HURGHADA - For one competitor for the World Cup (Dani Sánchez), the last tournament in Hurghada is already over and out. The two other top favorites are still alive. Torbjörn Blomdahl has fired his first shots in this last World Cup of the year, Frédéric Caudron, the number two in the ranking, played at least so impressive in his first match.
The Swede defeated Peter Ceulemans in the early evening 3-0 (15-3, 15-1, 15-14), the Belgian was searching for a revanche against the Vietnamese Xuan Cuong Ma, who defeated him in Suwon in the first round, but now was blown off the table by the Belgian.
The first selection, on the banks of the Red Sea, where a fresh breeze picks up in the evening most of the guests soak up the bar or the billiards room, was from a fairly high level. Many players complained about difficult tables in the qualifying rounds, because they were 'short' (short drawback from the cushions) and treacherous.
Frédéric Caudron said tonight: ,,The 'smaller players' do not know how easy it is to play on 'short tables'.''
The Belgian himself had rapidly acclimatised in his match against Ma, which he ended with 3.000 average. ,,I had to play very good from the start, because he started with a run of seven. I made a small lucky shot in the first set, but then was growing in the match. I felt well. You have to watch out for those guys huh, because they are very dangerous. Look at the scoreboard, he plays 1.700, with that average you can beat everyone.''
Three of the 'big players' were already perished on the first day. Dani Sánchez was the last Spaniard in the tournament and was knocked out by Andres Naranjo. Eddy Merckx couldn't survive the blistering battle with Murat Naci Coklu and Filipos Kasidokostas was defeated by Peter de Backer. The Belgian, who doesn't often appear in World Cups or other international events, still can show himself a feared opponent for all main players.
,,I rather would play more World Cups, if I could earn some more money,'' he said after his match. ,,But now it's a holiday with Deborah, my girl friend, my first World Cup and my last for a long time, I think.''
The small Turkish fighter Coklu needed some work after trailing 2-0 in sets against Eddy Merckx. He pulled off a final sprint and took the match, which perhaps was one of the most exciting battles of the day. He won the last sets 15-5, 15-4 and 15-12 and averaged 1.555 against 1.457 for Merckx.
The problem of Merckx was apparently his finish, which he has been worrying for a couple of weeks. Just like last week, when he started a match in Belgium against Kurt Ceulemans 25-0 in two innings, but eventually needed a hard fight to win the match.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, the leader in the ranking for the World Cup, shone with 2.260 against Peter Ceulemans and had a promising start. Martin Horn was also very strond in his first performance in Egypt. He defeated Vinh Ly The, 3-0 and averaged 2.045.
The only surviving Egyptian, Sameh Sidhom, flew out against Adnan Yüksel, Tayfun Tasdemir was defeated by Chung Bok Lee and Eddy Leppens, the third Belgian who's still in the tournament, won 3-1 against Tonny Carlsen. Tomorrow there will be a big battle between two Belgian soulmates: Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Leppens.