HO CHI MINH – Mikaël Devogelaere did not shy away from two Asians; in the next round, the 42-year-old Frenchman faces Torbjörn Blomdahl. Devogelaere, chasing for a higher position, was by far the better of Pierre Soumagne and Maxime Panaia, two other sub-top players from his country and brought him even at the top of the daily winners' rankings this Wednesday in the Ho Chi Minh World Cup. He triumphed in his two matches with one little luck; the other was a top-class match of 35 in 11 with a run of 18.
He forced that little luck himself: the Vietnamese player Hoan Tat Nguyen was about to finish at 33-29 when Devogelaere crowned his final sprint with 6, and the Vietnamese player missed after the break shot: 35-34. The second match was a gem from the Frenchman. He started against Sung Won Jang with 1-18-1 and finished in the 11th inning with 5: 35-18. With those two victories, Mikaël Devogelaere, the 2024 and this year French champion and European Cup winner with his team last year, finished as the best group winner ahead of Vietnamese Mai Tan Huyen, Minh Kiet Doan, Thanh Tien Le, and Dutchman Sam van Etten.
It was a company of five Vietnamese, three Koreans, and three Colombians who advanced to the next round as 16 winners. That promises an exciting battle for the spots in the main tournament. The draw produced a battle between Torbjörn Blomdahl and Mikaël Devogelaere facing each other, as well as Huberney Cataño and Glenn Hofman, Phuong Vinh Bao and Dimitrios Seleventas, Jose Juan Garcia and Hong Chiem Thai, Roland Forthomme and Jeffrey Jorissen, and a group of death with Nick Polychronopoulos, Birol Uymaz, and Sam van Etten.
The day’s nice decision came in a match between Sam van Etten and Alessio D’Agata (35-32 in 27) following a beautiful opening by the Dutchman with 35 in 17 (2.058). For Volkan Cetin, just like in Bogota, 3 match points were not enough to advance, because the other three-point player, Alejandro Piza, had a better average (1.489 against 1.272). Mai Tan Huyen, the number two ranked player, shone with a run of 16 in his match against the other Vietnamese player Van Tai Nguyen (35-24 in 13). Maxime Panaia ran into a kick-off of 9 against Quan Thai Ho in his attempt to win the group, later going neck-and-neck to the finish (33-32), but his subsequent inning was limited to one carom, two short of a tie. The Colombians advance to the final qualifiers with Jose Juan Garcia, Huberney Cataño, and Alejandro Piza. The Turks had Tarik Yavuz and Mehmet Goren among the group winners.
The day's winners on Wednesday:
- Mikaël Devogelaere 4-1.891-18
- Mai Tan Huyen 4-1.707-16
- Minh Kiet Doan 4-1.627-11
- Thanh Tien Le 4-1.627-6
- Sam van Etten 4-1.590-10
- Quan Thai Ho 4-1.555-9
- Jose Juan Garcia 4-1.555-6
- Tarik Yavuz 4-1.400-7
- Dimitrios Seleventas 4-1.320-10
- Sung Il Jeong 4-1.320-6
- Su Yeong Park 4-1.272-14
- Do Hyeon Kim 4-1.166-5
- Huberney Cataño 3-1.666-7
- Alejandro Piza 3-1.489-7
- Viet Hoang Minh Thon 2-1.361-11
- Mehmet Goren 2-1.347-8
The groups for the last qualification:
Poule A: Huberney Cataño, Glenn Hofman, Do Hyeon Kim
Poule B: Jung Han Heo, Su Yeong Park, Alejandro Piza
Poule C: Viet Hoang Minh Thon, Sung Il Jeong, Tolgahan Kiraz
Poule D: Mehmet Goren, Dimitrios Seleventas, Phuong Vinh Bao
Poule E: Rui Manuel Costa, Tarik Yavuz, Ruben Legazpi
Poule F: Turgay Orak, Jose Juan Garcia, Hong Chiem Thai
Poule G: Jeffrey Jorissen, Quan Thai Ho, Roland Forthomme
Poule H: Birol Uymaz, Sam van Etten, Nick Polychronopoulos
Poule I: Gökhan Salman, Omer Karakurt, Thanh Tien Le
Poule J: Bong Joo Hwang, Ja In Kang, Minh Kiet Doan
Poule K: Arnim Kahofer, Mai Tan Huyen, Sergio Jimenez
Poule L: Myeong Jong Cha, Mikaël Devogelaere, Torbjörn Blomdahl
Sam van Etten, the better of Alessio D'Agata in his last match
Mai Tan Huyen, the number two in the ranking with a run of 16
Huberney Cataño, one of three Colombians in the day winners schedule