El GOUNA - The return of Martin Horn and Dave Christiani on the World Cup stage in Egypt put the two top players in the spotlights. The German won his two matches on the opening day in El Gouna in 15 and 20 innings (1.714), the Dutchman in 19 and 20 innings (1.538). That's a level that usually is recorded on the first day of World Cups in Korea and Vietnam.
Martin Horn leads the day ranking ahead of Dave Christiani. The dethroned Korean junior world champion, Tae-Hwan Kim, made a good kick-off with 1.224 and the Egyptian Ahmed Hatem confirmed his class with a victory in 19 innings.
The Dutchman John van Essen slipped to the last round as the last player. He did it without being at the billiards in the late evening. The German Inal was the executioner in this group by defeating Greek Antonis Metaxas in the final match of the day.
The day ranking with the sixteen group winners qualified for tomorrow:
1 Martin Horn 4-1.714-12
2 Dave Christiani 4-1.538-12
3 Tae-Kwan Kim 4-1.224-5
4 Ahmed Hatem 4-1.000-5
5 Martin Olesen 4-0.923-4
6 Jiseung Han 4-0.869-4
7 Jesus Rico 4-0.833-9
8 Wilco van Wijk 4-0.750-
9 Jordy de Kruijf 4-0.714-6
10 Gürhan Kabak 4-0.638-5
11 Alfred Nebuda 4-0.600-4
12 Medhat Hosny 4-0.594-7
13 Giuseppe Tiranno 4-0.560-4
14 Zayed Mohamed 2-0.903-5
15 John van Essen 2-0.852-7
16 Walter Jurado 2-0.556-5.
Dave Christiani, satisfied for his come-back
The Egyptian player Ahmed Hatem will show up in next round
Tae-Kwan Kim, with 1.224 in the next round