3-Cushion
LA BAULE - Big name players have already left the stage at the World Cup in La Baule. The Spanish player Javier Palazón is out, because a win and a draw (30 in 17) was not enough to do better than the Korean Hyun Woo Kim. Murat Tüzül, from Turkey, even sparkled with 30 in 14, but lost his chances in a poor first match. Kostas Papakonstantinou, not really an amateur in the global circuit, disappeared nameless from the stage with two losses and 0.659! Therese Klompenhouwer weathered bravely after a strong start, at the end she was victimized by Hakan Incekara, the number one of the day.
The third day of the World Cup tournament in La Baule showed an incredibly high level. Therese Klompenhouwer, recovered from a shoulder injury and back in her normal form a couple of weeks, concluded after her elimination: ,,Look how many matches were played within twenty innings: 23 out of 48! One in 12 innings, two in 13 and two in 14. The ladies world champion herself went out against Hakan Incekara, the Turk who finished his two matches in 16 innings. Myung Woo Cho, the World Cup finalist in Guri, opened in 16 and 17 innings. Hyun Woo Cho did it in 12 innings and then continued with a strong draw against Javier Palazón (30-30 in 17). The Turk Gökhan Salman had to fight two opponents who went out in fourteen innings. He could not make up with his win in the last session.
Jean Reverchon, just to mention another victim of the tremendous score rhythm of a Korean and a Vietnamese, only made 11 points in his match aginst Wan Choi Young (30-11 in 13) and eight against Ngo Dinh Nai (30-8 in 22). There were also unexpected escapes. Antonio Montes opened with a loss against Murat Tüzül and then took his chance with a better second game against Mehmet Goren. The Spaniard so survived on his third day of playing.
Jean Paul de Bruijn was not so lucky with the draw: two feared Koreans in his group. The Dutchman started very poor facing the best qualifier from the previous day: 30-20 loss in 27 innings. The tournament threatened to turn out into a little catastrophe for De Bruijn when he was 28-15 down vs Myung Woo Cho, but thanks to a run of 13 at then end, he came back to 30-29 in 17. Without match points, the former world's number five finished last in the group with only 1.113.
Hakan Incekara was the best man on the third day with four match points and 1.875, just before Myung Woo Cho with 1.818, Jose Juan Garcia with 1.578, Jung Wan Lim with 1.538 and Rui Costa with 1.395. The Koreans were with five players in the top sixteen slightly less than on Tuesday. The Turks were with four men in the 16.
Two young promises in the current three-cushion, the former junior world champion, Jose Juan Garcia from Colombia and rising star, Korean Myung Woo Cho, finished in the upper part of the ranking with Manuel Rui Costa close to the top. Javier Palazón finished first on the reserve list, with three points and 1.621. Jung Ju Shin also an upcoming talent, notched 1.617, but had only two match points and Kwang Yeol Park, with 1.450, even only one match point.
In that first group of runners-up were also Therese Klompenhouwer, Carlos Crespo, Cédric Melnytschenko, David Martinez and Murat Tüzül, deeper on the ranking, in the third group, we find Gökhan Salman, Dustin Jäschke, Arnim Kahofer and Jean Paul de Bruijn.
The young Korean Myung Woo Cho, finalist in the Guri World Cup, on his way to the last qualifications
The ranking on the third day:
1 Hakan Incekara 4-1.875-6
2 Myung Woo Cho 4-1.818-10
3 Jose Juan Garcia 4-1.578-7
4 Jung Wan Lim 4-1.538-9
5 Rui Manuel Costa 4-1.395-9
6 Ruben Legazpi 4-1.395-5
7 Ji Hun Anh 4-1.363-8
8 Dinh Nai Ngo 4-1.224-6
9 Birol Uymaz 4-1.200-7
10 Hyun Woo Kim 3-2.068-8
11 Kostas Kokkoris 3-1.463-11
12 Ahmet Alp 3-1.333-7
13 Jin Pyo Hong 2-1.750-6
14 Can Capak 2-1.567-7
15 Hideaki Kobayashi 2-1.540-7
16 Antonio Montes 2-1.243-5.
The last qualification rounds start with the following groups:
Group A: Jung Wan Lim, Tayfun Tasdemir, Manuel Rui Costa
Group B: Juan Jose Garcia, Ruben Legazpi, Jung Han Heo
Group C: Myung Woo Cho, Ji Hun Ahn, Murat Naci Coklu
Group D: Quyet Chien Tran, Ngo Dinh Nai, Hakan Incekara
Group E: Anh Vu Duong, Birol Uymaz, Pedro Piedrabuena
Group F: Jae Guen Kim, Hyun Woo Kim, Lütfi Cenet
Group G: Hyung Kon Kim, Kostas Kokkoris, Quoc Nguyen Nguyen
Group H: Adnan Yüksel, Ahmet Alp, Xuan Cuong Ma
Group I: Hyung Bum Hwang, Jin Pyo Hong, Sung-Won Choi
Group J: Minh Cam Ma, Can Capak, Riad Nady
Group K: Eddy Leppens, Semih Saygıner, Hideaki Kobayashi
Group L: Christian Rudolph, Antonio Montes, Chi Yeon Cho.
Javier Palazón was eliminated with more than 1.6 average and without a loss