HO CHI MINH CITY - Two killing attacks by the young Korean Jung Ju Shin (9 and 10 at the start) and the fabulous 19 of Min Seo Hyun almost resulted in the knockout of two public players. The theatrical comedian Quoc Nguyen Nguyen ran into Jung Ju Shin's fantastic start, Nikos Polychronopoulos was knocked down by Seo's sledgehammer in the final group stage. The qualification of both then depended only on the bonus for the top three runners-up. Quoc Nguyen Nguyen and Nick Polychronopoulos eventually were rewarded for their strong performances. Truong Quang Hao was the first number second for the draw with 3 points and 1.230, Nguyen with two points and 1.767 and Polychronopoulos with two points and 1.627. The Belgian Eddy Leppens just missed qualification, being the fourth man, like the revelation of the preliminaries, Korean Tae-Jun Oh and former world champion Sung-Won Choi.
Hyun Min Seo (married, two daughters) was on stage of the World championship two years ago, when Sung-Won Choi grabbed the world title in his homeland in the final against Torbjörn Blomdahl. Then, in the years between, the billiards world rarely heard about Seo. He dropped in two years to 123rd place in the world ranking and now, in his final group match, he was facing the Greek Polychronopoulos, who took the title in his country last weekend again and shows a great form for some months already.
But although he was the big favourite in the match against the 34-year-old Korean: the run of 19 in the fourth inning, on a 4-2 score, made an almost unbridgeable gap. ,,It did not feel like a knock-out'', Polychronopoulos responded later ,,but it was really too difficult to come back in the match.'' The effort of the Greek, who escaped in his first match against Jae Guen Kim (40-39 in 22), stranded at ten points before the finish (40-30 in 21).
Quoc Nguyen Nguyen made an even better comeback in his match against Jung Ju Shin, who led after his flying start 26-6. The Vietnamese, cheered by his home crowd, almost could close the gap in the 15th and 16th inning with six and seven runs (to 38-35), but was beaten to the line: 40-36 in the final.
And then, at the end of the day, there was the thrilling showdown in the match between Eddy Leppens and Can Capak. The Belgian led the whole race by a margin, approached the finish when he was at 37-26, but was suddenly overtaken by Capak, who first came up with twelve to 38-37 and after a strange miss of Leppens, could finish it off with two (40-37 in 28).
The World Cup of Ho Chi Minh enters the knock-out stage tomorrow, Friday with 32 finalists, after the qualifications were completed in a blistering entourage. The Turkish World Cup winner Murat Naci Coklu made the best day score (4 points, 1.951), followed by Can Capak with 1.777 and Hyun Min Seo, Jung Ju Shin and Adnan Yüksel 1.739 in the top five and Hyung Kon Kim, who outplayed Sung-Won Choi (1.702).
The absolute highlights were the runs of 19 (Hyun Min Seo) and 17 (HaengJik Kim), the world class match of the Vietnamese qualifier Tae-Jun Oh (30 in six innings), the comeback of Can Capak against Leppens and eventually the hard fought qualification of HaengJik Kim in a draw against Truong Quang Hao.
Jung Ju Shin after he qualified for the main draw
The top twelve and the best runners-up in the final qualification:
1 Murat Naci Coklu 4-1.951-10
2 Can Capak 4-1.777-12
3 Hyun Min Seo 4-1.739-19
4 Jung Ju Shin 4-1.739-19
5 Adnan Yüksel 4-1.739-8
6 Hyung Kon Kim 4-1.702-9
7 Minh Cam Ma 4-1.632-10
8 Jung Han Heo 4-1.403-8
9 Lütfi Cenet 4-1.403-7
10 Oh Bok Cho 4-1.000-9
11 Pedro Piedrabuena 3-1.538-11
12 Haengjik Kim 3-1.379-17
The three runners-up:
1 Quang Hao Truong 3-1.230-6
2 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen 2-1.767-7
3 Nick Polychronopoulos 2-1.627-6.
The main draw:
12.00:
Blomdahl-Piedrabuena
Tran-Hyung Kon Kim
Sidhom-Bok Cho Oh
Zanetti-Cenet
14.00:
Jae Ho Cho-Morales
Tasdemir-Heo
Kang-Vu Duong
Caudron-Rudolph
16.00:
Jaspers-Vinh
Seo-Quang Hao Truong
Merckx-Haengjik Kim
Coklu-Ma
18.00:
Forthomme-El Messery
Shin-Quoc Nguyen Nguyen
Capak-Yüksel
Sánchez-Polychronopoulos
Hyung Kon Kim outplayed the former world champion Sung-Won Choi
Can Capak, sensational finish against Eddy Leppens
The young Korean Jung Ju Shin defeated the Vietnamese Quoc Nguyen Nguyen after a great start
Home player Quoc Nguyen Nguyen slipped into the main tournament after his loss in the last match
Pedro Piedrabuena, in the main draw after a win and a draw
Jérémy Bury, amazed and disappointed after his losses