SHARM EL SHEIKH - 35-year-old Frenchman Pierre Soumagne has suffered a food poisoning during the World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. He spent a few hours on an intravenous infusion. Today, Thursday, Soumagne is ready again to play matches in the main tournament against three cushion world champion Tayfun Tasdemir (11.00 European time) and later today against Eddy Merckx and Chang Hoon Seo.
''I have recovered enough to play,'' Soumagne reported this morning at the breakfast outside the playing venue in Sharm. ''My night before Wednesday was hell, I couldn't sleep for a minute. I ended up calling the reception for a doctor. He came and inserted an infusion to me.''
Pierre Soumagne played matches against Egyptian Abdin and Jordanian Abu Tayeh on Wednesday, both he won and qualified for the World Cup main tournament. ''I was still on the infusion half an hour before my first match with considerable pain. That gradually got better during the day. What I ate wrong, I don't know. Anyway, I have to be careful in the coming days.''
The French player, who has been in a main tournament four times before, but had quit World Cups for seven years, is making a strong come-back after his brief adventure with the Korean federation PBA. Soumagne entered the Sharm World Cup on Sunday, on the first day, playing his first match against young Greek Seleventas. This Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, the Frenchman survived a total of eight matches, including against Dutchman Huub Wilkowski, Turk Tolgahan Kiraz and Austrian Arnim Kahofer, putting him now (today, Thursday) in the 32-player main tournament. ''I didn't have the best feelings so far, but enough to make some points at the right moment. I expect to be much better today.''
The first sessions with all the world's best players start this morning in Sharm El Sheikh at 9.00 am European time with among others Dick Jaspers, Peter Ceulemans, Dani Sánchez, Myung Woo Cho and Marco Zanetti.
Pierre Soumagne on the infusion in his room in Sharm El Sheikh