BOGÓTA – Colombian player Henry Diaz started the World Cup in his home country with a great match and a walk-over. On the second day, Diaz defeated Frenchman Jimmy Hilaire 30-15 in 13 innings, averaging 2.307. Diaz got a walk-over for his second match because the other Frenchman, Derradji, did not appear. Diaz led the rankings on the second day based on average, ahead of Luis Martinez with 4 points and 1.666, Mexican Javier Vera also with 1.666, and two other Colombians, Alejandro Piza (4, 1.500) and Mauricio Gutierrez (4, 1.395). The top sixteen winners included eight more Colombians and one European, the Turk Soner Tas. The mixed group with the most quality saw Mexican Alejandro Santiago emerge as the winner, ahead of Venezuelan Miguel Canton and American Carlos Mario Villegas. The three players were evenly matched with two match points; Santiago had the best average with 1.333, ahead of Canton with 1.307 and Villegas with 1.205.
Alexander Salazar had to leave the podium after being defeated by Quoc Thuan Pham 30-27 in 20 innings in a strong match. Only Min Duk Kim advanced to the next round as the first runner-up with 3 points and 0.909. Salazar went home with 2 points and 1.676. Young Turk Denizcan Akkoca also made an early exit after being defeated by Julio Ayala 30-27 in 24. Costa Rican Erick Tellez shone with a run of 14, but it was not enough to qualify. He lost his match against Alejandro Piza 30-18 in 13 innings.
The following schedules show the arrival among others of Wan Young Choi, Ahmet Alp, Sam van Etten, Maxime Panaia, Javier Vera, Gwendal Maréchal, Mikaël Devogelaere, Pedro Gonzalez, and Merlin Romero, who has been among the better players from the very first day. That round starts today, Wednesday, at 11:00 AM in Colombia (7:00 PM Western European Time). It is the lead-up to the final qualifiers for the main tournament.