HO CHI MINH - The gladiators are in the arena and the show can begin. The World Cup in Ho Chi Minh welcomed the world stars of three cushion with a demonstration of folklore in an entourage where the expectations are very high for the next three days. Marco Zanetti was rewarded by the first standing ovation with a great run of seventeen against Jérémy Bury. Roland Forthomme did the same half an hour later, with a seventeen to the finish.
The Vietnamese audience, spoiled rotten by high level matches in four days of preliminaries, could not wish for a better start after the dazzling kick off with Vietnamese dances and drums rolling through the arena when the 32 protagonists were welcomed for three days of world class billiards.
The third World Cup this year after Luxor (Dick Jaspers) and Porto (Torbjörn Blomdahl) has opened the doors for a new high class meeting of the stars. Ready for a battle between Europeans and Asians, where Roland Forthomme, Marco Zanetti, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Frédéric Caudron, Quyet Chien Tran, Eddy Merckx, Sameh Sidhom and Lütfi Cenet were the first showmasters.
The Vietnam bump between Quyet Chien Tran and Vinh Ly The was the best match so far (40-33 in 15, 2.667/2,200) and Sameh Sidhom, the only African in this setting, triumphed after a miraculous comeback against Jean Paul de Bruijn: the Egyptian came back from 20-2 down to win 40-35 in 21 innings.
Seventeen was the magic number in the first round. Roland Forthomme demonstrated once again how devastating hard he can hit with high runs. The co-world record holder (with 28) found his rhythm in his match against the crowd's favorite Quoc Nguyen Nugyen after 20-11 behind in 15, running 17 to the finish at 24-23 (40-26 in 21)!
Roland Forthomme shone with seventeen to the finish.
Marco Zanetti ran 17 in his match against Jérémy Bury.
Marco Zanetti defeated his former Agipi teammate Jérémy Bury with a same breakaway, from 18-16 behind to 35-18 in the fourteenth inning with a fabulous seventeen: final score 40-23 in 21.
Frédéric Caudron excelled in the second session with a glorious win over Jung-Han Heo (40-24 in 16), built up by a run of thirteen in the fourteenth inning (37-19): decisive for the Belgian master, giving him some more air for his position in the top twelve.
His teammate and close friend, Jean Paul de Bruijn, either had a sparkling start against Sameh Sidhom (17-0 after two innings) and 20-2, but then had one of his dreaded slumps after the break. He lost his feelings, like he did against Dani Sánchez in Porto and lost the match. The Egyptian fought back strongly and then finished with five to 40-35 in 21.
Torbjörn Blomdahl dealt after a slow start (12-10 in 10) with the Korean Cho Keon-Hwi: 40-16 in 20. Lütfi Cenet sent the only South American, the always amiable Ramon Rodriguez, back home to Peru after one performance: 40-32 in 27. And Eddy Merckx had a better final shot against Choong-Bok Lee: 40-32 in 24.
The next sessions, live on Kozoom:
Dick Jaspers-Dae Kwon Shin
Tayfun Tasdemir-Quang Hai Dinh
Dani Sánchez-Tae Jun Oh
Dong-Koong Kang Eddy Leppens.
Fourth session:
Jae Ho Cho-Ji Hun Ahn
Tatsuo Arai-Xuan Cuong Ma
Tolgahan Kiraz-Duy Nguyen Trung
Sung-Won Choi Chi Yeon Cho.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, Sung-Won Choi, Eddy Merckx and Dick Jaspers during the ceremony
Sameh Sidhom, fantastic comeback against Jean Paul de Bruijn.
Quoc Nguyen Nguyen, victim of Roland Forthomme's attack.