SEOUL - How capricious, unpredictable and full of ups and downs is three cushion with four players at the billiards, without full stands and cheering spectators and with a count that is totally unknown Europe and the world outside of Korea. The 3CC Survival Masters, based on a Korean game format, saw players in the first three of a total of four days shine with highlights and big averages and suddenly fade away. The first day's winners, Jung-Han Heo, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Dinh Nai Ngo, lost their way in the first sessions of the knock-outs, Hugo Patiño was on his best one day and not a shadow of himself in his next performing and for Frédéric Caudron, who was also rapidly out in the first 3CC Masters, is this tournament cycle not yet the stage where he feels at home.
The main roles on the third day, in the quarter finals, were claimed by Sung-Won Choi, Dani Sánchez, Sameh Sidhom and Murat Naci Coklu. These four finished on top of the four groups of four players and advanced to the semi-finals with Jae-Ho Cho, Semih Sayginer, Marco Zanetti and Dick Jaspers. Semih Sayginer commented in the eye of the cameras after a thrilling fight with Torbjörn Blomdahl: ,,I was behind all the way in the race with my opponents (Sidhom and Blomdahl), but I saved my life in the last seconds with a high run. That's why this game is called Survival, it's a battle to survive.'' Sameh Sidhom feels like a fish in the Nile in this game, Marco Zanetti had brilliant moments during his game, Murat Naci Coklu outflanked his opponents and Dani Sánchez showed his muscles in his end rush to the finish line.
Three times in these four matches, the heat was on in the very last minutes. Semih Sayginer was on the brink of ruin when he faced a gap in his last five minutes fight with Torbjörn Blomdahl. The final sprint with nine came just in time to knock the Swede from his throne and opened the way for Sayginer to reach the semi-finals, together with Sidhom. The Egyptian finished with a much better average than his rivals: 1.777, against 1.388 for Sayginer and 1.277 for Blomdahl. Hugo Patiño ran into the negative scores before the break and had to watch a few innings from his chair.
Dani Sánchez was still pretty far behind Martin Horn in the second part of his match, but attacked with two runs in the sight of the finish line. Marco Zanetti was out of reach, but Sánchez passed him by one carom in the last seconds. The Spaniard finished at 2.200, Zanetti just came short with 2.133 and scored the best day's run with 12.
Murat Naci Coklu and Jae Ho Cho led sovereignly in the first group of the quarters. Coklu with 87 points and 1.823, Cho as the runner-up with 75 points and 1.647. Nikos Polychronopoulos was not so far down as the third in the group (51-1.294), Jung-Han Heo had lost his first day's glamour and finished at 27 points and 0.941.
Sung-Won Choi closed the day with the best average (2,846) and was superior in the last group, in which Dick Jaspers, Frédéric Caudron and Dong-Koong Kang competed for the other spot in the semis. The world champion, Caudron, was down in points all the way, but suddenly came close to the number two in the last inning when he threatened Dick Jaspers with 1 minute on the clock. The Dutchman was obliged to decide the match with a tough position on the table. He asked for a time-out, prepared for a great point and finished right before Caudron. The last foursome, with Choi, Jaspers, Caudron and Kang, was the group of death with the best total averages.
The ranking in the four groups:
Group 1:
1 Murat Naci Coklu 87-17-1.823-6
2 Jae-Ho Cho 75-17-1.647-10
3 Nikos Polychronopoulos 51-17-1.294-4
4 Jung-Han Heo 27-17-0.941-3
Group 2:
1 Sameh Sidhom 95-18-1.777-6
2 Semih Sayginer 65-18-1.388-9
3 Torbjörn Blomdahl 57-18-1.277-7
4 Hugo Patiño 23-15-0.600-4
Group 3:
1 Dani Sánchez 93-15-2.200-10
2 Marco Zanetti 92-15-2.133-12
3 Martin Horn 30-15-1.133-4
4 Dinh Nai Ngo 25-10-1.100-5
Group 4:
1 Sung-Won Choi 99-13-2.846-7
2 Dick Jaspeers 51-13-1.923-9
3 Frédéric Caudron 47-13-1.846-5
4 Dong-Koong Kang 43-13-1.769-6.
The draw for the semi-finals on Sunday:
Sunday 16.00 (9.00 uur Western Europe):
Sung-Won Choi, Murat Naci Coklu, Marco Zanetti, Dick Jaspers
19.00 (12.00 Europe):
Sameh Sidhom, Dani Sánchez, Semih Sayginer, Jae-Ho Cho.