PORTO/SEOUL - The Korean star player HaengJik Kim won the World Cup in Porto last year and three weeks later the World Cup in Cheongju, Korea. The 26-year-old defending champion in Porto will be at the start again in the Pavillon Dragon Calxa in the Portuguese port city next week (2-8 July), but his future is uncertain. It could be his last World Cup for the time being. HaengJik Kim is part of the Korean players who have been banned from participating in international UMB tournaments due to a conflict between the UMB (world federation) and the KBF (Korean federation) . ,,I come to Porto with mixed feelings. The World Cup her could be the last tournament'', says the highest ranked player (4th) of the four Koreans in the world's top twelve.
For his first World Cup victory, HaengJik Kim defeated in the final Nguyen Quoc Nguyen last year. In the FC Porto stronghold, three Asians were on stage for the first time. Eddy Merckx missed three match balls against Dani Sánchez, who became the new number one in the world and Wan-Young Choi was the revelation of the tournament. The Korean therefore received an invitation for the first 3CC Masters in two weeks in Seoul.
Kim: ,,I keep nice memories to Porto, because it was my first World Cup and in that good form I also won in Cheongju. That's why I like to come back there. Porto is not only a wonderful city, but it's also a great organization. I hope my form and confidence will be back in time, because I'm not playing very well now. I try to work hard on it.'' The Korean players meanwhile had a players meeting this Thursday evening about the situation. Jae-Ho Cho, chairman of the players association, will gather the opinions of players and has a meeting with the board of the Korean federation on 5th of July.
With his current position on the world ranking, HaengJik Kim has chances to enter the top three. Frédéric Caudron leads the table at the start in Porto with 458 points followed by Eddy Merckx with 399, Marco Zanetti with 317, HaengJik Kim with 304 and Dick Jaspers with 272. Merckx will lose his 80 points from Ho Chi Minh last year.
HaengJik Kim, four-time junior world champion (2007, 2010, 2011, 2012) and Asian champion in 2015, travels to Porto in a situation that is worrying for the players. ,,We want to be able to play in the next tournaments and are waiting for a quick solution. Because this is very bad for us: no competition, not able to compete for the prizes and losing points for the ranking.''
The World Cup in Porto starts on Monday, July 2 with the preliminaries. The seeded players are:
Frédéric Caudron, Eddy Merckx, Marco Zanetti, HaengJik Kim, Dani Sánchez, Dick Jaspers, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Jae-Ho Cho, Murat Naci Coklu, Sameh Sidhom, Sung-Won Choi, Jung-Han Heo, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Jérémy Bury. The wildcards are given to Riad Nady, Myung Woo Cho and Ruy Costa. The tournament has registered 150 participants, 50 players are on the reserve list.
The most known players for the last day of qualifications: Quyet Chien Tran, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, Dong-Koong Kang, Eddy Leppens, Tayfun Tasdemir, Semih Sayginer, Lütfi Cenet, David Martinez, Can Capak, Roland Forthomme, Jae-Guen Kim, Tonny Carlsen, Adnan Yüksel, Javier Palazón, Anh Vu Duong and Xuan Cuong Ma. David Zapata, one of the revelations in the last World Cup in Blankenberge, already plays in the pre-rounds on Tuesday.
Dick Jaspers (Blankenberge), Quyet Chien Tran (Ho Chi Minh City) and Frédéric Caudron (Antalya) were the first three World Cup winners in 2018.
All matches from the start can be followed live on Kozoom
The night is falling over wonder Porto city
HaengJik Kim on stage after his World Cup win in Porto in 2017