SEOUL - The spotlights were on Marco Zanetti on the first day of the Survival 3C Masters in Seoul. In the very stylish Hilton hotel, with 24 world-class players in the billiard arena. The Italian launched the tournament with a wonderful run of 22. The European number two last week was the generous winner of one of the six groups. Murat Naci Coklu achieved the best score of the entire field (153). Tomorrow, Friday, twelve players will compete in a second chance for four places in the main draw with sixteen.
The Survival is the second this year in the now known format with four players together at the table. The winners in the six groups were Murat Naci Coklu, HaengJik Kim, Eddy Leppens, Marco Zanetti, Dani Sánchez and In-Won Kang. The runners up Sung-Won Choi, Martin Horn, Frédéric Caudron, Dinh Nai Ngo, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Tayfun Tasdemir. These are the twelve players who directly qualified for the quarterfinals. The big surprise was Korean player and wildcard player In-Won Kang in the last group, who qualified with Tayfun Tasdemir. In-Won Kang is known since he was the opponent when Eddy Merckx played his famous world record: 50-6 in 6 innings.
Most thrilling in the final part was the group with HaengJik Kim, Martin Horn and Dick Jaspers, in which shoot-outs had to decide over the numbers 1 and 2. The new European champion Dick Jaspers missed out on direct qualification and was referred to the second chance matches. The most remarkable group, with Dani Sánchez, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Eddy Merckx and Semih Sayginer, showed a lack of tension in the final phase, because Sánchez and Blomdahl took a big lead.
The overview of the six groups:
Group A:
Murat Naci Coklu immediately makes a gap with runs of 7 and 11 in the second and third inning and scores another seven for a good lead just after the break. He concludes the group with a final score of 153, the best of the entire field of 24 players, as it turns out. Sung-Won Choi goes along as a runner-up. Quyet Chien Tran, the new Asian champion, ends the match with 5 misses in his last six innings and therefore misses the direct qualification.
Ranking Group A:
1 Murat Naci Coklu 153-3.266-11
2 Sung-Won Choi 45-1.466-5
3 Quyet Chien Tran 25-1.133-4
4 Wan Young Choi 17-1,000-4
Group B:
Three out of four players met in a great fight to the end: Dick Jasprs, HaengJik Kim and Martin Horn ended immediately in score (64) points and had to decide which two qualified in a shoot-out. HaengJik Kim scores five times, Martin Horn twice, Dick Jaspers once. The Dutchman is out for direct qualification, Kim and Horn go to the next round. Jérémy Bury and Jaspers get a second chance.
Ranking Group B:
1 HaengJik Kim 64-1.600-6
2 Martin Horn 64-1.600-6
3 Dick Jaspers 64-1.600-8
4 Jérémy Bury 48-1.333-5
Group C:
Two Belgians beat two Koreans with a lead. Eddy Leppens is the winner for Frédéric Caudron, Jung-Han Heo and Myung-Woo Cho are going to the resit. Eddy Leppens claims the group win with a run of 12 just after the stop. Caudron has a strong start with 10 in the fourth inning.
Ranking Group C:
1 Eddy Leppens 91-2.266-12
2 Frédéric Caudron 80-2.066-10
3 Jung-Han Heo 37-1.461-5
4 Myung-Woo Cho 32-1.333-5
Group D:
The super run by Marco Zanetti is decisive for the group win. The Italian, just back from his European adventure with silver, explodes in the fifth inning with a mighty run of 22, good for 66 points in this counting system. The victory is not in danger afterwards. Dinh Nai Ngo and Dong-Ryong Kim ran into an exciting end, but Kim loses his last chance by an unfortunate miscue.
Ranking Group D:
1 Marco Zanetti 99-2.428-22
2 Dinh Nai Ngo 55-1.642-5
3 Dong-Ryong Kim 47-1,500-5
4 Jae-Ho Cho 39-1.356-4
Group E:
Dani Sánchez is superior in this foursome with big names in the first part with runs of 4, 10, 5 and 5 and leads at the stop with 77 points against 21 (Blomdahl), 13 (Sayginer) and 9 (Merckx). Sánchez's winning margin stays on the scoreboard, as there is no striking score after the stop, except for Blomdahl's eight, who puts him in second place. The Swede ends with three misses and sees Eddy Merckx still coming close with a final run of 8. The last three are bank shots, the third of Merckx is missing.
Ranking Group E:
1 Dani Sánchez 98-2.250-10
2 Torbjörn Blomdahl 70-1.812-8
3 Eddy Merckx 54-1.562-8
4 Semih Sayginer 18-1,000-4
Group F:
The Korean In-Won Kang is stunting with the group win in the last match of the opening day. Tayfun Tasdemir is the best starter with 7 in the last inning before the stop and 12 in the first inning after the break. With that attack he takes a lead, but in the final part, the Turk is passed by In-Won Kang, who makes runs of 10, 6 and 5. Nguyen Quoc Nguyen and Sameh Sidhom going to the resecond chance.
Ranking Group F:
1 In-Won Kang 95-2.333-10
2 Tayfun Tasdemir 91-2.266-12
3 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 27-1.200-5
4 Sameh Sidhom 27-1.200-3.
The second chance matches on Friday:
Jaspers-Tran-Bury-WY Choi
Merckx-Nguyen-JH Cho-Sayginer
DR Kim-Heo-MW Cho-Sidhom