Sang Pil Um for sure the hero in Suwon World Cup

SUWON – Who is the hero of the World Cup in Suwon, so far? There is no doubt: Sang Pil Um, the short, ravenhaired Korean, of whom nonody in the professional circuit really knows what he is capable of and where he comes from. A fact is, that he is on a mission and for now, cannot be stopped.

Two giants of the game, Kyung-Roul Kim and Roland Forthomme, are notches on his belt now. But before those, seven others (in the qualifications), meaning he has nine consecutive victories to his name.

Impressive stats he has on this tournament, with wins over Sang Ku Kang, Jae Young You, Ho Suk Jang, Bao Khang Nguyen, Hyun Min Seo, Frank Sporuzina, Youichirou Mori, Roland Forthomme and now also Kyung-Roul Kim.

His averages:1.875,1.500, 1.433, the maximum run of 15 against Frank Spruzina and a match average of 4.285 in that meeting.
And also: a  2-0 victory over bit-player Roland Forthomme and today a a3 – 0 against Kyung-Roul Kim who had no chance at all.

Who can stop this man?

Raimond Burgman maybe, the Dutchman who was runner-up at the EC this year, and beat Colombian Robinson Morales 3 – 1 in his first round, helped by a closing run of 10?

He is capable of doing it, the unflappable Dutch nr. 2 behind Dick Jaspers, who rarely loses his composure, except on the WC in Porto when he lost against Martin Horn from a winning position.

Torbjörn Blomdahl had a very promising start in the tournament he won last year. The Swede had no trouble with Vietnamese Quoc Nguyen Nguyen and showered the table with imaginative solutions: 15 -7 (10), 15-4 (4), 15-6 (5), average for Blomdahl 2.368.

Xuan Cuong Ma and Jae Ho Cho played major parts in Suwon 2011. Jae Ho Cho then made the final, where he was beaten by Blomdahl. The Vietnamese was beaten in the semi’s.

Today the roles were reversed: Xuan Cuong Ma defeated his opponent 15-10, 15-14, 10-15, 15-6.