HO CHI MINH – The older Korean player has been around for many years, the younger one is just starting out in this World Cup field. Ja In Kang excelled in the World Cup in Ho Chi Minh with 2,352 over two matches this Thursday. Do Hyeon Kim is only seventeen, stood on the podium at the Under-22 World Championship last year, and defeated two big names in Ho Chi Minh: Glenn Hofman and Huberney Cataño. The Koreans are doing well in the preliminary rounds of this World Cup, and Myung Woo Cho and Haeng Jik Kim are still to come.
Ja In Kang was still called In Won Kang ten years ago and played many World Cups under his two names. The start of the Korean, who played competitions in the Netherlands and Germany in his younger years, was already impressive with a 40-21 victory in 19 innings against Bong Joo Hwang; the second match was phenomenal against Minh Kiet Doan with a 40-20 victory in 15 innings (2.666 average). That surely was one of his best performances in a long career, and he celebrated it with exuberant cheering at the end of the day.
Do Hyeon Kim is one of the rising stars in the Korean billiards firmament. He is only 17 and started as a beginner on the very first day of the World Cup. On Monday, he slipped in as the first reserve (2 points, 1.212), on Tuesday he was the group winner (4 points, 1.166), and on Wednesday as well (4 points, 1.034), but he showed a first glimpse of his class with a run of 11.
This Thursday, Do Hyeon Kim surpassed himself, first against Huberney Cataño, a famous Colombian, with 40-31 in 21, and in his second, Kim beat Dutchman Glenn Hofman 40-30 in 26. With his total (4 points, 1.702), this very young Kim was among the best players of the final qualifiers.
On the day that Torbjörn Blomdahl failed to reach the main tournament with 32 for the second time this year, just like in Bogota. Mikaël Devogelaere took down the multi-champion. The Koreans scored freely, and Phuong Vinh Bao, the former world champion, and Roland Forthomme finished in the top three with high averages.
The top 12 winners came from Korea (3), Turkey (3), Vietnam (1), Belgium (1), France (1), Austria (1), Colombia (1), and Greece (1).
Three ambitious Dutch players were eliminated on this day: Sam van Etten was knocked down by Nick Polychronopoulos after a great start. Glenn Hofman and Jeffrey Jorissen left the tournament without any match point and without any real chance of winning. Omer Karakurt, Hong Chiem Thai (second highest average with 2.176) and Sung Il Jeong (2.000 average) were the best runners-up and qualify for the main tournament.
The draw for the eight groups of four in the main tournament on Friday:
Group A: Myung Woo Cho, Sung Il Jeong, Phuong Vinh Bao, Mohamed Abdin.
Group B: Dick Jaspers, Ja In Kang, Van Tri Nguyen, Hong Chiem Thai.
Group C: Eddy Merckx, Peter Ceulemans, TTT Nguyen, Omer Karakurt.
Group D: Marco Zanetti, Jérémy Bury, Roland Forthomme, Nick Polychronopoulos.
Group E: Tayfun Tasdemir, Tarik Yavuz, Haeng Jik, Tolgahan Kiraz.
Group F: Quyet Chien Tran, Thanh Luc Tran, Do Hyeon Kim, Jose Juan Garcia.
Group G: Sameh Sidhom, Berkay Karakurt, Gökhan Salman, Jung Han Heo.
Group H: Frédéric Caudron, Arnim Kahofer, Martin Horn, Mikaël Devogelaere.
Young, 17-year Korean Do Hyeon Kim
Phuong Vinh Bao, one of the Vietnamese star players
Roland Forthomme, one of four Belgians in the main draw
The group winners on Thursday:
- Ja In Kang 4-2.352-11
- Phuong Vinh Bao 4-1.951-11
- Roland Forthomme 4-1.951-9
- Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1.904-9
- Do Hyeon Kim 4-1.702-9
- Jung Han Heo 4-1.538-8
- Mikaël Devogelaere 4-1.379-7
- Arnim Kahofer 4-1.355-6
- Gökhan Salman 3-1.632-7
- Jose Juan Garcia 3-1.454-10
- Tarik Yavuz 2-1.638-2
- Nick Polychronopoulos 2-1.625-10