SEOUL - The 16 final players for the World 3-cushion Survival entered the final of the event in Seoul early this morning (Saturday). Two players, Myung Woo Cho and Jung Hee Lee finished as first winners in the first group of four. Eddy Merckx currently leads Group B with 80 points ahead of Sameh Sidhom and Jun Tae Kim.
The surprising outcome of the preliminary rounds and resits was that Dick Jaspers (world number one) and Phuong Vinh Bao (the world champion) could not qualify for the final rounds. Dutchman Jaspers, always strong in this tournament, acknowledged: ‘’I was without any chance in both matches, couldn't bring anything, I played far below my level.‘’ Quyet Chien Tran with 101, Jun Tae Kim with 78 and Torbjörn Blomdahl with 107 were among the finalists in that intermediate round.
The four groups of four playing the quarter-finals are:
Group A (already played):
Jung Hee Lee with 83 ahead of Myung Woo Cho with 63, Jung Han Heo with 51 and Tolgahan Kiraz with 43
Group B:
Eddy Merckx, Jun Tae Kim, Sameh Sidhom and Jin Woo Heo
Group C:
Ruben Legazpi, Glenn Hofman, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Quyet Chien Tran
Group D:
Tayfun Tasdemir, Jérémy Bury, Marco Zanetti, Torbjörn Blomdahl.
In the resits, the groups were:
Group A: Quyet Chien Tran with 101 ahead of Haeng Jik Kim and Hong Chiem Thai
Group B: Jun Tae Kim with 78 for Jung Han Hwo
Group C: Torbjörn Blomdahl with 107 before Bao, Son and Dick Jaspers with 19.