HURGHADA - The last caraom of Tonny Carlsen, a subtle 'long-short-long' shot, made an end to the chances of Roland Forthomme and preluded the finish of the qualifying rounds. The twelve players for the final banquet were known. The draw for the main tournament, which is starting tomorrow afternoon at noon Egypt time, could start.
Adnan Yüksel had some trouble to win his last match against Therese Klompenhouwer, although he had already seeded in his group. The European ladies number almost surprised the player who beat his Turkish compatriot Lütfi Cenet in the early hours with a fabulous match.
Glenn Hoffman played himself in the main event thanks to a 2-1 victory against Ruben Legazpi, who was the third Spaniard who couldn't shine in the preliminaries. Legazpi may not come back for tomorrow, like Javier Palazón, who lost against an excellent Jean Paul de Bruijn and Antonio Ortiz, the Spanish champion who was beaten by Vinh The Ly.
Murat Naci Coklu saved his tournament after a poor start against Radek Novak. He still won his by beatig Jean van Erp 2-1. Coklu finished 1.511 average and left two opponents with two matchpoints behind.
The elimination of Nikos Polychronopoulos was surprising: the Greek lost his first game 2-0 against Christian Rudolph. The German himself was defeated by Can Capak 2-1.
Tonny Carlsen, Jung Han Heo and Peter de Backer were the main stars on this last day. The Belgian first defeated his Dutch opponent Raimond Burgman with a minimal score (15-14 in the decisive set), against Dong Koong Kang, De Backer was even better. He finished 1.600 average over two matches. Tonny Carlsen did better with 1.764 average and only Jung Han Heo was the other player who didn't lose a set.
Peter Ceulemans almost waved with a Japanese flag, after Kouji Funaki had helped him to the main event by a 2-1 win against Salat Bulut after a final run of nine. The Belgian grabbed the last straw and entered the main tournament.
The twelve seeded players are:
Tonny Carlsen, Jung Han Heo, Peter De Backer, Vinh Ly The, Glenn Hofman, Jef Philipoom, Can Capak, Adnan Yüksel, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Xian Cuong Ma, Murat Naci Coklu and Peter Ceulemans.