LA BAULE - The podium on the second day at the World Cup in La Baule achieved a top five with two Spaniards, José-Maria Mas and Antonio Montes, Peter Ceulemans and the Koreans Sung Uk Oh and Sung Il Jeong. Young Frenchman Gwendal Maréchal returns for his third day performance and faces Therese Klompenhouwer, the ladies world champion today, Wednesday. Jean Reverchon and Adrien Tachoire were the other two French to be cheered by the fans. Ronny Brants qualified for the Belgians, like Ceulemans, Raimond Burgman, an outside player in the field, and Barry van Beers for the Dutch.
José-Maria Mas led the standings after two matches in 16 innings, scoring 4 points and 1.875, ahead of Peter Ceulemans and Sung Uk Oh, 4 points and 1.666. The third Spaniard, Carlos Crespo, just missed the top sixteen, Maxime Panaia missed the qualification despite a strong second match against Jung-Ju Shin (30-18 in 17) and two Turkish sub top players, Ahmet Alp and Gökhan Salman, were sent home much too early.
On the third day, with sixteen groups of three (48 players), many Asians (14) are already at the start and lots of Europeans with ambition to reach the main event. Dion Nelin is one of them, Juan David Zapata, Martin Horn, Filippos Kasidokostas, Glenn Hofman, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Peter Ceulemans, José-Maria Mas and Kostas Papakonstantinou have a shot at the sixteen places for the last qualifying day.
The top sixteen on the second day:
1 José-Maria Mas 4-1.875-7
2 Peter Ceulemans 4-1.666-9
3 Sung Uk Oh 4-1.666-6
4 Sung Il Jeong 4-1.538-8
5 Antonio Montes 4-1.395-10
6 Jacob Haack Sörensen 4-1.395-9
7 Gwendal Maréchal 4-1.363-8
8 Murat Tüzül 4-1.363-6
9 In-Won Kang 4-1.304-9
10 Young-Hoon Lee 4-1.224-7
11 Jean Reverchon 4-1.132-7
12 Ronny Brants 4-1.111-5
13 Rui Costa 4-0.845-4
14 Raimond Burgman 3-1.276-8
15 Adrien Tachoire 3-1.250-6
16 Barry van Beers 2-1.35-8.
The sixteen groups for the qualifications on Wednesday
Poule A: Dion Nelin, Barry van Beers, David Pennör
Poule B: Ahmed Emam, Adrien Tachoire, Juan David Zapata
Poule C: Yusuke Mori, Raimond Burgman, Mohamed Abdin
Poule D: Wan Young Choi, Hyung Bum Hwang, Rui Costa
Poule E: Thomas Andersen, Dustin Jäschke, Ronny Brants
Poule F: Khaled Salem, Jean Reverchon, Martin Horn
Poule G: Jin Pyo Hong, Young Hoon Lee, Duc Anh Chien Nguyen
Poule H: Chi Yeon Cho, In-Won Kang, Tolgahan Kiraz
Poule I: Filipos Kasidokostas, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Murat Tüzül
Poule J: Therese Klompenhouwer, Gwendal Maréchal, Regay Henry
Poule K: Murat Celik, Jacob Haack Sörensen, Seung Jin Lee
Poule L: Glenn Hofman, Kostas Kokkoris, Antonio Montes
Poule M: Jae-Guen Kim, Sung Il Jeong, Hideaki Kobayashi
Poule N: Jérôme Barbeillon, Sung Uk Oh, Trung Hau Do Nguyen
Poule O: Dionisis Tsokontas, Kostas Papakonstantinou, Peter Ceulemans
Poule P: Arnim Kahofer, José-Maria Mas, Hugo Patino.
Peter Ceulemans, nr 1 on day 1, nr 2 on day 2
Gwendal Maréchal, firing up the French bunch on the third day
Ronny Brants for Belgium: always a feared opponent at the World Cup stage
Raimond Burgman, Dutch player back in the field