ISTANBUL - The Korean player Hyun Min Seo was the table leader after a long day of qualifications in the Istanbul World Cup ahead of five Turks and one Spaniard. He topped the winner list of 24 with four match points and 1.538 average. Two Turkish home players, Mesut Ekinci and Serdar Bas, followed at a short distance with 1.395 average.
The first heat, on the main room with four tables and eight tables in another hall, was a traditional Turkish gala with nine foreign players in top 24 of the qualification table. Thirteen Turks, four Koreans, two Belgians, one Spaniard, one German and Dutch lady Karina Jetten advanced to the second round.
The Dutch, girlfriend of Roland Forthomme, second player in her country behind Therese Klompenhouwer, made a remarkable entrance. Jetten didn't take off very well with a nervous, uncontrolled start and a loss in 35 innings (30-17), but recovered pretty good in her second match against the Greek Ioannis Antoniou with a win in 23 innings (30-9).
Two other famous ladies are out of the game with a win and a loss. Su Ah Park (top player Dong Koong Kang's wife) won her last match against Dane Poul Gegersen 30-15 in 44. That was not enough after a poor start. Japanese Namiko Hayashi, top four player at the World championship in her own country, was eliminated with a win in 53 innings and a loss with 16 in 33 innings.
Three out of 21 players reached next round with only one win. Karina Jetten was one of them. The Belgians survived with their junior champion Andy Bond and veteran Patrick Kesteloot.
Mehmet Yavas made a costly mistake at the start in his first match (30-28 loss against Kazim Ilken Canbul) and could not recover. Serdar Bar was one of the Turks who made a strong impression: wins in 21 and 22 innings.
Min Seo Hyun topped the rank with 1.538 ahead of Mesut Ekinci and Serdar Bas with 1.395, Murat Celik 1.225, Semir Dalyan in 1.200 and the young talent Berkay Kara Kurt, younger brother of Ömer Karakurt.
The strongest group on the second day is that with Gerhard Kostistansky, Volkan Cimentepe and Memis Tuyluoglu.
Other groups with known players are:
Group A: Hyun Min Seo, Ramon Hamm, Emrullah Basegmez
Group B: Selim Özden, Mesut Elsinci, Eugene Vincent
Group D: Bart Ceulemans, Murat Celik, Joel Switala
Group E: Francis Forton, Selmir Daylan, Hamut Akkaya
Group G: Alfonso Legazpi, Ronald van Geyt, Yavuz Güngördü
Group O: Omer Karakurt, Dae Woong Lee, Orhan Erogul
Group S: Koray Kirman, Carlos Crespo, Azbey Kuslu
Group V: Allan Jensen, Karina Jetten, Mauricio Aguilar.