VIERSEN - The best start at the World Nations Championship was for Vietnam and Turkey with maximum scores. Berkay Karakurt, frontman of the Turks, shone as the best player on the opening day with a 40 match in 15 innings (2.666) against Rui Costa. The Netherlands is almost qualified for the knock-outs after winning twice 3-1, in the second match of the day the Dutch won over Egypt. Jean Paul de Bruijn made the highest run of the first day with 14. The best team in average after the first day is for Turkey with 1.818 ahead of Vietnam with 1.666 and the Netherlands with 1.584. The tournament at De Festhalle in Viersen had the traditional, classic opening ceremony in which the 32 players from 16 countries and officials were introduced by musical sounds.
Vietnam, the reigning champion, won its first match against Jordan by the maximum score: Quyet Chien Tran and Phuong Vinh Bao beat the Jordanians by generous scores: 40-19 and 40-7. The Turks also had such a flawless start against Portugal, with Berkay Karakurt having a walk-over against Rui Costa: the score was 40-8 in 15 innings with final runs of 2-9-7-4.
The Turks lead with 4 match points in Group A ahead of Germany with 3. The home country struggled in the evening's match against Colombia, but Martin Horn made up a deficit with a run of 12 (40-32 in 27) and Ronny Lindemann equalized against Pedro Gonzalez.
World champion Myung Woo Cho suffered an unexpected knockout against Mexican routine player Javier Vera (40-25 in 19). That was the resounding revenge of the Mexican, who was unfairly criticized for his wildcard in the World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh. Vera started with 6, led 18-13 in 10 innings and made up the gap with 10 and 7 in the 14th and 15th innings. Jung Han Heo balanced the encounter with a win over Hernandez. France took the lead in this group with a win over Japan thanks to Jérémy Bury, who was victorious against Umeda (40-25 in 25), Devogelaere and Myashita played a draw.
Belgian duo Peter Ceulemans/Roland Forthomme took an option on the group win by beating Sweden 3-1. Ceulemans and Blomdahl played a draw, Forthomme signed for the Belgian win by beating Nalle Olsson 40-33. The Vietnamese lead this group by 4 game points after the win over Jordan.
Dick Jaspers and Jean Paul de Bruijn are almost sure of a place in the 16-nation knock-outs with the Netherlands. Late Thursday evening, the Dutch team beat Egypt 3-1 and won also before against USA 3-1 earlier in the day.
In that first match, Jaspers played a draw against Piedrabuena despite two runs of 10 (40-40 in 26). Jean Paul de Bruijn dragged in the Dutch win against Patiño (40-37 in 26). In the second game, the Netherlands were the better of Egypt 3-1: Jaspers shared the points with Sidhom (40-40 in 30), De Bruijn, with his high run of 14 in the 7th inning, won against Kamal: 40-16 in 20. The Dutch need 1 point to be 100 percent: game points count first, so Spain can pass the Dutch if Spain winst 4-0.
The standings (3 groups with 1 match, 1 group with 2 matches, match points and game points):
Group A:
- Turkey 2-4
- Germany 2-3
- Colombia 0-1
- Portugal 0-0
Group B:
- France 2-3
- South Korea 1-2
- Mexico 1-2
- Japan 0-1
Group C:
- Vietnam 2-4
- Belgium 2-3
- Sweden 0-1
- Jordan 0-0
Group D (two matches played):
- Netherlands 4-6
- Spain 2-4
- USA 1-3
- Egypt 1-3
Berkay Karakurt, a win in 15 innings
Jean Paul de Bruijn, two victories for Netherlands
Peter Ceulemans, a win with Belgium against Sweden
Vietnamese Phuong Vinh Bao
Martin Horn signed up for German victory in the late evening
The standings (3 groups with 1 round of play, 1 group with 2 rounds: matchpoints and gamepoints:
Group A:
- Turkey 2 4
- Germany 2-3
- Colombia 0-1
- Portugal 0-0
Poule B:
- Frankrijk 2-3
- Zuid Korea1-2
- Mexico 1-2
- Japan 0-1
Poule C:
- Vietnam 2- 4
- Belgium 2-3
- Sweden 0-1
- Jordan 0-0
Poule D (twee wedstrijden gespeeld):
- Netherlands 4-6
- Spain 2-4
- USA 1-3
- Egypt 1-3