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World CupSeoul (Korea, Republic of)

Thrillers in final round for qualifications in Seoul

11/07/2024

Published by frits bakker

Jérémy Bury, chasing for a better ranking, was one of the best players in the last qualification round

SEOUL - The final qualifiers for the World Cup in Seoul came up with thrilling matches. Roland Forthomme and Glenn Hofman, in the Dutch/Belgian clash, shared the win in a stunning final part, in which the Dutchman could equalise with 4. Therefore, both players advanced to the main draw with 32. Peter Ceulemans, in a remarkably strong period in the World Cup cycle, also played a draw with Ahmet Alp in his last match. The Belgian had a 10-0 start in 3 and finished with 5, 4 and 3 at the stage where he was 32-28 down. Korean Ye Sung Jeong was day's winner with four match points and 2.500 on average ahead of Jérémy Bury (4, 1.860) and Ruben Legazpi (4, 1.777). In that final qualifying round, five Koreans were among the 12 group winners. Dutchman Glenn Hofman went last to the best 32 in the Seoul World Cup thanks to his equalizer with 4.

For five players with 3 match points, it was bingo on this final qualification day: all five went to the main tournament, Roland Forthomme and Ahmet Alp as best runners up with Wan Young Choi, one of the best players from the qualification. The best-known names who did not make it were Nick Polychronopoulos, Berkay Karakurt and Thanh Luc Tran.

The final qualification led to a draw in which Dick Jaspers meets Jérémy Bury, Quyet Chien Tran faces Roland Forthomme, among others, the two Koreans Haeng Jik Kim and Jun Tae are in a battle with Glenn Hofman and Ruben Legazpi, Eddy Merckx with Torbjörn Blomdahl, Peter Ceulemans with Marco Zanetti and Martin Horn and Tayfun Tasdemir with Jung Han Heo and Omer Karakurt.

Group A:

Beom Yeoi Lee remained unbeaten in his matches against Polychronopoulos and Patiño, which he won in 27 and 19 innings.

Standings:

Beom Yeol Lee 4-1,739-6

Nick Polychronopoulos 2-1,521-6

Hugo Patiño 0-1.259-9

Group B:

Berkay Karakurt surprisingly remained without match points due to losses against Song and Kahofer. The Austrian was close to qualification, but had to bow out against Song. The youngest Karakurt later saw his brother Omer go on to the best 32.

Standings:

Hyun Il Song 4-1,194-5

Arnim Kahofer 2-1,229-7

Berkay Karakurt 0-1,089-6

Group C:

The Frenchman showed form and confidence with two generous wins. Bury won the last match against Jimenez 40-22 in 20 and was in top 5.

Standings:

Jérémy Bury 4-1,860-9

Sergio Jimenez 2-1,441-13

Myeong Gyu Oh 0-0.673-4

Group D:

Two Vietnamese shared the spoils, leaving Alessio D'Agata scoreless. Nguyen won the battle with Thai 40-31 in 26.

Standings:

Hoan Tat Nguyen 4-1.666-9

Hong Chiem Thai 2-1,543-9

Alessio D'Agata 0-1,404-10

Group E:

Ja In Kang had to fight back from a gap against Jeffrey Jorissen, but was better than the Dutchman in the final sprint: 40-38 in 29. The Korean battle Kang-Cha ended in 40-39 (26) for winner Kang.

Standings:

Ja In Kang 4-1,454-6

Myeong Jong Cha 2-1,436-8

Jeffrey Jorissen 0-1.086-6

Group F:

The best winner of the day, Jeong, shone in his two games and had the best match of the day (40-10 in 10) against Turgay Orak. That gave him a magnificent average.

Standings:

Ye Sung Jeong 4-2,500-9

Turgay Orak 2-1,136-8

Thanh Luc Tran 0-0,964-8

Group G:

Ruben Legazpi won the clash with strong Korean Chi Yeon Cho 40-34 in 30, keeping one of the home country's players out of the main tournament. Gwendal Maréchal remained scoreless at the bottom nevertheless with a nice 1.437 average.

Standings:

Ruben Legazpi 4-1,777-9

Chi Yeon Cho 2-1,574-11

Gwendal Maréchal 0-1.437-6

Group H:

The Belgian is slowly becoming a regular player for the main draws in the World Cup and is aiming for another success after the World Cup in Veghel. The draw against Ahmet Alp was enough to become group winner.

Standings:

Peter Ceulemans 3-1.632-9

Ahmet Alp 3-1.428-8

Gerhard Kostistansky 0-1,148-7

Group I:

The thriller of the day was the derby between Glenn Hofman and Roland Forthomme. The Belgian was mostly ahead, leading a couple of times by 7 and 8 caroms, but the Dutchman fought back with great fighting spirit. Forthomme finished first, Hofman equalised with 4 and became group winner thanks to a better win against Vietnamese Thon (40 in 26).

Standings:

Glenn Hofman 3-1.403-7

Roland Forthomme 3-1,176-7

Viet Hoang Minh Thon 0-1.015-6

Group J:

Van Ly Dao already had a superb preliminary round and could reach the finals thanks to wins against Son and Sam van Etten. The young Dutchman squandered his good position to finish with 3 match points. He was beaten by a winning final run of Son.

Standings:

Van Ly Dao 3-1.428-10

Jun Hyuk Son 2-1.326-9

Sam van Etten 1-1,179-9

Group K:

Omer Karakurt missed quite a few match points against Wan Young Choi in the battle for the lead. Nevertheless, he still finished victorious, surpassing his younger brother Berkay in qualification.

Standings:

Omer Karakurt 4-1,666-8

Wan Young Choi 2-1,613-10

Gökhan Salman 0-1,547-10

Group L:

Two Koreans stayed ahead of Portuguese Rui Costa and split the spoils early as the first match. That one Sung Il Jeong won from Hwang 40-35 in 27.

Standings:

Sung Il Jeong 4-1,454-8

Bong Joo Hwang 2-1.339-8

Manuel Rui Costa 0-0.929-6

Korean Ye Sung Jeong, best of the day with 2.500 on average