The Italian player Emilio Sciacca was a bridge to far for Torbjörn Blomdahl on the first day of the World Cup. The Swede, who has many ups and downs this year, came back after a 2-0 deficit in sets, gave the match some tension (2-2), but was expelled from the tournament with 15-6 in the deciding set. The Swede had only an average of 1,020.
It was the first major surprise of the day. All other favorites for a high ranking stayed in the race during the opening session. Jérémy Bury started a little laborious against Gerhard Kostistansky (15-14) but was much stronger than his opponent in the next two sets (15-7 and 15-8). The Frenchman, who had a knee-operation this year, entered the next round with 1.800 average.
The Asian battle between Kyung-Roul Kim and Ryuuji Umeda ended up like last month in the Agipi Masters. There, in Schiltigheim, the Korean was the strongest, now he won again, with 3-1 and an average of 2.160.
Sung-Won Choi did not have his best day, but could permit it with Savas Bulut as his opponent. The coming man from Korea won 3-0 with 1.500 average.