3-Cushion
GURI - Amidst all that Korean quality in the three cushion arena, you’d almost forget that there are other major billiard nations. The best player in the last qualification round was once again a Korean (Jung Han Heo), but neighbor Japan made its presence felt. With Funaki, Umeda, Takeshima and Arai, it sent a powerful quartet into the main draw, even if Tatsuo Arai needed the back door.
He advanced as one of the four best second place finishers in his group. That route also brought former European champion Naci Coklu back in the draw, he too could not win his flight.
Ngo Dinh Nai from Vietnam was the surprise winner of flight A, he stayed ahead of Coklu and Korean Jang Nam Guk. His average of 1.600 makes him a player to keep an eye on.
Flight B was won by Lee Tae Hyun, at the expense of Nguyen Quoc Nguyen and World Cup winner Adnan Yüksel.
Can Capak won by a photo finish in flight C: three players with one win and two points each, and 1.489, 1.480 en 1.465 respectively for Capak, Arai and a disappointed Tasdemir.
Jung Han Heo got the job done more convincingly in flight D: two wins and an average of exactly 2.000. That proved to be too much for Sameh Sidhom and Ly The Vinh.
For Eddy Leppens, it was smooth sailing on his way to win flight E, he qualified with 4 points and 1.632, leaving Tran Quyet Chien and Sin Nam Ho behind.
Hwang Hyung Bum appeared to be the unlucky player of the day: in spite of the best average in flight F (1.761) he was only second, behind Dong Koong Kang. As the table was made up, he had done well enough to advance into the main tournament.
Japanese Takeshima and Dutchman van Beers shared the points in flight G, and they both beat Duong Anh Vu. From this flight, the nrs. 1 and 2 also advance both.
In flight H, there was a close deciding match between Ruben Legazpi and Nikos Polychronopoulos. Legazpi drew the long straw (1.702 for the Spaniard).
Ruiigi Umeda was the winner of flight I, he was too strong for a Turkish player (Savas Bulut) and a Greek (Apostolos Balogiannis).
Kouji Funaki made an impression in flight J, with two wins and a final average of 1.818. His countryman Yusuke Mori and seasoned German Christian Rudolph were completely run over by the stylish player from Japan.
In the “Dutch” group, there was disappointment for Glenn Hofman, after his fine performances earlier this summer. He ended third in his flight. Jean Paul de Bruijn won both his matches and therefore the group, but he will have mixed feelings about his laborsome win over Birol Uymaz.
Groep L finally, was won by Vietnamese Ma Xuon Cuong, who stayed ahead of Javier Palazon and Lim Tae Soo.
The main draw of the Guri World Cup:
Blomdahl – Ma Xuon Cuong, Umeda – Dong Koong Kang, Legazpi – Arai, Sung Won Choi – de Bruijn, Cenet – van Beers, Merckx – Ngo Dinh Nai, Jae Ho Cho – Capak, Zanetti – Lee Choong Bok, Bury – Takeshima, Kasidokostas – Kyung Nam Ko, Jaspers – Campino, Jung Han Heo – Naci Coklu, Sanchez – Lee Tae Hyun, K.R. Kim – Hwang Hyung Bum, Funaki – Forthomme, Caudron – Leppens.
Bert van Manen