3-Cushion
HURGHADA - The tears of happiness and disbelief were in his eyes when Ronny Brants celebrated the win against Semih Sayginer. The Belgian, who doesn't play World Cups for many years, was the sensation of the day: he not only outplayed Jef Philipoom, the former world champion, but at the end of the day also the star player of Turkish billiards. ,,This is amazing, a miracle, I'm such a happy man today'' reacted Ronny Brants overwhelmed with emotions.
He traveled without any ambition to the Hurghada World Cup, because the Belgians never showed up in recent years in international tournaments. He has a job as a driver for a courier service, making days from four o'clock in the morning until five in the afternoon. ,,I rarely can find to practice.'' ,,I came to this World Cup, because the boys of our Belgian team wanted to play here. It was a long time ago since I participated at a World Cup. I only play team matches in the Netherlands and Belgium.''
The end of his match against Semih Sayginer, after Brants had defeated Jef Philipoom in the early rounds of the day, was marked by an incident at the end. The Turk thought that he made a point when Brants led 29-22 and just had missed his final point.
The referee (Benny van Goethem, who was looking closely at the balls) announced a miss and told Sayginer to go to his chair. The protest of the Turk was not recognized. Ronny Brants said that he hadn't seen the carom. And the referee insisted that the point was not on. That meant Brants could go to the billiard for his last point and he scored: 30-22. Sayginer needed 8 points for the equalizer, but missed after four points. Ronny Brants returns for his fourth day in the tournament, tomorrow. And Semih Sayginer will not reach the main tournament again.
The Turk started the day so well in his match against Jef Philipoom, with a run of ten in the first inning and enjoyed the spectators before the break with a few fantastic show balls. The Belgian former world champion was far behind at the finish (30-11) but scored eight in the equalizer (30-19 in 15).
The Hurghada World Cup is slowly reaching the final rounds and opened its doors today for the first star players. The new world champion arrived after a long journey from Korea and a six-hour bus trip from Cairo. Sung-Won Choi has a day to recover from his jet lag, but smiled to everyone who shook his hand and congratulated him with his world title.
Frédéric Caudron was walking around already for one day, but most of the other players from the top ten will arrive this evening. The Sunrise Garden Beach hotel, on the banks of the Red Sea, is preparing for a great finish of the year with a battle for the final victory in the World Cup and the top positions on the world ranking.
Tonny Carlsen was this day's luminary with two strong performances, four match points and 1.935 average. He finished in the ranking ahead of Yavuz Güngördü, Gokhan Salman, Javier Palazón and Emrullah Basegmez.
Therese Klompenhouwer (who was seventh with 4 points and 1.200) is again close to the main tournament after two victories against two Turkish opponents. The ladies world champion arrived in Hurghada with a little cold, but seemed to be top fit again at the table. She defeated Gungor Bastunali in the first match after a bad start, but then had a strong final sprint to 30-20 in 30. The second game was a quickie match with a strong start (22-6 in 12) and a victory with 30-16 in twenty innings.
The party is over for the two stars of the previous day. Peter De Backer lost to Javier Palazón (30-22 in 24) after a strong start against Vincent Eugene in 17 innings. And the Korean Chi Yeon Cho could also pack his bags. He was not a shadow of the player he was on Monday. Birol Uymaz was the group winner despite a loss in his first match.
Six players from the top sixteen were from Turkey, behind Danish veteran Tonny Carlsen, who beat the Austrian Szivacz and Czech Novak in his group.
Tuesday's top sixteen:
1 Tonny Carlsen 1.935
2 Yavuz Güngördü 1.363
3 Gokhan Salman 1.333
4 Javier Palazón 1.276
5 Emrullah Basegmez 1.250
6 Mehmet Goren 1.250
7 Therese Klompenhouwer 1.200
8 Markus Dömer 1.153
9 Ronny Brants 1.052
10 Jean Reverchon 1.052
11 Tae Soo Lim 0.983
12 Dionisis Tsokantas 0.923
13 Tolgahan Kiraz 0.769
14 Birol Uymaz 1.074
15 Jin Pyo Hong 1.053
16 Pierre Soumagne 0.947
Semih Sayginer (1.302), Peter De Backer (1.300) and Herbert Szivacz (1.066) were the top three players in the loser's group.
The groups for tomorrow, Wednesday:
Group A: Roland Forthomme, Javier Palazón, Emrullah Basegmez.
Group B: Nikos Polychronopoulos, Gokhan Salman, Mehmet Goren.
Group C: Choong-Bok Lee, Yavuz Güngördü, Therese Klompenhouwer.
Group D: Murat Naci Coklu, Tonny Carlsen, Markus Dömer.
Group E: Jean Paul de Bruijn, Ahmed Alp, Ronny Brants.
Group F: Lütfi Cenet, Vinh Ly The, Jean Reverchon
Group G: Jung Han Heo, Kostas Papakonstantinou, Tae Soo Lim
Group H: Eddy Leppens, Peter Ceulemans, Dionisis Tsokantas
Group I: Hyung Bum Hwang, Murat Tüzül, Tolgahan Kiraz.
Group J: Christian Rudolph, Savas Bulut, Birol Uymaz
Group K: Glenn Hofman, Arnim Kahofer, Jin Pyo Hong
Group L: Jae Guen Kim, Adnan Yüksel, Pierre Soumagne.