Javier Palazon shows majestic form in El Gouna

12/06/2017

Published by frits bakker

Spaniard Javier Palazon was the undisputed star of the day

EL GOUNA - Javier Palazón's final point, at full speed over six cushions, was the final chord to an exciting day in the El Gouna World Cup. The Spaniard had produced a mighty run of sixteen, a feat later copied by Belgian Eddy Leppens. Palazon also signed off for the best match of the day (40 in 10, 4.000 average) and having also won his second match, ended on a general average of 3.076. That should be, or be close to, a record in World Cup qualifications history.

The final day of qualification was once again merciless, to players like Eddy Leppens, Tayfun Tasdemir, Jae-Guen Kim, Myung Woo Cho and Thomas Andersen. The most striking examples of the topsy-turvy day? In the early hours, it was Spaniard Palazon who ran over Jean Paul de Bruijn like a freight train, (40-7 in 10, from 28-1 in 4 with a run of 16). Belgian Eddy Leppens, starting like a rocket against Birol Uymaz (16 in the first inning), but having to watch how the Turk fought back with a run of 10 and finished first: 40-38 in 21. And then there was Korean Jae-Guen Kim, who could not hit anything against Jean Paul de Bruijn, but in the evening hours against Palazon suddenly redeemed himself. It was a sparkling match: Jae-Guen Kim had a 20-12 lead after 5 innings (run of 11), but Palazon ran an eleven himself in the same inning. It was then 23-20 to the Spaniard. The star of the day never looked back and won 40-37 in 16 innings.

The second echelon of global 3-cushion has once again found that in the last stages before the main draw, there are no excuses. If you do not show top form, if you are not mentally tough, if you can't anticipate the attacks by strong opponents, you will be punished. Thankfully, there is a back door escape for three "best losers" with the highest averages. In this World Cup, they are Eddy Leppens, Tayfun Tasdemir and Thomas Andersen.

Other players we will see in action again tomorrow, after today's fascinating battles, are Juan David Zapata, Roland Forthomme, Dinh Nai Ngo and Tonny Carlsen. Big names to miss the boat are Myung-Woo Cho, Lütfi Cenet, Semih Sayginer, Jae-Guen Kim and Minh Cam Ma.

The last World Cup of the season will make a fresh start on Thursday. All the big guns will enter the arena to take on the fifteen players who survived the qualifications. Head and shoulders the best in that field was Javier Palazon (3.076), followed by Birol Uymaz (2.000), Dong-Koong Kang (1.904), Sung-Won Choi (1.600) and Seung-Jin Lee (1.568).

It was a tough final day, leading up to the K.O. stage. Jae-Ho Cho looked to be the obvious favorite to win his flight, but in his second match he ran into an unstoppable Dane, Thomas Andersen (40-24 in 13). Anderson had lost his first match (against William Oh) by a single point, 39-40, but in his second he played some world class 3-cushion.

Korean Seung-Jin Lee treated just-married Tayfun Tasdemir to a free cold shower: 14-3 in 3 turned into 40-28 in 21. Tayfun escaped, thanks to his first win: 40-12 against Baudoin in 16 innings. Eddy Leppens had first beaten Arnim Kahofer, then produced a run of 16 in his first inning against Birol Uymaz. Losing that match sent him to the waiting bench, to see if he was in the top-3.

Adnan Yüksel dealt with his countryman Semih Sayginer, who could only produce one point in his last six innings: 40-26. But Yüksel then had to battle hard against German Ronny Lindemann, who kept him to a draw, with two points in the equalizer. Roland Forthomme, having inexplicably dropped to 37th on the world ranking, craves a comeback. His fighting spirit is still there, as he demonstrated against Lütfi Cenet: 20-15 behind, but winning 40-35 in 23.

Tonny Carlsen loves to bask in the sunshine on the Red Sea beaches, but he'll have to focus on billiards a little longer. His match against Minh Cam Ma, one of the stars of the WC in Bolivia, was not elegant but it was effective. The Dane advances to the K.O. stage after a 40-33 win in 40 innings. Young Myung-Woo Cho was eliminated in the final session of the day, by Vietnamese Dinh Nai Ngo.

Anh Vu Duong, also from Vietnam, got kicked out by Juan David Zapata, who finished at 40-37 and saw his opponent miss the equalizer.

The ranking after the last qualifications:

1 Javier Palazón (Spanje) 4-3.076-16

2 Birol Uymaz (Turkije) 4-2.000-10

3 Dong-Koong Kang (Korea)

4-1.904-9 4 Sung-Won Choi (Korea) 4-1.600-9

5 Seung-Jin Lee 4-1.568-12

6 Xuan Cuong Ma 4-1.481-8

7 Juan David Zapata 4-1.403-9

8 Roland Forthomme 4-1.403-6

9 Dinh Nai Ngo 4-1.250-8

10 Tonny Carlsen 4-1.212-7

11 Adnan Yüksel 3-1.481-7

12 Jae-Ho Cho (Korea) 2-2.206-9.

The three best losers to enter the main draw:

1 Eddy Leppens 2-2.108-16

2 Tayfun Tasdemir 2-1.837-9

3 Thomas Andersen 2-1.717-9.

The main draw:

12.00:
Dani Sanchez-Ali Hares
Jung-Han Heo-Tonny Carlsen
Eddy Merckx-Tayfun Tasdemir
Jérémy Bury-Dinh Nai Ngo
14.00:
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen-Eddy Leppens
Murat Naci Coklu-Jae-Ho Cho
Sameh Sidhom-Ihab El Messery
Marco Zanetti-Seung-Jin Lee
16.00:
Haeng-Jik Kim-Adnan Yüksel
Nikos Polychronopoulos-Sung-Won Choi
Frédéric Caudron-Xuan Cuong Ma
Birol Uymaz-Luis Aveiga
18.00:
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Roland Forthomme
Quyet Chien Tran-Dong-Koong Kang
Javier Palazón-Juan David Zapata
Dick Jaspers-Thomas Andersen.