SANTA CRUZ - The 50-year-old Mexican Javier Vera is the king of three cushion in his country for the last seven years. At the World championship in Bolivia, he was an absolute outside player before the start, but after victories over Murat Naci Coklu and Eddy Leppens in the knockout, he deserves to be called the sensation of the tournament. His next opponent is the Vietnamese Ma, another revelation at this world stage. Torbjörn Blomdahl was eliminated in the afternoon round by Spaniard David Martinez.
Javier Vera fell into the arms of his South American fans after his victory over Eddy Leppens. The charming hotelier, living in Puebla, married and father of two children, had never shone before on international level. The Mexican titles from 2009 to 2017 are the highlights in his career. Thanks to the title he took this year, Vera was allowed to play in Bolivia, where he survived the pre-rounds by a win against Quyet Chien Tran. In the knock-out stage he was the better of Murat Naci Coklu, 40-36 in 23. And in his match against Eddy Leppens he had a sovereign start: 15-4 in 4, 20-8, 32-19 and then finally triumphed 40-34 in 19.
The only dark side until now was his second match in the preliminaries. The Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma took that game with a huge score: 40-7 in 13, but Ma is the next opponent for the Mexican tonight. And Javier Vera is 'the man on a mission', ready to take his revenge.
David Martinez is the other revelation so far. The reigning Spanish champion, after a win in the final against Dani Sánchez, had a slow start, but outplayed Torbjörn Blomdahl in the afternoon session with a winning final run of five. The Swede, who had to score twice to draw, missed his last due to a kiss: 40-39 in 23.
,,I felt relaxed in that exciting final innings, because I have nothing to lose'', said the 24 year young Martinez after the match. ,,In the Portuguese league, I had won one time against Blomdahl and I lost twice.'' His next, against Eddy Merckx, is a leap in the dark again.,, We never played together.''
Minh Cam Ma came to the last eight by gaining the win against Jung-Han Heo after a short incident. The Korean and many spectators saw that he was wrongly counted down in the decisive part. He lost 40-33 in 27. Eddy Merckx launched himself as a candidate for a high ranking by a victory over Tayfun Tasdemir. The Belgian was trailing 21-10 at the break, came back with a run of 8 and showed his spirit after 30-30 to reach the finish at 40-34 in 18.
Dani Sánchez feels slowly that the form he missed for a couple of weeks is returning. ,,I feel better, my form is improving, but still I'm not at the level I wish'', said the Spanish title holder before his afternoon match against Sung-Won Choi, in which he took a 21-6 lead in 6 at the break and no longer could be stopped by the Korean: 40-16 in 19.
At the other three tables in this round, the glory years of the French Agipi team revived. Frédéric Caudron, Marco Zanetti and Jérémy Bury, the three main players in that golden team, came into the arena and left all three as winners. Caudron had a brilliant finish against Jae-Ho Cho, whom he beat after a weak start (21-8) with 8 and 10 runs in the home stretch: 40-33 in 20.
Jérémy Bury, ready for a new attempt to improve his ranking after he dropped out of the top 14, scored dealt smoothly with Fernando Diaz: 40-21 in 22. Marco Zanetti shared the last eight by a victory over the last Vietnamese in the field: 40-21 in 30 against Anh Vu Duong.
The next round shows at least two top billings: Dani Sánchez-Frédéric Caudron and Marco Zanetti against Jérémy Bury.
The matches for the quarterfinals:
4.00 PM (European Time 9.00 PM):
Minh Cam Ma-Javier Vera
Eddy Merckx-David Martinez
18.00 (21.00 European time):
Dani Sánchez-Frédéric Caudron
Marco Zanetti-Jérémy Bury.
Javier Vera, cheered by his South-American fans after the victory over Eddy Leppens
Javier Vera and Eddy Leppens shake hands before the match
Jung-Han Heo shows his disbelief after he was counted down for a point
David Martinez shows his joy after he won against Torbjörn Blomdahl
Jérémy Bury, back on his way to the top 14?
Eddy Merckx, one of two Belgians in the final eight
Frédéric Caudron, strong final sprint, now facing Dani Sánchez in the quarters
Dani Sánchez: I have the feeling that my form and feeling have returned