HURGHADA - The world ranking is ruthless. Two briljant champions, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Dani Sánchez, have been going down on the ranking of best players to a position around 20th place. The Swede lost in the World Cup in Hurghada the maximum 80 points and was defeated by Frédéric Caudron in the quarter finals (40-32 in 17). Dani Sánchez disappeared from the scene one rounfd before and Ronald Forthomme (loss against Sayginer in the quarters) remains around the number 25 position. Semih Sayginer, who meets Caudron in the semi-finals, tomorrow, is close to a top-three position. The other semi-final is the match between Dick Jaspers and HaengJik Kim after the Korean's stunning come-back against Jérémy Bury.
Half on the way in the curious match, the Frenchman led 20-10 and later even 32-12. The reborn Kim from the first two sessions (80 in 29, average 2.750) suddenly seemed unrecognizable, but he showed a fantastic final shot against Bury: in the 15th inning with an 11-run (36-24), two innings later again with an 11 (36-35). The tension was unexpectedly back in the match and in the dying seconds, Bury went down. HaengJik played out 2, 2 and 1, Bury scored 0, 0, 1, 0 and 1 in his last five innings. The Korean grabbed to his heart after his finish, sighed deeply and celebrated his victory with a big smile.
Frédéric Caudron closed the match against Blomdahl with 5 after having scored an earlier 11 in the match for a 32-22 lead in 11. Semih Sayginer quickly dealt with Forthomme after runs of 7 (5th inning) and 12 (7th) and gave the Belgian no chance to return in the match: 40-17 in 17.
On the final day, the last World Cup victory will be decided in a battle between one Belgian, one Turk, one Dutchman and one Korean. Dick Jaspers ran to victory thanks to high runs around the stop: 7 and 11. He built up the gap from 17-10 to 24-10 and in the final part to 39-17. That resulted in a giant win: 40-29 in 15.
The semi-finals on Saturday: 11.00: Caudron-Sayginer, 13.00: Jaspers-Kim.
Semih Sayginer with a giant win over Roland Forthomme, in semi-finals against Caudron
Frédéric Caudron, beating Torbjörn Blomdahl, who is now around 20 on the ranking
Dick Jaspers defeated Dion Nelin thanks to high runs in the final part
The best match in the session with the last sixteen came from HaengJik Kim, who had a magical finish against Adnan Yüksel. Ten innings in, the game showed a modest level (12-11), then, all of a sudden, Kim got the balls under control. The Korean went out with 13, 8 and 8 in his last three innings: 40-24 in 13, by far the best match of eight in that round.
Dick Jaspers had another slow start and was down to Sameh Sidhom for a long time. The Egyptian seemed on the way to a new sensation after Mohsen Fouda on the day before. But things turned out the other way. Jaspers, known for his flaming final sprint, first came back with seven to make it 31-26, was 35-33 behind and was pressured when Sidhom first reached the finish at 40-38 in 21. Jaspers equalized from the spots and then saw Sidhom score three points at the shoot-out start. The Dutchman, who took the world title this year in an exciting extension against Bury, kept his stoic focus and defeated Sidhom with four, the last by an easy bank shot.
Two of the older warriors on the circuit, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Marco Zanetti, went right up to the break (Blomdahl leading 22-19 in eight). In the second part, the Swede ruled and Zanetti couldn't reply: 40-29 in 21. Jérémy Bury missed his last point again in a run of eight in the match with Huberney Cataño, but took the win one inning later, 40-30 in 27. Dion Nelin ran out after the break with a run of seven facing Jae-Ho Cho, to finally close the gap and won: 40-30 in 26.
Semih Sayginer and Murat Naci Coklu delivered a wonderful match with a better start for Sayginer (17-6), followed by a strong come-back: Coklu first took a lead at 30-25 and eventually 39-29. In the final phase, Sayginer crowned himself the winner of the Turkish clash with runs of 9 and 2, when Coklu missed twice in his last two innings.
Frédéric Caudron was out of sight of Vietnamese Nguyen already in six innings (after 10-0 in the first and 16-0 in 6). The Belgian was never in danger and finished 40-25 in 18. Mohsen Fouda's adventure came to an end against Roland Forthomme, who quickly took off to 17-1 in 11, 22-4 in 15 and said farewell to the first day's hero at 40-26 in 31.
HaengJik Kim, best winner in the last sixteen
Semih Sayginer beat his country man Murat Naci Coklu to the finish line
Torbjörn Blomdahl, the better of Marco Zanetti in the last sixteen
Dick Jaspers, always feared when it comes to shoot-outs
Sameh Sidhom, better start than Jaspers, outplayed in the extension
Jérémy Bury, amazed by the game and the balls
Dion Nelin on his way to a great performance