GURI - The two Europeans, who are considered to be among the major contenders for the world title three cushion for juniors, are ready for the battle with the five Koreans in the field. Berkay Karakurt sparkled on the first day of preliminaries with the best match. He defeated the main Korean talent Myung Woo Cho 25-16 in twelve innings and won this match with a fabulous run of fourteen.
The Korean audience is waiting a great fight in the next few days. The reigning champion Adrien Tachoire has already advanced for the knockout stage with eight, the European champion Berkay Karakurt is in the quarters as well. The 17-year-old Myungwoo Cho, the vice-champion and twice on the World's podium, will need a strong performance on Saturday to pass his countryman Tae-Hwan Kim.
Adrien Tachoire has buttoned his first mission in Guri: he survived with a strange cue and in a borrowed outfit without any difficulty. Both against Patrick Bútora (25-13 in 27) and against Arda Gungor (25-15 in 16) the Frenchman triumphed hunky dory. His last opponent, Ayman Mahmoud, should be easy, he's still without match points.
Myung Woo Cho was overpowered by Berkay Karakurt when he still led 14-7 in 7 innings. The Turk attaced in the eight with fourteen to 21-4 and closed the match four innings later, leaving his opponent speechless at the table. The last qualification round will be exciting in this group, where the other Korean, Tae-Kwan Kim, first played a draw against Cho (25-25) and then won his second vs Belgian Geoffrey Dresselaerts 25-11 in 19.
Berkay Karakurt shone with the best match of the day
Berkay Karakurt can prepare for the knockouts with his four match points, Kim (three match points) is his last opponent in the group. Cho (one point) plays against Dresselaerts in his last and has to win to finish with a better average than Kim.
Adrien Tachoire, playing with another cue, in a brandnew outfit and with glasses
Jun Tae Kim leads with four points in the group in which he defeated Hae Chang Jung (25-23) and Yusuke Mori (25-10 in 15). Jung escaped in his second match when he kept Spaniard Jesus Rico (three in the equalizer) only one point down, because he missed his last on a whisper (25-24 in 24). Mori and Jung meet in the final match in this group for the number two position.
Jung Ju Shin is in his group in the quarters with four match points after he beat Lindao and Ferreira. In the match against the Portuguese, Shin ran away with an impressive nine-run with 15-15 on the scoreboard. Matthieu Frank defeated Manue Lindao in his second match 25-18 (18) and keeps a chance. Jung Ju Shin is the best of four players with four match points on the first day. He leads the group with 1.562 of average followed by Jun Tae Kim 1.315, Adrien Tachoire 1.162 and Berkay Karakurt 1.111.
Myungwoo Cho, painful loss against Berkay Karakurt
The last matches in the group stage:
Group A:
Tachoire-Ayman
Bútora-Gungor
Group B:
Karakurt-Kim
Cho-Dresselaerts
Group C:
Ferreira-Lindao
Shin-Franck
Group D:
Mori-Jung
Kim Rico.
Joao Ferreira in his match vs Matthieu Franck