HURGHADA - The Korean Kyung-Roul Kim was treated to the first overwhelming applause in the Sunrise Beach Garden hotel today and also showed that he can be seen as one of the big contenders for the win in the last and decisive World Cup. Jef Philipoom was the victim of the demonstration by the big Kim, as he's called in the world circuit. The Korean won 3-1, made the fifteen caroms in one inning in his last set and averaged 3.105 overall.
The comet on this first day outclassed all the other fifteen players in the first sessions. The big surprise came from the table where Andres Naranjo from Colombia and Dani Sánchez were playing. The Spaniard lost in three sets (15-0, 15-11, 15-14) and spoils major points in this tournament.
Dick Jaspers started in the first session with a victory in the prestige battle against his fellow countryman Jean Paul de Bruijn (3-1), but couldn't excell with his average (1.115). The Turk Can Capak rolled over Jae Ho Cho Capak, one of the Koreans in the top twelve (3-1), Marco Zanetti escaped to victory after a difficult start against Ryuuji Umeda and Jérémy Bury struggled with the same problem against Glenn Hoffman, who he could beat only at the finish of the fifth set.
Christian Rudolph, the substitute for Aveiga, can come back tomorrow after defeating the weak Egyptian Riad Nadi, Sung Won Choi won the titanic struggle against his compatriot Jung Han Heo (3-2), but even had a lower average than his opponent (1,583 against 1,638 ).
The most surprising was the victory of Andres Naranjo, one of many strong Colombians strong players, who defeated Dani Sánchez, the Spaniard who only seemed to have a chance in the third set. But after he had missed his setpoint, his opponent took the match.