SEOUL - The world record seemed to be in danger when 20 year-old Korean wonderboy Myung-Woo Cho ran to 10, 15, 20 points in a scintillating run and wasn't done scoring. His match against Tonny Carlsen, on the last day of qualifications at the World Cup in Seoul, was just on its way: 6-5 in 3 innings. Little man Cho, the biggest talent in the world of three-cushion, jolly gambolled around the billiards, saw no dangers and continued his run to 21, 22, 23, 24 ... he was four caroms away from the world record. Then came the 25th, a round-the-table-shot, not the most difficult shot at all. And yet ... Cho lost his perfect feeling for a while, maybe played just a little too nonchalant, or... was too much focused for the next, good position. And he missed... The cue bal flashed millimetres along the third ball in the corner. The run stopped at 24. But what a stunning great show that was from the little Korean magician.
The match ended in 40-21 in 12 innings (3-2-24-0-0-4-0-1-2-1-2), of which one in the high run was the most brilliant, the 7th: choosing the short track up and down the table, short-short-short. The final score was good enough to be the best player from the runners-up with two points to reach the main draw. Eddy Leppens showed another highlight on this day. The Belgian scored a run of 19 in his match against Dion Nelin.
Semih Sayginer was by far the number one to go to the main event. With victories over Jose Juan Garcia in 12 and Hyung Bum Hwang in 19, the Turk finished 2.580 average. Three players also recorded 2 average and more: two Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma and Duc Anh Chien Nguyen and Filippos Kasidokostas, who left-handedly played a tremendous 3.076 average match. Among the dropouts of the day were Jérémy Bury, David Martinez, Dinh Nai Ngo, Nikos Polychronopoulos, who lost their two matches. Sang-Woon Ko, the top three player of all previous rounds, was eliminated just before the main tournament with one win and 1.245 average.
Two groups ended with three players on two match points. Jae-Guen Kim became the winner in Group B ahead of Bong chul Kim and Tayfun Tasdemir averaging 1.871. Jean Paul de Bruijn finished just ahead of Roland Forthomme and Javier Palazón with 1.509 in the last group of the day and was the last of sixteen day winners.
The group sessions:
Group A:
Semih Sayginer was superior in his two matches against Jose Juan Garcia from Colombia and Hyung Bym Hwang from Korea. The Turk won his first match against Garcia 40-9 in 12, his second vs Hwang 40-29 in 19. That brought Semih to an average of 2.580, which made him by far the best player in the last qualifications.
The ranking in Group A:
1 Sayginer 4-2.580-10
2 Hwang 2-1.533-9
3 Garcia 0-1.210-7
Semih Sayginer
Group B:
Two Kim's competed for the group win with Tayfun Tasdemir. It was a fascinating fight that was decided on average. Bong Chul Kim first beat Jae Guen Kim 40-33 in 15, Jae Guen Kim defeated Tasdemir 40-38 in 24, Tasdemir won his last against Bong Chul Kim 40-25 in 22. The averages were close, Jae Guen Kim was the best.
The ranking in Group B:
1 Jae Guen Kim 2-1.871-8
2 Bong Chul Kim 2-1,756-13
3 Tasdemir 2-1.695-6
Group C:
Filippos Kasidokostas made a grand entrance with victories over two Vietnamese Do Nguyen and Ngo. Do Nguyen was the better in the mutual clash with Ngo 40-20 in 18, then Kasidokostas first outplayed Ngo 40-27 in 27 and in his last match Do Nguyen 40-11 in 13. What a stellar show of the left-hand playing Greek: 3.076 average in that last game.
The ranking in Group C:
1 Kasidokostas 4-2,000-11
2 Do Nguyen 2-1.645-8
3 Ngo 0-1.044-6
Filippos Kasidokostas
Group D:
The mighty run of Eddy Leppens (19) decided the match against Dion Nelin, won by the Belgian 40-28 in 21. Barry van Beers suffered two losses in that group. Nelin defeated the Dutchman 40-34 in 30, Leppens won 40-36 in 33. The 19-run was a second highlight of the day after Myung-Woo Cho's 24.
The ranking in Group D:
1 Leppens 4-1.481-19
2 Nelin 2-1.333-5
3 Van Beers 0-1.111-6
Eddy Leppens
Group E:
Robinson Morales continued his strong showing outside South America. The Colombian first defeated Hyung Kon Kim 40-36 in 29 and in his second match Nikos Polychronopoulos 40-37 in 29. The Greek played remained far from his normal level and missed his attempt to make steps on the world ranking.
The ranking in Group E:
1 Morales 4-1.379-9
2 Kim 2-1.433-7
3 Polychronopoulos 0-1.113-6
Robinson Morales
Group F:
Jérémy Bury's elimination was one of the most remarkable facts this day. The Frenchman was defeated twice, first by Adnan Yüksel 40-26 in 21 and finally by Hyun Min Seo 40-37 in 27. The Korean, who shone with runs of 13 and 10 in his match against Bury, was the unbeaten group winner.
