HO CHI MINH - The tears on Marco Zanetti's face after his victory over the youngest of all world stars showed his emotions. The Italian maestro of three cushion, apparently in the form of his life, won the fight with the young Korean Myung-Woo Cho after a brilliant fight for a place in the last four in Ho Chi Minh World Cup. The final battle for the medals is between three Belgians and that one Italian master. Eddy Merckx, Frédéric Caudron and Roland Forthomme join him in the semi-finals. The Ho Chi Minh World Cup is traditionally played at an exceptional high level. Before the final day, the record of runs over 10 was levelled: 44. That is the same numbeer as Ho Chi Minh in 2017.
The schedule for the final day:
11:00 am Vietnamese time:
Roland Forthomme-Marco Zanetti
1:00pm
Eddy Merckx-Frédéric Caudron
Final at 4:00pm
Eddy Merckx was the last to join the finalists with a win over Tayfun Tasdemir. Frédéric Caudron defeated the last Vietnamese, Dinh Nai Ngo and Roland Forthomme was the slightly better of Semih Sayginer by one carom.
Young and cheerful Cho launched the match against Marco Zanetti with an early 10. The gray eminence answered quickly with 13 for a 20-17 score in 5 innings. The match excelled by wonderful shots and scores in the run-up to the final phase. Zanetti led 35-30 in 12 innings, Cho entered the 13th inning with 3, but Zanetti eventually crowned the match with a winning final 5-run: 40-33.
Marco Zanetti, who's struggling with a hernia, couldn't control himself after his last point. His first comment: ''It was a tough and a friendly match between the youngest talent in the world and the most mature top player. Then, the tears were arriving from inside, unattended, because I realised that I did again something very special.''
The second big match of this day, after the first win over Sameh Sidhom 40-11 in 14, was striking, because Zanetti has to overcome physical discomfort these days. He explained: ''I have a painful hernia these days. That's why I play with a strong elastic belt and I take strong anti inflammantory. But when I play, I don't remark anything because of the andrenalin.''
Roland Forthomme is finally back on a big podium tomorrow after winning his only World Cups in his career in 2005 and 2006. The Belgian, who previously eliminated Eddy Leppens earlier on the day, needed a blood, sweat and tears match in his fight with Semih Sayginer. The duel remained in balance for a long time: 22-21, 28-27, 35-34 and ended up with Forthomme at 40-35 to finish. Sayginer had to score four times to make a draw, seemed well on his way, but was unlucky in his second last point and therefore missed his last.
Frédéric Caudron was leading all the way in his match with Dinh Nai Ngo, whom he left behind with runs of 10, 6 and 6 to finally win 40-17 in 14. Eddy Merckx and Tayfun Tasdemir stayed together for a long time in their match. Eddy Merckx, who was the best in the shoot-out against Dani Sánchez earlier in the day, now had the best final shot to beat Tasdemir with a last run of five: 40-33 in 23.
Marco Zanetti after his victory over Myung Woo Cho
Roland Forthomme was the better of Sayginer by one point
Frédéric Caudron stopped the victory pace of the last Vietnamese Ngo
Eddy Merckx, defeated Tayfun Tasdemir
MATCHES BEST SIXTEEN
A long, almost invincible series of victories by Dick Jaspers came to an end in the Ho Chi Minh World Cup this Saturday. The Vietnamese Dinh Nai Ngo stopped the Dutch world champion in the last sixteen of the tournament. With runs of 9 and 7, Ngo took a comfortable lead in the first four innings. Jaspers came back to 22-17, but couldn't attack hard enough to threaten Ngo in his last six innings: the match finished 40-24 in 14 innings. Jaspers is not on the podium for the first time since the European championship and the Survival Masters. His first place on the world ranking is not in danger.
The most spectacular match took place between Dani Sánchez and Eddy Merckx, who was dominated by the Spaniard for a long time. He led after a run of 8 in the seventh inning 26-11, five innings later with 35-20, when Merckx showed his fighting heart. It first became 38-30, one inning later 39-35 and after Sánchez' 40th point, Merckx equalled with 5: 40-40 in 19. The shoot-out increased the tension. In the first attempt, both players scored once, in the extension Sánchez started with 3 and Merckx passed him with 4.
Myung-Woo Cho opened the day with a run of 17 in his match with Birol Uymaz. He ran out to 31-10, but was still threatened in the final phase by a run of 9. The Korean had the best final shot and won 40-33 in 21. Marco Zanetti, his next opponent, won the match against Sameh Sidhom by a big margin after a run of 8 and a final run of 7: 40-11 in 14.
Roland Forthomme launched his attack in the match against Eddy Leppens from 12-10, ran it up with a 7 to 19-10 and later to 24-21. His country man came back to 31-29, but the last shot was for Forthomme again to 40-35 in 27. Semih Sayginer stopped the new Vietnamese star Duc Anh Chien Nguyen in his startling victory series. From 18-18, Sayginer mentally was the strongest and won 40-27 in 17.
Frédéric Caudron ran away from Murat Naci Coklu with an early 10 and decided the match just after the break from 22-13 to 37-15. Erick Tellez could leave the World Cup after an excellent performance, but just came to short to threaten Tayfun Tasdemir for a place in the last eight: 40-36 in 22.
Myung-Woo Cho, a high run, a victory, but beaten by Marco Zanetti
Semih Sayginer, beaten by Forthomme and out for the podium