GWAJUNG – Huberney Cataño's blistering start to the World Cup in Gwajung must be a boost for South American, and especially Colombian billiards. The 34-year-old, multiple champion from his country, played his matches to 30 points in 11 innings on the second day of the Korean tournament, averaging 2.727. That propelled Cataño, the former Pan American champion, to the top of the rankings. The Colombians are hungry for success after a disappointing World championship, in which only Cataño survived the first round of the main draw and was then eliminated by Sidhom. Pedro Gonzalez, another top player from Colombia, was knocked down from the World Cup in Korea this Tuesday after a bizarre loss to Tatsuo Arai. Gonzalez's start in that match was phenomenal, with 9, 1, and 6 points and a 16-0 lead. He went even to 19-0 in 5, but the last part was extremely sober. The Colombian ultimately lost 30-28 in 22 innins and was eliminated by the Japanese. Colombian Christian Latorre also played in that group, but he lost both his matches by 0.576! And one of the most famous Colombians, Alexander Salazar, made a fruitless trip to Korea with Carlos Anguita and Van Tai Nguyen in his group and a 0-points score. Tomorrow, Wednesday, Jose Juan Garcia will come into the tournament to shine for Colombia together with Cataño.
The highest score anyway was for Huberney Cataño on a day that was otherwise dominated by seven Korean group winners out of sixteen. Chi Yeon Cho, who finished second at the Asian Championship ten years ago behind Haeng Jik Kim, was his country's best with 4 points and 1.818, while young Turk Denizcan Akkoca was in the top three. Two experienced Japanese players, Ryuuji Umeda and Tatsuo Arai, qualified for the next round. Carlos Anguita was the only Spaniard, and Hugo Patiño showed good form.
The best averages on this second day were, besides Huberney Cataño, for Chi Yeon Cho with 1.818, Denizcan Akkoca with 1.666, Nguyen Nhu Le and Kostas Papakonstantinou with 1.261, Sung Il Jeong with 1.538, Hugo Patino with 1.500, and Young Ho Kim with 1.463.
For the third day, a group was drawn with three young players: French Gwendal Maréchal and Maxime Panaia, and Turkish player Denizcan Akkoca. Pierre Soumagne plays in a group with two Vietnamese Nguyens. Dimitrios Seleventas and Tobias Bouerdick play against Chun Woo Park. Ryuuji Umeda will face Turkey's Ahmet Alp and Vietnam's Thon.
Carlos Anguita faces a World Championship podium finisher, Arnim Kahofer. Kostas Papakonstantinou is paired with the first Dutchman in the preliminary rounds: Volkan Cetin. Huberney Cataño will face, among others, Belgium's Alain Saeijs, and Japan's Kiyota.
The standings in the sixteen groups on Tuesday:
Group A:
1 Chun Woo Park 4-1,200-6
2 Gülsen Degener 2-0.612-5
3 Takeshima O 0-0.631-5
Group B:
1 Ryuuji Umeda 4-1,276-10
2 Ahmet Koseoglu 2-1.088-5
3 Takamasa Hagiwara 0-0.803-5
Group C:
1 Sung Il Jeong 4-1,538-10
2 Hironori Nakajima 2-0.767-4
3 Hoon Sang Ryu 0-0.981-5
Group D:
1 Kostas Papakonstantinou 4-1.621-6
2 Shouta Funaki 2-1,428-10
3 Dong Ryong Kim 0-1,102-6
Group E:
1 Huberney Cataño 4-2,727-10
2 The Vinh Dinh 2-1.483-8
3 Masataka Kanbara 0-0.806-6
Group F:
1 Do Hyeon Kim 3-1,153-5
2 Kostas Kokkoris 3-1,000-7
3 Woo Hyun Choi 0-0.666-6
Group G:
1 Tatsuo Arai 4-1.224-7
2 Pedro Gonzalez 2-1,234-9
3 Christian Latorre 0-0.576-6
Group H:
1 Geon Yun Kim 4-1,395-14
2 Ismet Essen 1-1.134-6
3 Ha Eun Kim 1-0.974-7
Group I:
1 Denizcan Akkoca 4-1,666-6
2 Sam Gu Park 2-1,020-6
3 Ataberk Cerkez 0-0.863-5
Group J:
1 Yeong Yun Jo 4-1.538-7
2 Beom Yeol Lee 2-1,060-6
3 Nguyen Dinh Luan 0-0.755-3
Group K:
1 Young Ho Kim 4-1,463-11
2 Baris Sabanci 2-0.840-7
3 Marcos Morales 0-1,063-6
Group L:
1 Ufuk Kapusiz 4-1,000-7
2 Jose Maria Mas 2-1.319-9
3 Bong Soo Kim 0-0.891-4
Group M:
1 Chi Yeon Cho 4-1,818-6
2 Mahmoud Ayman 2-0.666-5
3 Gokhan Uludaglilar 0-0.612-4
Group N:
1 Hugo Patino 4-1,500-6
2 TTT Nguyen 1-1.222-6
3 Muharrem Peker 1-1.181-8
Group O:
1 Nguyen Nhu Le 3-1.621-9
2 Takao Miyashita 3-1,538-8
3 Min Suk Kim 0-0.763-5
Group P:
1 Carlos Anguita 4-1,395-6
2 By Tai Nguyen 2-1.447-9
3 Alexander Salazar 0-1,102-5
Denizcan Akkoca, smoothly in top 3 of the day ranking
Chi Yeon Cho, former Asian runner-up is back in town
Carlos Anguita showed again his good form
Hugo Patiño with a solid 1.500
Tatsuo Arai eliminated Pedro Gonzalez for the group win
Ryuuji Umeda, still a feared fighter in the pre-rounds