VIERSEN - At the World three cushion Championship for Nation teams, the German team will play with the youngest player ever at the tournament in the coming days. 16-year-old Amir Ibraimov makes his debut for the homeland: he will replace German number one Martin Horn in Viersen, who did not fully recover from his foot fracture. With Ronny Lindemann leading the way, the Germans meet the strong teams from Sweden (with Torbjörn Blomdahl), Belgium (with Eddy Merckx) and Egypt (without Sidhom) during the preliminary rounds.
The World Championship with two players per seeded country is organized from Thursday 21 to Sunday 24 March at the Festhalle in Viersen. The opening is at 11am on Thursday. This is the 36th time that the World Championship for nations is being organized.
Young Amir, who just turned 16, student from Duisburg and winner of a European junior tournament a few weeks ago, is looking forward to his debut in. ’’That he can’t play, is very unfortunate for Martin, but of course I like to participate for my country. When I was very young, I already went to watch this World’s with my father.'' Amir wants nothing more than to play here too in the wonderful entourage of the Festhalle in Viersen.''
The defending champions at this World championship are the Turks, playing with Tayfun Tasdemir and Tolgahan Kiraz, after Semih Sayginer, Murat Naci Coklu, Lütfi Cenet and Can Capak, among others, switched to the Korean professional federation PBA. Other big contenders in Viersen are South Korea with Myung-Woo Cho and Jung Han Heo, Vietnam with Quyet Chien Tran and world champion Phuong Vinh Bao, record champion Sweden with Torbjörn Blomdahl and Michael Nilsson, Spain with Ruben Legazpi and Sergio Jimenez, Belgium with Eddy Merckx and Jef Philipoom, the Netherlands with Jean Paul de Bruijn and Jeffrey Jorissen and Colombia with Pedro Gonzalez and Huberney Cataño.
For the Dutch team, Dick Jaspers, who played all championships for his country so far, is not seeded as he skipped a Grand Prix in his country and is short of ranking points. For Egypt, Sameh Sidhom cancelled due to his UMB trip to China.
The Belgians open the tournament at noon against Egypt, with Sweden then playing Germany. The Netherlands play at 2pm against Jordan, France against Japan. All matches can be seen live on AfreecaTV.
The participating countries and players in Viersen:
Turkey: Tayfun Tasdemir, Tolgahan Kiraz
Germany: Ronny Lindemann, Amir Ibraimov
Greece: Kostas Kokkoris, Dimitrios Seleventas
Sweden: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Michael Nilsson
Netherlands: Jean Paul de Bruijn, Jeffrey Jorissen
France: Jérémy Bury, Michael Devogelaere
Spain: Ruben Legazpi, Sergio Jimenez
Belgium: Eddy Merckx, Jef Philipoom
Colombia: Pedro Gonzalez, Huberney Cataño
Argentina: Guillermo Perez, Valentino Oliveto
USA: Hugo Patiño, Raymon Groot
South Korea: Myung Woo Cho, Jung Han Heo
Vietnam: Quyet Chien Tran, Phuong Vinh Bao
Japan: Ryuuji Umeda, Takao Miyashita
Egypt: Riad Nady, Samer Kamal
Jordan: Ahmet Al Ghababsheh, Naser Awwad
Tayfun Tasdemir defends the world title for Turkey with Tolgahan Kiraz