SEOUL - The summer for ladies world champion Therese Klompenhouwer was mainly dedicated to her new love. From this week on, the focus is back on billiards, on the World Championship in her home land, but first the World Cup in Seoul, Korea. There, the 39-year-old Dutchman start her match on Wednesday against an as yet unknown qualified player at 5.30 in the early morning, Dutch time. ''I am ready for it after a summer full of love'', Therese tells us from Seoul, where she arrived on Friday and has been training all weekend.
The World Cup in hot Seoul started today, Monday, with among others two Turks in the army of Asians, Dutch junior champion Joris van 't Zelfden and two Germans, Marcel Back and Simon Blondeel. The playing hall for the fourth World Cup this year is not what most players expect from a global event in South Korea. It's a bit more austere, but the arena is good, the temperature in the hall is pleasant and it will surely fill up with Asian billiard fans later in the week with the famous players. So, Therese Klompenhouwer starts on the third day, on Wednesday when also Omer and Berkay Karakurt, two strong Turkish brothers, play against each other. And among others Sam van Etten for the Netherlands, Gwendal Maréchal for France, Nikolaus Kogelbauer for Austria and Alessio D'Agata for Italy enter the arena.
It's pretty hot outside (about thirty degrees), many players arriving these days have already taken a look in the playing hall, but also wandered over to the countless wonderful clubs in the area. Like the world champion, Therese Klompenhouwer, did after her arrival and young Dutchman Sam van Etten and the Italian Alessio D'Agata, the two guys who travelled ahead a few weeks ago to get a taste of the culture of Korean three cushion.
Therese, with a happy smile: ''I've mainly enjoyed love with my new girlfriend this summer. Then I picked up the training again and prepared myself for the important period coming up nos. So first this World Cup, in the run-up to the World Championships that is played in the Netherlands. Of course I want to peak there, like I did at the European Championships with my title and that 30 points match in 9 innings.''
''I'm ready for it, although I did not feel very well for a couple of days. The air conditioning in the plane gave me a sore throat. That doesn't feel well, but hopefully it will be gone when I get to the table on Wednesday. And most of all, it is always nice to be in Korea again to play billiards. That's how the young Dutch players, like Sam van Etten, Joey de Kok and Joris van 't Zelfden, experienced it in the run-up to this World Cup as well.''
Joris van 't Zelfden had a very unfortunate start today, Monday. He was the first player in his group to face Korean Hyung Kon Kim and was shown all corners of the billiard table: he lost 30-2 in 21 innings. So he didn't get much play, missed a good ball now and then and lost his way. Joey de Kok spoke consolingly: ''Oh well, that happens to you in the World Cups, I've been through it so many times myself.'' After which the young Dutch champion, who is looking forward playing in this country, also came up short against Jin Youl Kim on routine and quality: 30-9 in 29.
The Turk Volkan Goksu had a better start and became the only non-Korean to win the group with 2 match points (0.948). German Marcel Back won one match and was eliminated with 0.684, the same as Simon Blondeel with two losses and 0.781.
That led to a daily ranking with 5 ‘Kim's' in the first five places and only Koreans in the top 13, followed by a Turk and again two Koreans. Min Suk Kim was the best with 4 match points and 1,764 ahead of Jin Youl Kim 1,428, Jae Moon Kim 1,304, Jung Sub Kim 1,132 and Kwang Hyun Kim 1,090, before the first non-Kim showed up in sixth place: Sung-Ho Park with 1,052. Nak Hun Sung, who was third in the losers' ranking, made the highest run with 12.
The final score on Monday:
1 Min Suk Kim 4-1,764-9
2 Jin Youl Kim 4-1,428-9
3 Jae Moon Kim 4-1.304-9
4 Jung Sub Kim 4-1,132-5
5 Kwang Hyun Kim 4-1,090-4
6 Sung Ho Park 4-1,052-7
7 Tae Hyeong Na 4-1,034-8
8 Dae Woong Lee 4-0,937-6
9 Han U Lee 4-0,895-8
10 Kyung Baeg Kim 4-0.821-7
11 Yong Pio Lee 4-0,810-6
12 Ju yeong Kim 4-0.769-4
13 Hannuri kim 2-1,136-9
14 Volkan Goksu 2-0.948-4
15 Chi Yeon Cho 2-0,935-8
16 Yeon Cheol Jeong 2-0.823-4.
The interesting groups for the Europeans on Tuesday in the second qualifying round:
Group B:
Burak Hashas, Turkey
Chi Yeon Cho, Korea
Joey de Kok, Netherlands
Group C:
Gurhan Kabak, Germany
Yooh Wan Kim, Korea
Volkan Goksu, Turkey
Group P:
Yavuz Gungordu, Turkey
Eric De Busser, Belgium
Min Suk Kim, Korea.
Therese Klompenhouwer in one of the wonderful billiard halls in Seoul with Cuesco boss Jeong Kyu Park and young players Jieun Han and Wan Sub Lim.