Henrik Gellner, Carlos Elias, Arturo Herrera, William Oh.
Group C:
Roland Forthomme, Gerhard Kostistansky, Charles DeLorme, Mazin Shooni, Young Gull Lee, Jun Park, Jae Cheon Seong, Andrew Janquitto.
Group D:
Hugo Patino, Bob Tracy, Otto Hildebran, Brian Yi, Germy Rivera, Young Ha Choi, Ira Lee, Jairo Lenis.
Group E:
Pedro Piedrabuena, Julian Torres, Therese Klompenhouwer, Thai Loc, Steve Andersen, Michael Kang, Won Sik Kang, Manuel Lindao.
Group F:
Javier Teran, Harry Pena, Daniel Reyes, Jim Shovak, Russ Rosenberger, Pedro Reyes, Jim Watson, Song Lim.
Group G:
Sameh Sidhom, Joel Switala, Sun Shin, John Cristiano, Kim Bengsston, Sang Jin Lee, Lloyd Wallace, Lupe Cruz.
Group H:
Eddy Leppens, Carlos Palafox, Mark An, Chris Bartzos, Hyuk Yoon, Ricardo Carranca, Jimmy Ekinci, Sonny Cho.