3-Cushion
LIMA - He left the Netherlands with a mission: Jean Paul de Bruijn was too long out of the picture in international tournaments. He wants to shine again in Lima, as he once did in the World championships in Lugo in 2005, where he played the final against Dani Sánchez. That seemed an impossible task, because he would meet the Korean Kim Kyung-Roul in the preliminary round.
But with a 3-0 victory (15-11, 15-5, 15.6) the former Dutch champion exceeded himself in the last match of Group D. Kyung-Roul Kim had to swallow a bitter pill: the Korean, who seems to be hindered by a form crisis, couldn't get control over the match and had to bow for his opponent. De Bruijn was brilliant at the crucial moments, Kim finished with 22 caroms in 20 innings.
Jean Paul de Bruijn can be also one of the first players to qualify for the main tournament after his 3-0 victory, because he also won his first match against Radek Novak in straight sets. He ended up with 1.800 average in two mathces and will be high in the ranking after the preliminaries.
Dick Jaspers had to go deeper than expected in his match against Xuan Cuong Ma. The Vietnamese was in balance with his opponent until 2-2, he won the first and third set, but was crushed 15-0 in the deciding set in two innings. Jaspers won the deciding set with runs of seven and eight. ,,I still have some trouble with my jet lag, like most of the players, but you have to be able to handle it,'' said Jaspers after his match. ,,I'm glad with the strong finish of the match, that gives me confidence.''
Dani Sánchez defeated Pedro Piedrabuena 3-0 (15-11, 15-6, 15-9), won his group without losing any set and 1.730 average. Eddy Merckx was facing an opponent who played far below his level. The Spanish champion Antonio Ortiz was not a shadow of the player who grew to his climax in the title fight in his country. Merckx beat him 3-0, the Belgian had an average of 1.451, the Spaniard only 0.666.