BLANKENBERGE - Famous heads rolled as the field in the Blankenberge World Cup was halved on day one. The headline grabber was Nikos Polychronopoulos, who played the best match of his already lengthy career against Birol Uymaz from Turkey. Speedy Poly's exhibition performance took only nine innings (40-29) and it took the Greek to the top of the table in the day results. The spectators in the casino went crazy, and with good reason.
Not only did the Greek overwhelm his opponent (who played a world class average himself, with 3,222) but also the other fifteen winners on opening day. Nikos went from start to finish like Usain Bolt: 3-1-7-6-0-11-6-0-6. Eddy Merckx came closest, using 12 innings against Vietnamese Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, 40-21. Sung Won Choi 40 in 13) and Frédéric Caudron (40 in 15) also scaled the heights of the Belgian , intimately lit arena. Merckx later said: ,,My start was reasonable, with 13 in 8. But four innings later it was all over: 10,14,0 and 3. That's especially nice in front of your home crowd.''
For Haeng-Jik Kim, Marco Zanetti, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Jae-Ho Cho, Murat Naci Coklu and Nguyen Quoc, the Belgian World Cup was short lived. Semih Sayginer was the one who eliminated Zanetti in a nail biting finish. The Italian maestro was apparently bothered by the lights and put on a black cap when he was in the chair. It was 21-21 at halftime, and 40-40 was the finish that made a shootout necessary. Sayginer ran only two, but Zanetti did not grab the good chance: he missed his second point.
David Zapata is one of the sensations of the event so far. He eliminated Q.C. Tran yesterday, and ntoday he sent hme the feared Korean Dong Koong Kang: 40-30 in 23. Eddy Leppens got the better of Jérémy Bury (40-37 in 28), Frédéric Caudron had already defeated his countryman Roland Forthomme before the other three matches were barely halfway: 40-20 in 15.
Two Korean Cho's entertained the audience with a match won by the younger of the two: 40-37 to Myung Woo Cho at the expense of Jae Ho Cho. Dick Jaspers dealt with a former team mate, Tonny Carlsen, by making two decisive runs of 10: final score 40-30 in 20. Jung-Han Heo took as many innings against Anh Vu Duong (40-17 in 20) and Sameh Sidhom had a painful exit against Can Capak. Both players drew at 40-40 in 25, and in the shootout Capak only made a single point. Sidhom then missed the break, and later said: ,,This is the third World Cup in a row where I go out on a single point. It must be in my head, I can't seem to finish the job.''
Torbjörn Blomdahl stayed well below his normal level and lost to Minh Cam Ma. The Vietnamese lifted the score from 23-20 to 39-21 and left Blomdahl in tatters: 40-21 in 20. Sung-Won Choi was quick out of the blocks and completely dominated Dustin Jäschke: 40-16 in 13. Haeng-Jik Kim lost the battle of the Kims to Hyung Kon Kim: 40-20 in 29.
Tayfun Tasdemir had to counter a fine start by Ihab El Messery and did just that: 40-33 in 25. He defended the Turkish colors together with Sayginer, after Coklu and Uymaz had been eliminated. Dani Sánchez found enough rhythm to stay ahead of Trung Hau Do Nguyen: 40-28 in 22.
Tomorrow's matches:
11.00:
Caudron-Zapata
Leppens-Sayginer
Choi-Minh Cam Ma
Polychronopoulos-Hyung Kon Kim
13.00
Jaspers-Capak
Heo-Myung Woo Cho
Sánchez-Tasdemir
Merckx-Ngo.
Sayginer beats Zanetti in a tense shootout
Marco Zanetti: bothered by the lights
Merckx: wonderful performance in front of his fans
Leppens had to work hard to beat Bury
Caudron: first one to finish, as usual
Myung Woo Cho beat Jae Ho Cho
Jaspers dealt with his old angstgegner Carlsen
Zapata: good win over Dong Koong Kang
Sánchez: a solid win in 22 innings