SHARM EL SHEIKH - The Dutch are in the winning mood in the World Cups with four podium finishes in the last three tournaments. Dick Jaspers returned to the top four of the rankings after Veghel, Jean Paul de Bruijn climbed onto the podium in Veghel and this next Sunday Dick Jaspers and Glenn Hofman are on the podium in Sharm El Sheikh. Glenn Hofman, in his younger years once third at the World Games (after a win over Jaspers) and once subduing Caudron in the PBA, is the miraculous player among the top four: he is number 140 in the world rankings. The other 'dark horse' is Tolgahan Kiraz, ranked 30th. Glenn Hofman plays this Saturday's semi-final against Jun Tae Kim at 10am (9am Western Europe). Dick Jaspers plays at 12.30 against Tolgahan Kiraz. Dick Jaspers beat Martin Horn with 50-41 in 35. Jun Tae Kim won over Phuong Vinh Bao 50-22 in 23.
Turkish outsider Kiraz remained from the encounter in the quarter-finals with Burak Hashas, his 17-year-old compatriot, whom he beat 50-30 in 23 innings. The two Turks were evenly matched in the battle, but Kiraz brought out his feared weapon in the closing stages: with a run of 16, he decided the match. Kiraz had previously featured in this World Cup with runs of 15 and 12. Kiraz, who won a round at the Turkish championship in October, was also a big man then with a run of 23, a Turkish record.
Glenn Hofman emerged from a superb battle with Eddy Merckx, in which Hofman's lucky shot in the last inning decided over win or lose. The match was in the closing stages, there was a lot of tension, impossible misses, luck and bad luck, but in the ultimate phase, luck smiled on Hofman instead of Merckx. The desperate shot for the match win (at 49-49), clattered to the other side of the billiard, came back to where the third ball was laying and caromed after a miraculous twist of fate. Glenn Hofman went on, Eddy Merckx gets to go home, so hard was fate. On the other table, the world champion (Phuong Vinh Bao) was beaten cleverly by Jun Tae Kim, last of the Koreans. And so in the final evening session, it went to two other matches: the classic between Dick Jaspers and Martin Horn and the Turkish clash between Burak Hashas and Tolgahan Kiraz with Jaspers winning after a long run to his match point (50-41 in 35). Kiraz held off the young, big Turkish talent.
The overview with the best sixteen:
The field of eight final players includes two Turks, two Dutch, one Belgian, one German, one Korean and one Vietnamese. The matches with the best sixteen fell in European favor. World number one Myung Woo Cho was beaten by Martin Horn. Burak Hashas, at 17, is the youngest among those best eight, after eliminating Vietnamese Tranh Luc Tran 50-44 in 36 innings in an exhilarating match. The second Turk is Tolgahan Kiraz, a man of high runs this tournament. In the round with the best 16, he eliminated Korean Chang Hoon Seo 50-42 in 26.
The two other matches in the final session of R16 ended in wins for Dick Jaspers and Martin Horn. The Dutchman played a exciting match against Haeng Jik Kim, who was without a chance. Jaspers already ran out to 23-14 among others with a run of 7 (Kim 6 and 5). Tense remained for a while, but Jaspers had another masterful final, in which he finished with 14, 5 and 2: 50-25 in 15.
Martin Horn was initially put under pressure by rankings number one Myung Woo Cho, who led 10-5 after four innings. The German then launched a devastating attack with 14, after which Cho missed six times (score 33-13 in 13). Myung Woo Cho did not recover from his slump and could no longer threaten the German. Horn finished with 7, 2, 3 and 5 and won 50-20 in 19 innings.
The top match in the best 16 between Eddy Merckx and Torbjörn Blomdahl yielded a Belgian victory 50-44 in 29. Glenn Hofman continued his triumphal march with a win over Marco Zanetti, Phuong Vinh Bao, the world champion, beat Daniel Morales and Jun Tae Kim was much stronger than Jérémy Bury in the first sessions with the best 16. Especially impressive was the win by Glenn Hofman, back into the World Cups and very strong in the preliminaries. The Dutchman gave Zanetti no chances to get back into the match in the closing stages and ran after 37-30 and 47-38 to an ultimately decisive lead.
Eddy Merckx dealt the first tease to Blomdahl (7-0), first ran out to 32-19 after the break, allowed the Swede to come back to 40-38, but struck in the last three innings with 3, 5 and 2 for 50-44 in 29.
Jun Tae Kim was strong and scored regularly against Jérémy Bury, who had a weak second half and was beaten by 6 and 4 from Kim in the last part: 50-37 in 37. Phuong Vinh Bao, in his year of glory, shone once in his match against Daniel Morales with a high run (9), that took him to a 10-point lead. I was eventually good for the win in the end: 50-37 in 27.
Tolgahan Kiraz, man of high runs in the end of the year
Glenn Hofman, the number 140 on the ranking, in Sharm in semi finals
Dick Jaspers, ready for finals after win against Horn
Jun Tae Kim, the only Korean left, plays Glenn Hofman in the semis.