PORTO - Dick Jaspers, the world champion, faces the great French talent Gwendal Maréchal at 10 am Portuguese time this morning. Frédéric Caudron starts his mission with the clash against Eddy Leppens, the day winner of the last qualifications. Torbjörn Blomdahl opens with a match against young Korean star Myung-Woo Cho and Dani Sánchez meets Vietnamese figurehead Quyet Chien Tran. What top billings for the first day of the World Cup main tournament in Porto.
The second session shows some fascinating matches as well: two strong Danes are facing a real clash: Dion Nelin and Thomas Andersen. Marco Zanetti meets Belgian Jef Philipoom, who started a new chapter in his career again. Jae-Ho Cho against Trung HauDo Nguyen, Murat Naci Coklu against Minh Cam Ma and Eddy Merckx against Birol Uymaz: all matches to look forward to after the last day of qualifications in which the high class and the tension was enjoyed by the spectators from start to finish.
The 9 unbeaten group winners were led by Eddy Leppens with 4 points and 2.051, Jacob Haack Sörensen with 1.904, Haeng-Jik Kim with 1.818, In-Won Kang and Thomas Andersen with 1.777, Robinson Morales with 1.702, Jef Philipoom and Minh Cam Ma with 1.666 and Trung Hau Do Nguyen with 1.333. Dion Nelin is the number 10 with 3 match points (run 14) and Birol Uymaz and Lütfi Cenet joined the the final gala with two match points. The first of the three runners up, Sung-Won Choi, even recorded a better average than the best group winners: 2.114. And the two young talents Myung-Woo Cho (2.028, run 14) and Gwendal Maréchal (1.625, run 13) moved up to the best 32 in the main draw with one win and one loss.
The last World Cup winner, Javier Palazón, missed the qualification in a group with Jérôme Barbeillon and the winner of this group, Minh Cam Ma. Nikos Polychronopoulos is no longer on stage, finishing number three in his group behind Jacob Haack Sörensen and Peter Ceulemans. Lütfi Cenet won the fight on average with two compatriots, Can Capak and Turgay Orak. Jef Philipoom eliminated one of the stars of the previous days on one point. The Belgian beat Chang Hoon Seo 40-39 in 25. Dong Hoon Kim, another great player this week, also won't return after losing to Dion Nelin and Anh Vu Duong and Do Nguyen Trung Hau eliminated Martin Horn.
Jacob Haack Sörensen finished with 7, 9 and 4 against Peter Ceulemans, was in his other match against Nikos Polychronopoulos 18-4 behind, but started his attack with a run of 15 followed by 6-4-0- 2-9 to win the game.
Gwendal Maréchal deserved his qualification as the best second with a six hundredth of difference over Roland Forthomme and 5 hundredths ahead of Dong Hoon Kim.
The eight groups starting today to compete for two places for the knockout with sixteen.
Poule A:
Dick Jaspers
Gwendal Maréchal
Jacob Sörensen
Mohamed Abdin
Poule B:
Frédéric Caudron
Torbjörn Blomdahl
Myung Woo Cho
Eddy Leppens
Poule C:
Quyet Chien Tran
Dani Sánchez
Jung-Han Heo
Sung-Won Choi
Poule D:
Semih Sayginer
Lütfi Cenet
Ding Nai Ngo
Haeng Jik Kim
Poule E:
Eddy Merckx
Birol Uymaz
Sameh Sidhom
In-Won Kang
Poule F:
Tayfun Tasdemir
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen
Thomas Andersen
Dion Nelin
Poule G:
Jae-Ho Cho
Trung Hau Do Nguyen
Jérémy Bury
Robinson Morales
Poule H:
Murat Naci Coklu
Marco Zanetti
Jef Philipoom
Minh Cam Ma
The ranking after the last quqlifications:
1 Eddy Leppens 4-2.051-11
2 Jacob Haack Sörensen 4-1.904-15
3 Haeng Jik Kim4-1.818-13
4 In-Won Kang 4-1.777-12
5 Thomas Andersen 4-1.777-8
6 Robinson Morales 4-1.777-8
7 Jef Philipoom 4-1.666-9
8 Minh Cam Ma 4-1.666-7
9 Trung Hau Do Nguyen 4-1.333-10
10 Dion Nelin 3-2.000-14
11 Birol Uymaz 2-1.763-8
12 Lütfi Cenet 2-1.545-9
Runners-up:
1 Sung-Won Choi 2-2.114-10
2 Myung-Woo Cho 2-2.028-14
3 Gwendal Maréchal 2-1.625-13
Jacob Haack Sörensen, in top three for moving up to the main draw with three Danish group winners
Jef Philipoom, feared opponent for Zanetti, Coklu and Ma in his group
Myung-Woo Cho after his win over Yusuke Mori: with the best runners up to the main draw
Gwendal Maréchal, third in the runner ups, with a minimal margin over Roland Forthomme and Seo
Dion Nelin, on the road again on a new mission in a World Cup