The ranking in Group F:
1 Seo 4-1.632-13
2 Adnan Yüksel 2-1.441-9
3 Jérémy Bury 0-1.312-9
Group G:
Duc Anh Nguyen started with a simple win over Nady (40-27 in 22). Lütfi Cenet did even better against the Egyptian, 40-12 in 12. Coming to the finish, the Vietnamese ruled and left Cenet far behind 40-20 in 18. Cenet went to the main draw due to his strong first appearance.
The ranking in Group G:
1 Nguyen 4-2.000-11
2 Cenet 2-2.000-8
3 Nady 0-0.852-3
Group H:
Can Capak seized the group win ahead of Jin Pyo Hong and David Martinez. The Spaniard was not on his best this day and lost both matches. Capak first bested Hong 40-31 in 25, Hong then was the better of Martinez 40-16 in 16. In his last match, Capak was not threatened: the Turk defeated Martinez 40-31 in 19, despite a Spanish 13-run. Hong was a strong runner-up scoring 1.731, but just finished outside top three.
The ranking in Group H:
1 Capac 4-1.818-11
2 Hong 2-1.731-7
3 Martinez 0-1.342-13
Can Capak
Group I:
The Japanese Kobayashi could not reach the level from the last preliminaries and was beaten by Minh Cam Ma (40-17 in 17) and Birol Uymaz (40-33 in 34). The Vietnamese and the Turk decided on the group win. Ma was the better: 40-31 in 21. Uymaz was below his high level of the last World Cups.
The ranking in Group I:
1 Ma 4-2.105-9
2 Uymaz 2-1.290-8
3 Kobayashi 0-0.980-7
Group J:
The group that was the most impressive by Myung-Woo Cho's 24 run in his third inning against Tonny Carlsen. The little Korean boy had to save his tournament after losing to Choong-Bok Lee 40-32 in 24 innings. Cho defeated Carlsen 40-21 in 12, Lee finished as group winner by the 40-26 in 28 against Carlsen. Thanks to his 2.000 average over two matches, Cho went to the main tournament.
The ranking in Group J:
1 Lee 4-1.538-8
2 Cho 2-2.000-24
3 Carlsen 0-1.175-7
Myung-Woo Cho
Group K:
Sang-Woon Ko's long adventure ended in the final qualification session. The young Korean, who played such a wonderful pre-round sessions, beat Xuan Cuong Ma (40-38 in 28), but another Vietnamese, Anh Vu Duong, was the better in the group. Duong first defeated Ma 40-36 in 21 and in the last game Ko 40-31 in 29.
The ranking in Group K:
1 Duong 4-1.600-10
2 Ko 2-1.245-7
3 Ma 0-1.510-8
Group L:
Jean Paul de Bruijn missed the last break shot of the day in the equalizer against Roland Forthomme. The Dutchman, who saved his tournament with a 7-run in the last part of his last match (started with two kisses), still won the group with three players gathering two match points. The victory over Javier Palazón (40-26 in 25) was enough for De Bruijn to finish on top with a small difference.
The ranking in Group L:
1 De Bruijn 2-1.509-9
2 Palazón 2-1.466-6
3 Forthomme 2-1.304-7.
Jean Paul de Bruijn
The twelve group winners:
1 Semih Sayginer 4-2.580-10
2 Minh Cam Ma 4-2.105-9
3 Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 4-2.000-11
4 Filippos Kasidokostas 4-2.000-11
5 Can Capak 4-1.818-11
6 Hyun Min Seo 4-1.632-13
7 Anh Vu Duong 4-1.600-10
8 Choong-Bok Lee 4-1.538-8
9 Eddy Leppens 4-1.481-19
10 Robinson Morales 4-1.379-9
11 Jae-Guen Kim 2-1.871-8
12 Jean Paul de Bruijn 2-1.509-9
Three runners-up:
1 Myung-Woo Cho 2-2.057-24
2 Lütfi Cenet 2-2.000-8
3 Bong chul Kim 2-1.756-13
The matches for the first knock-out session with 32 players on Friday:
11.00 uur (Korean time, Western Europe 3.00 uur):
Frédéric Caudron-Hyun Min Seo
Minh Cam Ma-Filippos Kasidokostas
Sameh Sidhom-Sung Uk Oh
Jung-Han Heo-Robinson Morales
13.00:
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen-Duc Anh Chien Nguyen
Sung-Won Choi-Can Capak
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Bong chul Kim
HaengJik Kim-Jean Paul de Bruijn
17.00:
Marco Zanetti-Lütfi Cenet
Semih Sayginer-Myung Woo Cho
Dick Jaspers-Choong-Bok Lee
Murat Naci Coklu-Dong Koong Kang
19.00:
Jae-Ho Cho-Eddy Leppens
Dani Sánchez-Anh Vu Duong
Quyet Chien Tran-Jae-Guen Kim
Eddy Merckx-Pedro Piedrabuena.