VIERSEN - The ever-feared Asians are out for the finals at the 34th World Team Championships in Viersen. The semi-finals will be between three top European favorites and the South Americans from Colombia. The German tandem Martin Horn/Ronny Lindemann made the home crowd cheer in the Festhalle by winning over Vietnam. The Colombians with Pedro Gonzalez and Huberney Cataño were overjoyed with their victory over South Korea and in the last evening session, the Spaniards (Dani Sánchez and Ruben Legazpi) were too strong for Japan and the Turks (Tayfun Tasdemir and Can Capak) captured the win against Denmark. But again: without the Asian teams: South Korea, Vietnam and Japan, who missed a place in the last four.
This leads to the semi-finals on Sunday:
10.00 am:
Germany-Colombia
12.30:
Spain-Turkey.
The Colombian/Korean quarter-final between the best South American and the best Asian billiard country turned into a real thriller, which eventually had to be decided in a Scotch Double. The Koreans had the better start, as Haeng Jik Kim attacked hard in his first two innings against Huberney Cataño with 5 and 12, still had a comfortable lead of 26-11 after ten innings and reached the finish with a run of 10 at 30-15: final score 40-18 in 15.
The Colombian hope was then focused on Pedro Gonzalez, the 47-year-old reigning Pan American champion, who against Chang Hoon Seo remained in a tie until 10-9 and later 20-19, was again in the race at 35-35 and then finished with 5. The Korean leader Seo still had a chance for a 3-point score from the break (which would bring the Koreans into the semi-finals), but Seo missed after two points from the break a not so hard round the table shot, because he hit too fast, too hard and too wild, for which he missed the point by a few centimeters.
That gave the South Americans an unexpected chance in the Scotch Double to 15 points, in which the Colombians had a dominance from the start (5-0, but also 5-5) and in sight of the finish line, on 7-6 behind, the Colombians ruthlessly went out with 9: 15-7. The Colombians, who so far rarely have excelled at the World Championships in Viersen, showed extremely happy with the win.
The Germans are entering the final day of the World Championships with lots of confidence and big plans, because Martin Horn has often been in this form, but Ronny Lindemann never played at this high level for such a long period. That makes the German tandem a very tight team.
Martin Horn's victory against Quyet Chien Tran was due to a lightning start, in which he led 21-3 after six innings and 32-18 after a run of 11, after Tran had made up some of the margin with two 7 scores. The final word, however, was again for the German, who finished with 4 for a final score 40-34 in 27.
Ronny Lindemann had a hard time controlling his opponent Duc Anh Chien on the other court, leading 28-25 and 33-26 after a neck-and-neck start, but let the game come back to 36-32. The last chance for the Vietnamese was missed, after which Lindemann with three and a rock-hard shot finished 40-34 in 27.
The Spanish armada with Dani Sanchez and Ruben Legazpi quickly dealt with Japan, which had apparently shot its powder in the preliminaries and with Miyashita and Umeda could not show the quality to threaten the Spaniards. Sánchez did not need any high scores (highest run 4) to leave Miyashita behind 40-25 in 23. Ruben Legazpi, who won all his matches so far, beat Ryuuji Umeda 40-21 in only 20 innings.
For Turkey, Tayfun Tasdemir had another flawless start against Dion Nelin (27-8 in 13) and was not threatened for a moment by his opponent, who stayed under halfway at 40-18 in 20 innings.
Can Capak, however, faced a strong Jakob Haack Sörensen. The Dane had a 20-8 lead in 14 at the break, but was overtaken by the little Turk, who finally managed to avoid a decisive Scotch Double and won 40-27 in 32.
The German's joy after they beat the Vietnamese team
Colombian Pedro Gonzalez and Korean Seo to start the leg
Pedro Gonzalez, the 47-year old Pan American champion, happy with the Colombian win over Korea
Tayfun Tasdemir, one of the top guns at this World's in Viersen
Dani Sánchez, with Spain facing the Turks on Sunday in the semi finals