BLANKENBERGE - When the balance was made up at the end of the third day in the Blankenberge World Cup, Hyung Bum Hwang was the very best with victories in 14 and 15 innings (2.12), Christian Rudolph showed his old luster (2.068 ) and it was a regrettable exodus from Belgians. Ronny Brants was the only one who survived from the seven Belgians on the way to the last qualifying day. Barry van Beers was the only one for the Netherlands who will return tomorrow and Filippos Kasidokostas, Antonio Montes and Jose Juan Garcia were eliminated. For Thursday, on the last qualifying day, four Koreans, two Germans, two Vietnamese, two Turks, two Greeks, one Belgian, one Dutchman, one Japanese and one Spaniard will come back into the areana.
The two Germans in the field were in euphoria after a wonderful day. Dustin Jäschke played against two Korean Kang's, started with a draw in 20 innings and then bested the second Kang 30-22 in 19 innings. That opened the way for the young German (26) to the next round with a nice average of 1.538. Jäschke, a professional car salesman, wants to follow dreams. ,,I hope to become a professional billiard player one day'', said the young player who was second at a German championship behind Martin Horn. ,,The German federation now ensures that I can play all World Cups and I hope to make even more progress. Anyway, I am relaxed, I have time. Most world class players are around fifty, so I still have 25 years to go so far.''
Christian Rudolph (53), an old soldier in the World Cups, was the second best winner of the 16 group heads. Tomorrow, Thursday, he returns to the scene with Dustin Jäscke and a third, famous compatriot: Martin Horn. Rudolph was already world champion in 1996 in the BWA era, was 11 times German champion and twice second at the World championships in Viersen. Now and then he appears on stage again in a World Cup, this time with a successful start. The Austrian George Schmied played a good match, but was beaten by the German 30-23 in 10 innings. In his second match, Rudolph beat Jean Paul de Bruijn, who had no chance in the final part of the match with 30-22 in 19.
The Belgians faced a collective off-day with Jef Philipoom as the only one who could disappear with his head up. The veteran was on his best in his second appearance against Jérôme Barbeillon, whom he beat 30-13 in 16. But Tolgahan Kiraz remained unbeaten and was the group winner. Not to come back tomorrow: Jef Philipoom, Steven van Acker, Danny Wuyts, Peter De Backer, Ronny Daniels, Francis Forton and Kenny Miatton.
For the Netherlands, only Barry van Beers shone with two wins, the first against Jose Juan Garcia, the former junior world champion, who started with seven and then saw his Dutch opponent run out to 30-23 in 17. Also against Vietnamese Quang Hao Truong, Van Beers performed extremely cool-blooded with a win in 16 innings (30-11), good for 1.818 average. For three other Dutchmen, Jean Paul de Bruijn (2 points, 1.368), Glenn Hofman (0 points, 1.116) and Therese Klompenhouwer (0 points, 0.891), the Belgian World Cup was over after one day.
The final ranking on Wednesday:
1 Hyung Bum Hwang 4-2.142-6
2 Christian Rudolph 4-2.068-10
3 Jae Guen Kim 4-1.875-11
4 Barry van Beers 4-1.818-7
5 Seung Jin Lee 4-1.764-6
6 Trung Hau Do Nguyen 4-1.578-9
7 Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 4-1.538-8
8 Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1,500-6
9 Ronny Brants 4-1.500-6
10 Hideaki Kobayashi 4-1,395-9
11 Juan David Zapata 4-1.304-5
12 Kwang Yeol Park 4-1.276-10
13 Murat Celik 4-1.176-9
14 Kostas Kokkoris 4-1.153-8
15 Dustin Jäschke 3-1.538-8
16 Dionisis Tsokontas 3-0,967-10.
The groups for Thursday:
Group A: Dong Koong Kang, Kwang Yeol Park, Murat Celik
Group B: Quyet Chien Tran, Juan David Zapata, Kostas Kokkoris
Group C: Dustin Jäschke, Hideaki Kobayashi, Quoc Nguyen Nguyen
Group D: Dionisis Tsokontas, Ronny Brants, Minh Cam Ma
Group E: Birol Uymaz, Tolgahan Kiraz, Myung Woo Cho
Group F: Martin Horn, Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, Tayfun Tasdemir
Group G: Adnan Yüksel, Trung Hau Do Nguyen, David Martinez
Group H: Lütfi Cenet, Hyung Kon Kim, Seung Jin Lee
Group I: Tonny Carlsen, Barry van Beers, Semih Sayginer
Group J: Javier Palazón, Anh Vu Duong, Jae-Guen Kim
Group K: Riad Nady, Dinh Nai Ngo, Christian Rudolph
Group L: Xuan Cuong Ma, Can Capak, Hyung Bum Hwang.
Dutchman Barry van Beers beat one Colombian and one Korean
Dustin Jäschke, the one of two strong Germans
Christian Rudolph, showing his old glory in Blankenberge