ANKARA - The next World Cup is coming up in the UMB cycle and for sure this year the new Vietnamese star players are in the spotlight. The experienced Quyet Chien Tran won the first World Cup this year in Bogota, Duc Minh Tran, rarely seen in World Cups in previous years, almost out of nowhere won the second of 2024 in Ho Chi Minh City. The rankings are in flux with the World Cup in Ankara, Turkey, on the calendar for the coming week from Sunday 9 June to Saturday 15 June. The European and other champions are under pressure.
For the tournament in the Turkish federation center, the February Events Ranking has been used, which does not yet include Ho Chi Minh. That’s why Frédéric Caudron and Birol Uymaz are again in the PPP qualifications on the first day of the preliminaries.
The ranking points of Ankara 2024 replace those of Veghel 2022, so Torbjörn Blomdahl has 80 points at stake and Dick Jaspers 36. On the other hand, in the Top 30 will be the players Thai Hong Chiem, Burak Hashas (playing his last World Cup before his move to the PBA), Glenn Hofman, Duc Minh Tran and Thanh Luc Tran did not defend a single point. The points these players earn in Ankara will theoretically give them a higher ranking.
Among the 17 seeded players, 14 come from that ranking: Dick Jaspers, Quyet Chien Tran, Myung-woo Cho, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Eddy Merckx, Jun-tae Kim (number 1 in the World Players Ranking), Haeng Jik Kim, Marco Zanetti , Sameh Sidhom, Tayfun Tasdemir, Martin Horn, Phuong Vinh Bao (reigning individual world champion), Myeong-jong Cha and Jung-han Heo, are supplemented by the three wildcards Pedro Gonzalez (CPB), Tolgahan Kiraz and Berkay Karakurt (organization).
The preliminary rounds start on Sunday at 11 a.m. Turkish time (10 a.m. Western Europe) with a match between Belgian Frédéric Caudron and the Turk Ecevit Eray Erdogan, the Turks Birol Uymaz and Volkan Cimentepe and the brothers Amir and Ali Ibraimov. Denizcan Akkoca, a promising Turkish junior, will play at 12:30, Seymen Ozbas at 2:00 PM and the Colombian Carlos Campino at 3:30 PM.
Takeshima O, Adrien Tachoire, Luis Aveiga, Sergio Jimenez, Tobias Bouerdick, Emrullah Basegmez, Maxime Panaia and Dimitrios Seleventas will be in the arena on Monday.
The schedule for Tuesday is Serdal Bas, Riad Nady, Arnim Kahofer, Jose Maria Mas, David Pennör, Turgay Orak, Ronny Lindemann, Pierre Soumagne, Huub Wilkowski, Javier Vera, Jose Miguel Soares, Volkan Cetin, Joey de Kok, Kostas Kokkoris. .
The last qualifying day on Wednesday is reserved for, among others, Mashhour Abu Tayeh, Omer Karakurt, Jérémy Bury, Sam van Etten, Rui Manuel Costa, Burak Hashas, Peter Ceulemans, Ruben Legazpi, Gwendal Maréchal, Roland Forthomme, Jeffrey Jorissen, Glenn Hofman, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Chang Hoon Seo, and Thanh Luc Tran.
The main tournament starts on Thursday, June 13 at 10 a.m. in Turkey.
All matches live on AfreecaTV.