NEW YORK - The run-up already showed a number of highlights, the battle in the five groups of eight is still open and promises to come down to two fabulous final days. The Carom Cafe in New York was the place to be on Thursday for a high levelled warm-up with Semih Saygıner (35 in 10 innings, run of 18), Dick Jaspers (best match in 9), Eddy Merckx (twice in one match a run of ten) and Raymond Ceulemans (three wins in a row) taking the spotlights.
Three players are over two average after three and four matches: Dick Jaspers 2.090, Eddy Merckx 2.029, Semih Saygıner 2.000. Three flights are led by three players with the maximum match points with good chances to qualify for the final round. Charly Brown, the tournament director from New York, expects a fantastic fight that will push the best players to amazing heights.
Four of the five seeded players, Dick Jaspers, Frédéric Caudron, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Eddy Merckx have won their four matches and are the likely winners in their groups. Raymond Ceulemans made a slip in his first match, but recovered flawlessly, including a victory over Roland Forthomme in an exciting final phase and at the end of the evening a final run of eleven against Ricardo Carranco.
Dick Jaspers, Frédéric Caudron and Torbjörn Blomdahl, the winners of the three previous editions, feel with their backs to the wall with such a feared competition in the tournament. Jae Ho Cho seems in his best form, Eddy Merckx, Tayfun Tasdemir, Haeng Jik Kim, Quyet Chien Tran, Jérémy Bury, Murat Naci Coklu, Huberney Cataño, Semih Saygıner and Martin Horn are players with the potential to finish on the podium.
Eddy Merckx showed a sample of his mental strength in his last performance against the young Korean Jun Tae Kim. His home stretch as impressive in the center of attention. With a first sprint of ten, the Belgians closed a gap of ten points and when 31-25 down, Merckx set the pace for his second ten to finish the match (35-31, for the third time in 18 innings.
Huberney Cataño a feared outsider, can make the podium if he continues like he played so far. In the preliminaries the Colombian couldn't show up with high averages, but still he remained undefeated. And now, after four wins out of four, Huberney is in the slipstream of the two top favourites Frédéric Caudron and Jae Ho Cho in the group in which Martin Horn made the first misstep of the leaders in his match against the US Korean Sang Jin Lee.
The day belonged mostly to Semih Saygıner, with his brilliant technique, who finally has dealt with the cold that hunted him in three days. His first appearene this day: a spectacular 35 in 10 innings and a run of eighteen. The American champion Hugo Patino was the victim of Sayginer's power. The revenge in the match afterward, when Patino broke the unbeaten streak of Jérémy Bury, was sweet: 35-26 in 24.
The perky Korean Jae Ho Cho dazzled off his last match of the day in eleven innings, Frédéric Caudron sent the Frenchman Philipe Malsert to his fourth loss in a row. Quyet Chien Tran outplayed one of the outsiders in this tournament, his compatriot Vinh Ly The 35-18 in 17.
Frédéric Caudron tops his group with four wins
The first round on Friday morning (10.00):
Dick Jaspers-Brian Knudsen
Tayfun Tasdemir-William Oh
Michael Kang-Quoc Nguyen Nguyen
Nalle Olsson-Lars Dunch
Raymond Ceulemans-Dong Koong Kang
Murat Naci Coklu-Roland Forthomme
Ricardo Carranco-Haeng Jik Kim
Danny Korte-Gökhan Salman
Philippe Malsert-Bassem Salem
Sang Jin Lee-Thomas Moren.
Dick Jaspers, in his traditional style, focusing on the carom and the position
William Oh is the revelation in Carom Cafe with already ten victories in a row
Hugo Patino had a bad start, but finished the day with a win over Jérémy Bury
Eddy Merckx when the tension was on, two runs of ten to win the match