ISTANBUL - Can he become one of the new Turkish revelations in the tournament in his own country? Murat Celik from Ankara, born in Darende, Malatya, was a real giant killer on the third day of the preliminary rounds at the World Cup in Istanbul. Two victories in the group, against Spaniard Carlos Crespo and strong fellow countryman, Salman Gokhan, led one of the Turkish stars to the final qualifying day. He finished with the highest average of the winner group: 1.578 and impressed with his first match (30 in 14).
The third day still was a round in which the Turkish ruled with five players in the top eight and seven on the winners list. Berkay Karakurt, the younger brother of the European junior champion Omer, was also among the best players with two group wins, averaging 1.428 and after René Hendriksen (12) and Dionisis Tsokantas (11) one of three players with a run of ten. The bizarre of those high scores: René Hendriksen was eliminated with two match points and 0.820 average, Dionisis Tsokantas was out even without match points.
The top ten of the rankings was formed by Murat Celik (1.578), Selim Özden, Tae Soo Lim, Ruben Legazpi (all three 1.538), Peter Ceulemans (1.463), Berkay Karakurt (1.428), Savas Bulut (1.395), Murat Tüzül (1.395), Christian Rudolph (1.333) and Vinh Ly The (1.304). Orhan Erogul closed the list of players with four match points, but the sympathetic German showed up with one of the sensations of the day: he beat Jérôme Barbeillon 30-22 in the decisive match in his group.
The Turkish player with one of the highest averages after one playing round, Mehmet Akzoy (30 in 13, making 2.307 average) couldn't make it to the next round, because he lost his second match against Christian Rudolph (30-17 in 22).
The Korean Hyun Min Seo, who was the best of all players in the previous two days, was a very unhappy loser. He played a draw against one of the Korean top guns, Jung Han Heo. Both of them had to deal in the decisive match with Colombian Carloman Ortiz. Jung Han Heo won in 15 innings, Hyun Min Seo in 18. The unlucky Korean leads the group of best losers with 3 match points and 1.463.
The Austrian Gerhard Kostistanski found himself in a vale of tears with the best day score: 1.718. He played the best match of the day, together with Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma: the Austrian defeated Therese Klompenhouwer 30-14 in eleven innings, 2727, but barely missed his last chance with a loss against Vietnames Anh Vu Duong 30-25 in 21 innings.
Other remarkable winners:
Group D: Glenn Hoffman crawls through the eye of the needle after a loss in his first match. He wins his second vs Bo Gustavsson and survives with his average (1.117 against 1.092 for Chi Yeon Cho).
Group E: Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma starts with a win in 11 innings (2.727), but loses his next against Ruben Legazpi 30-11 in 18. Bart Ceulemans had no chance at all in that group with 0.968 average.
Group F: Savas Bulut deals in a thrilling final match with Alfonso Legazpi (30-26).
Group H: Javier Palazón also won his group after a difficult take off (losing to Martin Olesen). The Spaniard recovers against Tae Hyun Lee (30-23) and saves his life with 1.150 average.
Group M: Jean Reverchon and Xuan Cuong start with wins in 20 innings. The decisive bump: Reverchon wins 30-20 in 30.
Group N: Berkay Karakurt and Quoc Nguyen Nguyen both beat Spaniard Jose Maria Mas. The young Turk wins the head-to-head match 30-14 in 22.
Poule Q: Murat Tüzül reigns superior and grants his opponents Zini Ozil and Tapio Soinisalo only ten and eight caroms.
Group S: Peter Ceulemans has a walkover against Apostolos Balogiannis (30-7) and Kazim Ilker Canbul (30-17).
Group T: Egyptian Riad Nady moves up to the first place in a group with two Turks, Mehmet Goren and Savas Gungur, whom he beats on average (1.200) and match points.
Group Y: Johann Schirmbrand, one of the protagonists in the Hurghada preliminaries, beats Pierre Soumagne in a grueling battle (30-28 in 40).
The group formats for tomorrow (Thursday), coming up to the main tournament:
Group A: Cenet, Jae Guen Kim, Cavusoglu
Group B: Jae Ho Cho, Papakonstantinou, Hwang
Group C: Forthomme The Ly, Duong
Group D: Rudolph, Nady, De Bruijn
Group E: Tüzül, Reverchon, Leppens
Group F: Bulut, Incekara, Salazar
Group G: Karakurt, Schirmbrand, Tran
Group H: Peter Ceulemans, Froge, Polychronopoulos
Group I: Ruben Legazpi, Erogul, Ngo
Group J: Lim, Heo, Yüksel
Group K: Özden, Palazón, Choong Bok Lee
Group L: Celik, Hofman, Sidhom.