LAS VEGAS - Tayfun Tasdemir's victory in the Las Vegas World Cup took on an emotional moment in the end. The 47-year-old Turkish world champion didn’t want to cheer after the winning carom in the American playing room, where he won the final over Korean Haeng Jik Kim, out of deep respect for the thousands of victims of the earthquake tragedy in Turkey. ’’I had a double feeling,’’ Tayfun confessed. ’’I was happy with my victory, but in my heart I felt the sadness for all the Turkish people affected by the disaster.’’ The champion's stunning victory still hung like a shadow over the cancelled World Cup in Ankara.
Tayfun Tasdemir, who won his third World Cup, celebrated the success appropriately. He shook the hand of Haeng Jik Kim, his opponent, of the referee and made a subdued gesture to the spectators. ’’I already decided it out before the final: don't cheer,'' he said. But of course inwardly Tayfun had a happy feeling after the final match. ’’I am the world champion and now I won the first World Cup of this year.'' The Turkish star player was flanked on the podium in Las Vegas by the number two Haeng Jik Kim, second European Marco Zanetti and second Korean Jun Tae Kim. The victory raised Tasdemir's status in the world: he became third in the world rankings now following Dick Jaspers and Dani Sánchez and ahead of Marco Zanetti and Eddy Merckx.
With Semih Sayginer, the Turkish champion, Tayfun Tasdemir travels to the World Championship for national teams in Viersen immediately after his victory. There, the Turkish team is the defending champion with this strong line-up. ’’I didn’t play super high averages,'' realized Tasdemir, who finished 1.849 on average, but did win all his seven matches. These included beating his young compatriot Berkay Karakurt twice and Murat Naci Coklu, Vietnamese Duc Anh Chien Nguyen (50-30 in 27) in the quarter-finals, Marco Zanetti (50-27 in 27) in the semi-finals and finally Haeng Jik Kim in the final 50-39 in 34.
’’I fully realise how important this victory is,'' Tayfun Tasdemir said. ’’The regulations for seeding in the World Cups change in 2024. I make a jump in the rankings and want to keep playing as high as possible in the top.''
The World Cup final match in Las Vegas was a battle in which Kim was the better starter to 10-0 in three innings. Tasdemir had five misses in his first six innings, was 13-8 down after 10 innings and only came into the match with 6, 4 and 3 for a 23-23 score after 14 innings. The Korean, normaly a stoic World Cup player, then lost control with nine misses in 10 innings, Tayfun ran to 44-33 and finished 50-39 in 34.
’’This World Cup again shows how much stronger all the players are getting,'' Tasdemir made clear. ’’We see great champions, like Dick Jaspers with over 2 average disappearing already in the first leg. But also Dani Sánchez, Sung Won Choi and Nikos Polychronopoulos, with high averages, were out of the World Cup very early. That shows how high the level is. It’s not only very difficult, you also need some luck to win a World Cup.''
The Turkish winner made it to the final in a remarkable match against Marco Zanetti, in which the Italian, who finished his previous match against Eddy Merckx with a 16 run, completely lost his way. Tasdemir maintained his focus, scored regularly and was ahead 37-14 after 21 innings. The Italian had a little come-back with 7 and 6 (39-27), but ended the match in a minor way again with four misses in a row: 50-27 in 27 innings.
Haeng Jik Kim and Jun Tae Kim, in the other semi final, remained balanced until 10-10, the match not really sprang to life because high runs were left out. Haeng Jik led by small runs 38-30 in 20 and reached the finish line 50-37 in 29.
Early on, the tournament lost big names like Roland Forthomme, Michael Nilsson, Lütfi Cenet, Robinson Morales, Huberney Cataño, Pedro Gonzalez and Jose Juan Garcia. Then, Dick Jaspers, Semih Sayginer, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Sameh Sidhom, Jérémy Bury, Murat Naci Coklu, Ruben Legazpi, Dion Nelin and Sung Won Choi were the first victims in the main tournament.
Phuong Vinh Bao and Berkay Karakurt made it to the main draw from the preliminaries, where Torbjörn Blomdahl (2.391, despite two losses), Quyet Chien Tran (2.181) and Eddy Merckx (2.016) made the best impression and Dick Jaspers with 2.019 and Nikos Polychronopoulos with 2.169 were eliminated.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, Myung Woo Cho, Eddy Merckx and Duc Anh Chien Nguyen missed out on a place on the final podium at the expense of Jun Tae Kim, Haeng Jik Kim, Marco Zanetti and Tayfun Tasdemir.
Tayfun Tasdemir and Haeng Jik Kim shake hands before the final match
The final stage at the Las Vegas World Cup with Tayfun Tasdemir as the winner, Haeng Jik Kim (left), Marco Zanetti and Jun Tae Kim
The World Cup final standings (average, highest runs):
1 Tayfun Tasdemir 1,849-12
2 Haeng Jik Kim 1.628-13
3 Marco Zanetti 1,739-16
4 Jun Tae Kim 1.792-12
5 Myung Woo Cho 1,877-13
6 Eddy Merckx 2,000-11
7 Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 1,379-9
8 Torbjörn Blomdahl 2,152-16
9 Quyet Chien Tran 1,792-11
10 Dani Sánchez 1,641-10
11 Jung Han Heo 1,546-9
12 Phuong Vinh Bao 1,514-13
13 Peter Ceulemans 1,475-13
14 Sung Il Jeong 1,287-8
15 Martin Horn 1,204-11
16 Berkay Karakurt 1,473-11
17 Nikos Polychronopoulos 2,169-14
18 Dick JKaspers 2,019-13
19 Van Ly Dao 1,714-14
20 Ruben Legazpi 1,596-20
Highest match score: Quyet Chien Tran with 4,000
Highest average: Nikos Polychronopoulos with 2,169
Highest run Ruben Legazpi: 20.
New world rankings:
1 Dick Jaspers 499
2 Dani Sánchez 400
3 Tayfun Tasdemir 340
4 Marco Zanetti 337
5 Eddy Merckx 315
6 Haeng Jik Kim 307
7 Torbjörn Blomdahl 300
8 Sameh Sidhom 296
9 Semih Sayginer 274
10 Quyet Chien Tran 272
11 Myung Woo Cho 245
12 Jérémy Bury 229
13 Nikos Polychronopoulos 203
14 Jung Han Heo 188
15 Martin Horn 176
16 Jun Tae Kim 159
17 Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 154
18 Choong Bok Lee 146
19 Ruben Legazpi 134
20 Sung Won Choi 132.