SHARM EL SHEIKH - The 24-year-old Korean JunTae Kim was on the podium in the last World Cup in Guri with Eddy Merckx (the winner), Jérémy Bury and Tayfun Tasdemir. That was his first major success in many months. The reason is obvious: like other young Korean talents, such as Myung-Woo Cho (next year), Juntae Kim was doing his military service and could not play tournaments for 21 months. This year, he is back as a 'man on a mission' on the World Cup circuit.
Tomorrow, Monday, JunTae Kim starts in Sharm El Sheikh on the second day of qualifications due to his position on the rankings (45th) in a field where Michael Nilsson, multiple world champion with Sweden in Viersen, and Ji-Hun Ahn are other known players. With his performance in Guri, last month, Kim regained some of his luster: he eliminated Nikos Polychronopoulos and Sung-Won Choi before losing to Eddy Merckx in the semi-final.
JunTae Kim was on the podium three times at a Junior World championship: twice he was second behind HaengJik Kim (2012) and after HaengJik's younger brother Tae-Kwan in 2015. He finished third in 2012 in San Javier behind HaengJik Kim and Omer Karakurt . The goal for his come-back sounds bold: "I want to become a world champion like Blomdahl." But showing his big smile, he adds: "I always have big dreams..." Yet, the experts don't doubt: Juntae Kim is one of the huge talents of Korean three cushion that has only been disturbed in his development by his military service.
The level will surely rise on the second day after the moderate start on the opening day. The Turkish players Omer Karakurt (4 match points, 1,200, run 11), Ilbay Dagdelen (4-1,094) and Ahmet Bayatli (4-1.1034) were among the players who led the day rankings. The Dutch billiard board member and co-organizer of two World championships next year, Hans de Bruin, remained unbeaten with 4 match points and 0,638. Two Spaniards, Raul Cuenca, the European champion 71/2 in 2017 and Andrés Carrion, European three-cushion junior champion in 2016, locked the door on late Sunday evening after victories over Lebanese Fneish Mahdi, who after six World Cups was only three caroms away from his first match win, and Carrion against Ismail Inal, both 30-27.
Two players from the homeland will come back tomorrow: Atia Osama (4-0,555) and Kyrollos Gerges (4-0,483). The Italian Tiziano Scáramuzzi with 3 match points and 0,566 and Muhammed Cavusoglu with 2 points and 0,841 closed the bunch of group winners.
The day winners:
1 Omer Karakurt 4-1,200-11
2 Ilbay Dayparts 4-1,132-7
3 Ahmet Bayatli 4-1,034-6
4 Jesus Rico 4-0,967-7
5 Yvan Mayor 4-0,923-7
6 Andres Carrion 4-0,909-6
7 Athanasios Matiakis 4-0,895-5
8 Raul Cuenca 4-0,810-7
9 Soner Tas 4-0,779-5
10 Mario Mercader 4-0,705-4
11 Hans de Bruin 4-0,638-4
12 Frank Haberzettl 4-0,631-6
13 Atia Osama 4-0,555-8
14 Kyrollos Gerges 4-0,483-4
15 Tiziano Scáramuzzi 3-0,566-6
16 Muhammed Cavusoglu 2-0,841-5
Omer Karakurt was the best day winner with three Turkish players on top