SLUISKIL - His father is the former Japanese champion and was a pupil of Ludo Dielis. The 20-year-old son Yusuke Mori was the best starter at the Junior World championships in Sluiskil. He defeated a feared competitor in the third round of the first day: Pan-American champion Manuel Lindao 25-19 in thirteen innings.
Yusuke Mori is the best young player in his country, though he's not the champion, because there is no official championship played in Japan.
He is not only an excellent three cushion player, he's also very strong in one cushion. After the World championship in Sluiskil, he will travel to Ludo Dielis in Belgium, where he will do some training for the World championship one cushion for seniors. There he will show up in French St Brevain against world class players like Frédéric Caudron, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Alain Remond and Wolfgang Zenkner.
The favorites for the overall victory in the World championship in Sluiskil remained unbeaten in the first round. Spaniard Antonio Montes started against Dutch champion Jordy de Kruijff 25-15 in 18 innings, Myung Woo Cho started 25-17 in 17 and Berkay Karakurt bested Frenchman Adrien Tachoire 25-15 in 14 innings.
That shows the particularly high level in this first sessions.
Just look at the averages of the winners:
Yusuke Mori, Japan 1.923
Berkay Karakurt, Turkey 1.785
Antonio Montes, Spain 1.388
Myung Woo Cho, Korea 1.315
Andy Bond, Belgium 1.136
Alexis Rouaud, France 1.086
And the best loser so far: Manual Lindao in his match against Berkay Karakurt 1.461 average.
The tournament start was outstanding: only Adrien Tachoire, the number two at the European championships this year, had to face his first disappointment. He couldn't match with Turkish high flyer Karakurt.