GURI - The Frenchman Jérémy Bury was the undisputed star player in the early sessions of the day at the World Cup of Guri. With an amazing run of 24 he dashed off the match against Greek, former world champion Filippos Kasidokostas.
The spectacular victory (40-13 in 12) and the high run were the highlights of the tournament so far. The Frenchman found a rhythm and a feeling in the match, which made him unstoppable for his opponent. Many of the caroms in the run were played flawlessly in position.
Jérémy Bury announced himself as one of the favorites for the tournament win with his demonstration of high class. Dick Jaspers is his next opponent. Jaspers defeated in this round Murat Naci Coklu, who yesterday sparkled with an opening run of fifteen and now was close to the win again.
The Turk did a wonderful effort to catch up in the equalizer: on a 40-29 score, he came to the table for a run of 9 and missed at two points from the finish: 40-38 in 26.
Dani Sánchez and Frédéric Caudron had to beat two dangerous opponents. The Belgian clash between Frédéric Caudron and Roland Forthomme was decided by a short Caudron sprint. He finished 40-34 in 20 innings.
Dani Sánchez trailed 34-29 against the young Hwang Hyung Beom after a six run of his opponent. The Spaniard needed a tough fight to the end when he was 34-29 behind, but finally he won 40-38 in 25 innings.
The schedule has led to un upper half with four Asians (Kang, Arai, and Ngo Cho) and four Europeans (Caudron, Bury, Jaspers, Sánchez) meet in the bottom half.
This means that the final will be a real Asia-Europe.
The matches for the quarterfinals (16:00 and 19:00 local time):
Kang-Arai
Ngo-Cho
Bury-Jaspers
Caudron-Sánchez.