ANTALYA - The French triumph went to Gwendal Maréchal, the Turkish knock-out was handed out by Cem Ozkaya. On the second day at the World Cup in Antalya, three compatriots competed in two groups. The level was high, the battle was fascinating and fierce. Turkish 40-year-old outsider Ozkaya was rather unknown internationally, but defeated Turgay Orak and Ahmet Alp, two renowned players from his country. 22-year-young French promise Maréchal is a rising star, known for its stoic character and great skills and not afraid of big names. He also proved it against Jérôme Barbeillon, who was a favorite in the French group after an excellent start.
The Vietnamese called Nguyen TTT (Tran Thanh Tu) led the rankings ahead Cem Ozkaya, Gwendal Maréchal, Tolgahan Kiraz and Myeong Jong Cha. Six Turks were among the sixteen group winners, three Koreans and another unexpected Jordanian. José-Maria Mas, Peter De Backer and Jacob Sörensen moved up to the next rounds with one win, Michael Nilsson with three match points. The good news, at the end of the day, came for Jérôme Barbeillon and Kostas Kokkoris, that they were the first and second substitutes to enter the next and last qualifications due to two cancellations. Barry van Beers missed his plane in Germany because of traffic problems. Antonio Montes suffered a sudden abdominal pain, was taken to hospital in Antalya and needed a quick surgery on his appendix on Wednesday morning. He may only leave the hospital on Friday.
Gwendal Maréchal, the number two in France following Jérémy Bury, once again showed his great qualities. The 'Bretagne' guy, who started playing billiards at the age of 12, was inspired by his granddad and is facing his penultimate academic year at the University in Vannes. He ran into a tough mission in his last match against Jérôme Barbeillon, who won his first match against Kevin Vasseur in 14 innings. The youngest of the three French was the best in the decisive game to Barbeillon 30-22 in 17.
The Frenchman remained undisturbed, a characteristic for which he is known. "I had a lesser start than my opponent, but I was able to hit back well," Maréchal commented the match. The huge French talent, great admirer of the creative playing style of Myung-Woo Cho, from the same age, confessed that he spends much less time to practice than the young Korean. ''I need at least 20/25 hours a week for my studies and lectures at the university. For my practice in Lorient, I have to drive 40 kilometres by car and I spend the time left with girlfriend. That means, I can only practice for a few hours in the evening and in the weekends without competitions or tournaments."
Cem Ozkaya, 40-year-old Turk who defeated two of his known countrymen, has more years of experience, but never won a major tournament in Turkey. The only striking result, last year, was Ozkaya's third place on a podium with Sayginer and Tasdemir. The only thing known about him is that he comes from Samson city and is 12th on the Turkish ranking. Ozkaya was an outsider in the matches with Ahmet Alp and Turgay Orak, but won the two games in 18 and 17, averaging 1,714 and second on the day ranking following Nguyen TTT.
Among the well-known players who were eliminated on the third day was, among others, Therese Klompenhouwer (2 match points, 0,929), who blamed herself for a poor preparation. ''I had the ideal form after my European title last weekend, but I didn't train in the four days until the World Cup. The result was: I had no feeling at all in my first match. It is a mistake to think that not playing for a few days is no problem. I even planned to play at an old pool table in a cellar, but it was so bad that it was really impossible.''
Xuan Cuong Ma, Inwon Kang, Peter Ceulemans (2 points, 1,485), Murat Tüzül and Ronny Lindemann, both with two losses, couldn't survive the third day either. Peter Ceulemans was really unlucky: he missed the second position in his group on one inning and therefore also missed the second runner-up place.
Wednesday's day ranking:
1 Tran Thanh Tu Nguyen 4-1,714-8
2 Cem Ozkaya 4-1,714-6
3 Gwendal Maréchal 4-1,666-9
4 Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1,578-10
5 Myeong Jong Cha 4-1,578-9
6 Chang Hoon Seo 4-1,578-6
7 Ahmet Koseoglu 4-1,395-6
8 Gökhan Salman 4-1,363-6
9 Manol Minaoglu 4-1,224-6
10 Muharrem Peker 4-1,052-8
11 Mashour Abu Tayeh 4-1,034-6
121 Sung Il Jeong 4-0.983-6
13 Michael Nilsson 3-1.111-10
14 Jose-Maria Mas 2-1,655-9
15 Peter De Backer 2-1,611-8
16 Jacob Sörensen 2-1.292-7
The groups for the last qualification day (12 winners and the three runners-up move up to the main draw with 32):
Poule A: Nilsson, Jeong, Duc Chien Nguyen
Poule B: Sánchez, Mas, Abu Tayeh
Poule C: De Backer, Peker, SW Choi
Poule D: Sörensen, Minaoglu, Forthomme
Poule E: Nelin, Andersen, Salman
Poule F: Barbeillon, Koseoglu, Heo
Poule G: Polychronopoulos, Seo, WY Choi
Poule H: Nguyen Quoc, Jäschke, Cha
Poule I: Kiraz, Kahofer, Do Nguyen
Poule J: Ngo, Mori, Maréchal
Poule K: JT Kim, Abdin, Ozkaya
Poule L Nady, Kokkoris, TTT Nguyen.
Gwendal Maréchal, 22-year young Frenchman who combines study, girlfriend and top billiards
40-year old Turk Cem Ozkaya defeated two of his well known countryman, Alp and Orak
Peter De Backer, known for his stunts at the World Cup stage, qualified again with a great final rush
Jérôme Barbreillon, gladly surprised by his place in the next round as the first runner-up