PORTO - The second day of qualifications in the Porto World Cup was the day of two Spaniards on top of the rankings, four strong Koreans who survived these preliminaries, the elimination of sixteen year old Myung Woo Cho and European junior champion Antonio Montes.
The second day did not bring many highlights, but a lot of tension. The entrance of many subtop players, today, is a guarantee for more high-class matches with players as Jef Philipoom, Ahmet Alp, Francis Forton, Amrullah Basegmez, Rui Manuel Costa, Jérôme Barbeillon, Murat Tüzül, Sergio Jimenez, David Martinez, Quoc Nguyen Nguyen, Jean Christoph Roux, Peter Ceulemans, Juan David Zapata, Therese Klompenhouwer, Pierre Soumagne and Mehmet Goren at the tables.
The junior champion Antonio Montes had to leave the stage after a strong start to the tournament: outplayed by the Korean Chi Yeon Cho. Two other Spanish guns, Sergio Jimenez and David Martinez, dominated the second day with an unbeaten group win and 1.538 average.
David Martinez had a particularly strong start in his match against sixteen-year-old Korean Myung Woo Cho, whom he defeated 30-21 in 16 innings, the best match of the day.
Alipio Jorge Fernandez can focus on his role as tournament director from today. The stately Portuguese organizer played his two matches on day two, but couldn't really show great things. Alipio lost to In-Won Kang, who was group winner, and the Greek Dionisis Tsakontas.
Two Portuguese were among the top sixteen of the second day and enter the next round: Joao Silva and Joao Gomes. The veteran Paolo Andrade was just outside the qualification ranks and is first reserve.
The top sixteen of the second day:
1 Sergio Jimenez (Spain), 1.538
2 David Martinez (Spain), 1.538
3 Atsuhi Kiyota (Japan), 1.176
4 Francis Forton (Belgium), 1.176
5 Toudahl Michael (Denmark), 1.153
6 Chi Yeon Cho (Korea), 1.153
7 Min Seo Hyun (Korea), 1.153
8 In-Won Kang (Korea), 1.000
9 Güngördü Yavuz (Turkey), 0.983
10 Young Chull Kim (Korea), 0.967
11 Joao Silva (Portugal), 0.769
12 Jim Anne Veldt (Netherlands), 0.638
13 Juan David Zapata (Spain), 1.250
14 Ahmet Bayatli (Turkey), 1.200
15 Joao Gomes (Portugal), 0.789
16 Chien Nguyen Duc Anh (Vietnam), 1.017.
The most remarkable groups today, Wednesday:
Group A: José-Maria Mas, Sergio Jimenez, Murat Tüzül.
Group B: Jérôme Barbeillon, Martin Olsen, David Martinez
Group D: Francis Forton, Sylvia Eckel, Ahmet Alp
Group F: Mehmet Aksoy, Chi Yeon Cho, Manuel Rui Costa
Group G: Jean Reverchon, Hyun Min Seo, Vinh Ly The
Group K: Tae Soo Lim, Joao Silva, Peter Ceulemans
Group L: Therese Klompenhouwer, Jim Anneveldt, Kostas Papakonstantinou
Group P: Regay Henry, Duc Anh Nguyen Chien, Jef Philipoom.
The matches start at 11.00 and are broadcast by Kozoom for Premium Pas holders.