EL GOUNA/HURGHADA -The world champion is out of the tournament, because the Spanish champion Andres Carrion spoiled his party in the first knock-out at the World Junior championship. The huge favourite, the Korean Myung-Woo Cho, is (still) not at his best and the Korean's major role, despite four top positions in the group stage, is less than expected after the preliminaries. The Asians, however, are with three guys in the last four, the European contingent has Andres Carrion as a title contender.
Myung-Woo Cho killed the dream of the Egyptian Ahmed Hatem, who was happy with his spot in the last eight. His last performance was too poor on this stage: Myung-Woo Cho won 35-15 in 36 innings! Tae-Kwan Kim and Andres Carrion put up an exciting fight that ended in a draw after three points of the Korean in the equalizer. Two series of shoot-outs decided the match in favor of the Spaniard: 2-2 in the first set, 2-0 in the deciding shoot-out.
Jiseung Han (against Tom Löwe) and Jung-Ju Shin (against Carlos Anguita) were in a big struggle to survive to set the Korean fire on the Red Sea. The German and the Spaniard proved to be tough opponents. Tom Löwe kept up until 23-23 in 24 innings, then Han attacked with 5 and later 4 for the final blow. Carlos Anguita kept the pace until 29-28 (Spanish lead) in 20 innings. Shin's last sprint (4) was too much for Anguita: 35-30 in 22.
The semi-finals:
Myung-Woo Cho-Andres Carrion
Jung-Ju Shin-Jiseung Han.
The Spaniard Andres Carrion lifts his head and celebrates his win over world champion Kim
Myung-Woo Cho, a solid win, but not a great performance
Jung-Ju Shin had the better final sprint against Carlos Anguita
Jiseung Han defeated Tom Löwe with two runs in the final part
Preliminaries
The preliminaries, with four groups of four, turned out in a superior strength of four Koreans. Tae-Kwan Kim, Jiseung Han, Jung-Ju Shin and Myung Woo Cho were the group winners, Myung Woo Cho achieved the highest score with four match points and 1.209 average.
In the first session, two Spaniards joined the group winners: Carlos Anguita in Group A, Andres Carrion in Group B. In the second tour, the German Tom Löwe and the Egyptian Ahmed Hatem, very surprisingly, reached the final group of eight players for the quarterfinals . Hatem started with two losses in his group.
Group A:
The Korean, current world champion Tae-Kwan Kim and Spaniard Carlos Anguita closed the group stage as the numbers one and two, the Egyptians Mahmoud Ayman and Youssef Ossama had to leave the stage. The decisions were made in the final round, where Tae-Kwan Kim knocked down Youssef Ossama (25-8 in 14) and Carlos Anguita jumped to win against the best starter in this group, Mahmoud Ayman, who finished on the last spot after 25-19 in 27. Kim took the highest average with 0.915 and also the best run with 9.
Ranking:
1 Tae-Kwan Kim 5-0.915-9
2 Carlos Anguita 3-0.769-5
3 Youssef Ossama 2-0.914-7
4 Mahmoud Ayman 2-0.756-4
Tae-Kwan Kim seems to say: take it easy
Carlos Anguita: win over Ayman, ready for knock-outs?
Group B:
Jiseung Han remains unbeaten in the group in which the Spanish champion Andres Carrion claims the second spot thanks to his last win over Christoper Rarmirez. The Korean finishes with the best average 0.987, Thibaut Espada recorded the best run, 6. The Frenchman played a poor final round against Jiseung Han (25-6 in 19) and disappoints with the third spot.
The ranking:
1 Jiseung Han 6-0.987-5
2 Andres Carrion 4-0.759-5
3 Thibaut Espada 2-0.679-6
4 Christoper Ramirez 0-0.550-4
Jung-Ju Shin, qualified with six match points
Andres Carrion, the Spanish champion is in the last eight
Group C:
Jung-Ju Shin has some unexpected problems with Patrick Butora in his last match. The Austrian finally shows up with his best match, but is not able to finish it of with a win. Shin is the best in de final innings, 25-23 in 19. Tom Löwe survives in the trenchwar match with Caro Nelson and manages to qualify after a 25-18 in 36. He therefor is the second in his group.
The ranking:
1 Jung-Ju Shin 6-1.190-6
2 Tom Löwe 4-0.631-5
3 Caro Nelson 2-0.670-5
4 Patrick Butora 0-0.550-6
Jung-Ju Shin, unbeaten in the group stage
Tom Löwe, two wins and a well deserved qualification
Group D:
Myung-Woo Cho couldn't really show his high class so far in his group. The Korean just shone in his match against Arda Gungor in 11 innings. In the final encounter, he defeated Christian Sanchez 25-23 in 28. And because Ahmed Hatem pleased the home crowd and took the spotlights in his last match against Arda Gungor. The Egyptian entered the knockouts in a group with three players who all scored two match points. Hatem won his only, most important match 25-20 in 30 innings.
The ranking:
1 Myung-Woo Cho 6-1.209-7
2 Ahmed Hatem 2-0.765-7
3 Arda Gungor 2-0.755-4
4 Christian Sanchez 2-0.670-5
Myung-Woo Cho, still loking for his best form
The Egyptian player Ahmed Hatem is the home favourite