ANTALYA - The youngest gladiator of them all, Myung Woo Cho, knocked out one of the Korean Lee's in three innings running 18-1. Eddy Leppens had a magic start against Jose Juan Garcia (19-2 in 3), Torbjörn Blomdahl started a one- man-show in his match against one of the older Vietnamese (23-2 in 6). Nikos Polychronopoulos sprinted to a 33-9 margin with a run of 15 against Nady and later this day to a 40-7 against Murat Celik with a run of 13. Therefore, the Greek whirlwind was the best of the day winner with 2.962 over two matches, the same average as Myung-Woo Cho, the number two of the ranking. The stream of rumors about the future of billiards does not concern him. Nikos commented. "I haven't heard anything officially yet and don't care about what's told around. I play my game and focus on billiards.''
The raging start of the gladiators in the Antalya World Cup, where it was all about the last qualifications, was a warm-up on the best possible level. Nikos Polychronopoulos, eventually, was the day winner with 4 match points and 2.962, ahead of Myung Woo Cho with 4 points and the same average 2.962, followed by Torbjörn Blomdahl with 2.352, Dinh Nai Ngo with 1.904, Dani Sánchez with 1.860 and Marin Horn with 1.777. The three runners-up were Eddy Leppens, Can Capak and Serdar Bas, the players who just missed the main draw were Antonio Montes, Savas Bulut and Murat Tüzül.
But what a battlefield this was in the first sessions on this last qualifying day. What must young Colombian Jose Juan Garcia, the former junior world champion, have felt? How powerless he must have felt after his bad start (40-38 loss against Choi in 43 innings) and then, in his second, seeing the whirlwind Eddy Leppens pass by. The score in the first innings: 11-0 in 2, 22-2 in 5 and after the break another 9 for a 33-4 score and eventually 40-13 in 12.
And what to tell about little Myung Woo Cho, who went full throttle in the match against Sun Woong Lee, one of the stars from the previous round, when he put down a generous 18-1 on the score board with his flashy start. And Anh Vu Duong, the most experienced player of the Vietnamese, couldn't he just watch Torbjörn Blomdahl, running away to 23-2, with great admiration?
Two early high runs, by Serdar Bas (16) and Nikos Polychronopoulos (15), made it clear to the spectators in the stylish billiard room of the Starlight Resort hotel, that from now on the first star players in global three-cushion entered the arena. The main event was still one day away, but such a high-level performance was rarely seen in the final qualifications.
The second tour in the run-up was slightly less impressive. Nikos Polychronopoulos continued his crack down and also excelled in his second appearance facing Murat Celik: the run of 13 in the 9th inning brought the score to 20-1 and after 32-2 in 12 to a rarely seen 40-7 in 13. Torbjörn Blomdahl was 7-1 behind against Savas Bulut, HaengJik Kim 21-11 down in his match with Antonio Montes. Dani Sánchez had a slow start and was 10-1 down in his second match, against Serdar Bas, not one of the most famous Turks.
When the show down came closer, the heat was on and the tension increased even further. HaengJik Kim was in dire straits in his match with Antonio Montes. The Korean was defeated in the final sprint (40-33 in 25), but still finished first in the group with two match points, with a small difference in average: 1.553 against Montes 1.533. Torbjörn Blomdahl made the gap against Bulut with a run of 11 (28-17), Eddy Leppens struggled with Wan Young Choi (eventually a loss 40-35 in 26) and Dani Sánchez could take the lead with a decisive run of 10 just in time to outplay Bas (40-30 in 20).
Myung Woo Cho also was brilliant in his second match against Robinson Morales, 40-25 in 14, finishing a shared winner in the day rankings with Nikos Polychronopoulos, 4 match points and 2.962 average. Martin Horn, with the best run of the day, 18, overpowered Filippos Kasidokostas 40-35 in 21, David Martinez was the better of Dong Koong Kang 40-31 in 28, and Javier Palazón left Dion Nelin behind 40-38 in 28. Roland Forthomme had the better final sprint beating Glenn Hofman 40-34 in 34 and Minh Cam Ma put two Turks, Murat Tüzül and Adnan Yüksel on the racks.
And of course, it was not only a day of top matches but there were setbacks as well after what was seen on the previous days. In-Won Kang lost some of his glory in the Kang/Kang match against Dong Koong (40-33 loss). Bong Chul Kim, not so long ago the rising star at the World Cup in Seoul, where he lost in the semi-final to Filippos Kasidokostas, was almost invisible now in his match against HaengJik Kim (40-20 in 22).
Tonny Carlsen, who underwent an eye surgery a few weeks ago, was not at full speed, shown by the loss against Dion Nelin (40-34 in 29) and the draw with Javier Palazón, but even more of a come down was Jose Juan Garcia's performance. The Colombian finished under one average and apparently is not back on his best level after his motorcycle accident.
It all led to the new formula that is used for the first time in this World Cup: with eight groups of four players, of which the group winners and runners advance for the knock-out with sixteen.
Nikos Polychronopoulos, the day winner, in a comment of the rumors about the future of billiards: sssshhhh.
The top twelve in the last qualification:
1 Nikos Polychronopoulos 4-2.962-15
2 Myung-Woo Cho 4-2.962-11
3 Torbjörn Blomdahl 4-2.352-11
4 Dinh Nai Ngo 4-1.904-10
5 Dani Sánchez 4-1.860-11
6 Martin Horn 4-1.777-18
7 David Martinez 4-1.632-9
8 Roland Forthomme 4-1.509-7
9 Wan Young Choi 4-1.159-7
10 Javier Palazón 3-1.403-7
11 Minh Cam Ma 2-2.000-8
12 HaengJik Kim 2-1.553-9
Three runners up for the main draw:
1 Eddy Leppens 2-2.000-9
2 Can Capak 2-1.809-11
3 Serdar Bas 2-1.707-16.
The group format for Friday (best two for the knock-out with 16):
Group A: Myung Woo Cho, Pedro Piedrabuena, Dick Jaspers, Serdar Bas
Group B: Nikos Polycrhonopoulos, Frédéic Caudron, Lutfi Cenet, Can Capak
Group C: Eddy Merckx, Sung-Won Choi, Birol Uymaz, Eddy Leppens
Group D: Semih Sayginer, Murat Naci Coklu, Torbjörn Blomdhl, HaengJik Kim
Group E: Tayfun Tasdemir, Dinh Nai Ngo, Marco Zanetti, Minh Cam Ma
Group F: Jae-Ho Cho, Sameh Sidhom, Dani Sánchez, Javier Palazón
Group G: Jung-Han Heo, Martin Horn, Quyet Chien Ten, Wan Young Choi
Group H: Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, David Martinez, Jéréremy Bury, Roland Forthomme.
Martin Horn, with a great run of 18 in his match against Filippos Kasidokostas
Myung-Woo Cho, the best to advance with Nikos Polychronopoulos