The Agipi arena shaked by the tension, the people in the tribunes crept to the edge of the chair and at the billiard were two players competing for the final points, that decided about win or loose. Filipos Kasidokostas, yesterday defeated by one point in his first match against Dion Nelin, now ended up as the victor against Sung-Won Choi. But again there was a minimal difference. The Korean missed two match balls, then the Greek finished with a small run of two.
The tension only will increase today and tomorrow, because everything is still open in this group. Roland Forthomme surprisingly lost his first match this afternoon against Glenn Hofman (50-40 in 26 innings). Dion Nelin is the only unbeaten player. The Dane, however, played only one match so far. He will face Forthomme later this afternoon (18.30).
Filipos Kasidokostas even after his victory looked a little sad and excited. ,,I'm not happy, I'm angry on myself'', he said in his review of the match. He complained about a decision by the referee, who had sent him to his chair after because he exceeded the forty seconds on the clock. ,,I have stroked right at the moment when the buzzer went off'', Kasidokostas insured.
He had a little luck that Choi made only one point from the break-off and it wasn't at a crucial moment in the match (23-23).
At 41-31 for the Greek there was again a small incident. The referee saw a good point after a small cushion first in the corner, but Kasidokostas walked away from the table and gestured that the carom was not on. ,,My cue ball hit only two cushions'', he said.
And so the match flowed to the end, with the best opportunities for Kasidokostas at a score of 41-32 in his favor. But as always in his important matches Sung-Won Choi showed to be an unpredictable opponent. He defeated Glenn Hofman yesterday by sixteen points in his last two innings. Against Kasidokostas, in the 22nd inning, Choi made a run of twelve, which brought him on the lead: 44-41.
Twice he missed, some innings later, a matchbal on 49-48, which had probably meant the elimination of Kasidokostas. The Greek escaped, kept his confidence and took the win in the 25th inning, showing himself a cold fish.
Glenn Hofman, with his 21 years the youngest player in the sessions of these preliminaries, saved his tournament by a win in his second match, after been beaten unfortunately by Choi. In his second performance the Dutchman defeated Roland Forthomme. The Belgian didn't seem to be in a great shape, ranning almost the entire match behind his opponent.
The Dutchman remained alert (,,I never won against Forthomme and you never know with him'') and made an end to the match with runs of five and two in the 25th and 26th inning. Forthomme, who played with a lot of fans in the tribunes, waits a difficult task now to climb up to the best two in the group.
Hofman grabbed his last chance after the match he won with an average of 1,923. ,,I really need to win my match tonight with Kasidokostas'', he said in an optimistic preview. ,,Then I have chances to advance the final rounds. When he had finished his match, Hofman asked for a pharmacist. ,,I have an incredibly sore throat, I need something to stop the pain.''