3-Cushion
NEW YORK - The Korean Haeng-Jik Kim and the Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma top the rankings in 22 groups with the best average after two matches: 1.786 on day one at the Verhoeven Open in New York. Anh Vu Duong, the experienced Vietnamese, is following with four out of two and 1.667 ahead of Martin Horn with 1.613 and Jung-Han Heo with 1.515.
Most remarkable on the first day were Semih Sayginer's loss to Danish Alan Jensen, Eddy Merckx who was beaten by Dutchman Raymon Groot and Roland Forthomme who lost to Korean Wan Young Choi.
Jung Han Heo excelled with the best run (11), Minh Cam Ma with the best match, in which home player Michael Kang was the victim (25-9 in 9). The Belgian Marco Janssen and the Egyptian Sameh Sidhom finished in 11 innings (2.273), Therese Klompenhouwer in 12.
Haeng-Jik Kim and Minh Cam Ma were the most regular winners: the Korean with matches in 13 and 15, the Vietnamese in 9 and 19. Martin Horn had a good start in 18 and 13 innings. Eddy Merckx, one of the high-ranked contenders, was one of the slow starters and lost to young Dutchman Raymon Groot (25-21 in 21).
The ladies in the men's did well on the first day. Mi Rae Lee won two matches (0.893), like Natsumi Higashiuchi (1.190). Therese Klompenhouwer had a lightning start against Chung Hyun Lee in 12 innings (2.083), but then stumbled over Austrian Gerhard Kostistansky's in her second performance 25-19 in 26.
The top five after the first day:
1 Haeng-Jik Kim 2-4-1.786
1 Minh Cam Ma 2-4-1.786
3 Anh Vu Duong 2-4-1.667
4 Martin Horn 2-4-1.613
5 Jung-Han Heo 2-4-1.515.
Haeng-Jik Kim
Huberney Catanó
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen
Jung-Han Heo
American billiard fans in the stands