VEGHEL - The first World Cup in the Netherlands after ten years enters the two final days with only two players from the low lands. Dick Jaspers from the homeland started with three wins in his first perfomance, Eddy Merckx from Belgium rewarded himself with a place in the last sixteen after an up-and-down day in the run-up. Korean Jae-Ho Cho leads the rankings, two other Koreans close the field of sixteen finalists. In between: four Turks, two Spaniards, two Vietnamese and loners from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Italy and Sweden. The most striking dropout: Quyet Chien Tran, who played one spectacular math with a final run of 19!
The showdown after one day in the main draw has led to a schedule with top billings in the last sixteen like Merckx-Sanchez, Cho-Kim, Tasdemir-Cenet, Jaspers-Nguyen and Blomdahl-Bury.
The overview of the Thursday's groups:
Group A:
Dick Jaspers makes the start he had wished for against the Spaniard José-Maria Mas. The win with 40-23 in 15, an average 2,666, was perfect to launch the tournament. Duc Anh Chien Nguyen is his main competitor, but the Vietnamese needs 32 innings against Egyptian wildcard holder Abdallah. Jaspers has a gap to close in his second match against Nguyen, but still runs to a final win 40-38 in 23. Mas beats Abdallah, as expected. And Jaspers is not surprised by Abdallah, despite a poor start: 40-21 in 25. Nguyen takes second place by beating Mas 40-16 in 23.
The ranking in Group A:
1 Dick Jaspers 6-1,894-9
2 Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 4-1,512-7
3 Jose-Maria Mas 2-1,253-9
4 Ahmed Abdallah 0-0,780-5
Group B:
Jean van Erp, the local hero, is supported by a wonderful fan club, but is not able to deal with the pressure and high expectations. Young Korean Jun-Tae Kim, coming from the preliminaries, takes a sovereign win, 40-32 in 28. Marco Zanetti immediately presents himself as the favorite in this group with a win over Jacob Sörensen: 40-18 in 19. The Italian already secures himself to move up after his second win over Jun-Tae Kim (40-33 in 16). Van Erp loses again, facing Sörensen (40-33 in 25) and is already out. Zanetti is looking forward to his last match of the day: ''I love that atmosphere with fans from my opponent in the stands.'' The Italian can finish his last fairly relaxed, 40-29 in 22. Jean van Erp waves goodbye with his third loss. Jun-Tae Kim earns the second ticket by a draw against Jacob Sörensen in 25 innings.
The ranking in Group B:
1 Marco Zanetti 6-2,105-10
2 Jun-Tae Kim 3-1,637-11
3 Jacob Sörensen 3-1,420-7
4 Jean van Erp 0-1,253-6
Group C:
Tayfun Tasdemir defeats former world champion Sung-Won Choi in his first performance 40-24 in 17. Torbjörn Blomdahl, including a run of 11, starts flawlessly against Dutchman Barry van Beers: 40-27 in 20. The two winners meet in the second séance, Blomdahl beats Tasdemir 40-34 in 19. Barry van Beers misses his last chance by losing to Choi 40-27 in 26. Blomdahl, in a good position after two matches, is in danger after a big loss to Sung-Won Choi: 40-19 in 19. Striking in that match: Blomdahl has twelve misses in 13 innings and a 9-run in between. Tayfun Tasdemir beats Barry van Beers (40 -38 in 27) and is the best on average of the top three. Blomdahl is slightly better than Choi.
Ranking in Group C:
1 Tayfun Tasdemir 4-1,809-10
2 Torbjön Blomdahl 4-1,706-11
3 Sung-Won Choi 4-1,677-6
4 Barry van Beers 0-1,260-8
Group D:
Dani Sánchez launches the main draw with the best match in the first round. One of the Korean big guns, Jung-Han Heo, can not stop the Spaniard: after a run of 10 and 26-5 in 5 innings, Sánchez runs out to the win, 40-29 in 14. Semih Sayginer escapes the end to Vietnamese Trung Hau Do Nguyen. The Turk is on his way to a comfortable win at 40-28 in 21 innings, but Nguyen has a strong final shot. He makes 11, but misses the 40th point fort he draw after an unfortunate choice: the result: 40-39. The clash between Sayginer and Sánchez is decided by a run of 11 from the Turk halfway, five innings later he finishes: 40-29 in 21. Sayginer and Sánchez become one and two in the showdown. Sayginer is slightly the better of Heo (40-38 in 34), Sánchez beats Do Nguyen (40-28 in 19) and records the best average in his group.
Ranking in Group D:
1 Semih Sayginer 6-1,578-11
2 Dani Sánchez 4-2,017-19
3 Jung-Han Heo 2-1,550-11
4 Trung Hau Do Nguyen 0-1,573-11
Group E:
The crowds don't see the Eddy Merckx that is strong and feared in the first session. The Belgian runs into a rock-solid Myung-Woo Cho, is facing many difficult positions in the first part against the junior world champion and is far behind until the end: 40-11 in 16. Vietnamese Nguyen Quoc Nguyen comes up with his first win, over Martin Horn, 40-23 in 22. Merckx again has a poor start against Horn, but recovers at the end. The German leads 21-8 and 24-15, Merckx strikes mercilessly in the last four innings, 7-2-10-2 for a final score 40-30 in 21. The Asian match between Cho and Nguyen is decided at the finish line. The Vietnames comes to 40, Cho has to score three times for the draw, but misses his last point. Eddy Merckx has a solid finish playing Nguyen, who has a poor finish in the group: 40-10 in 21. Martin Horn, eliminated after two losses, enjoyes the audience with a great performance against Myung Woo Cho with a match in which he scores run of 12 and 14 in the first eight innings (40-36 in 17). The junior world champion is out with two losses.
Ranking in Group E:
1 Eddy Merckx 4-1,568-10
2 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 4-1,216-7
3 Myung-Woo Cho 2-1,796-10
4 Martin Horn 2-1,583-14
Group F:
The Korean clash between Jae-Ho Cho and HaengJik Kim launches the group, the winner is Cho, 40-36 in 19. Brian Knudsen continues his long series of wins in his first match by beating Dinh Nai Ngo 40-24 in 28. HaengJik Kim loses his second, against Ngo (40-24 in 28), Knudsen is defeated after four days by Jae-HoCho: 40-22 in 16 innings. HaengJik Kim, close to elimination, escapes with a strong win in his last against Knudsen (40-24 in 15). Because of Cho's victory against Ngo, Kim is the number two on average.
Ranking in Group F:
1 Jae-Ho Cho 5-2,307-10
2 HaengJik Kim 2-2,075-9
3 Dinh Nai Ngo 2-1,593-13
4 Brian Knudsen 2-1,457-7
Group G:
Jérémy Bury starts his mission as a sovereign winner over Roland Forthomme: 40-25 in 13. That brings the Frenchman, with a quick 25-12 in 5, in a flawless rhythm. Antonio Montes surprises Vietnamese world top player Quyet Chien Tran, 40-28 in 22, but is beaten by Bury in the next round despite a strong chase: from 23-13 behind to a 40-37 loss at the finish. Quyet Chien Tran outplays Forthomme in his last-chance match by a phenomenal final run of 19: 40-24 in 17. Three players finish on four points. The average decides in favor of Bury, who loses the last match to Tran (40-18 in 22). Montes beats Forthomme after 19-1 in 10 innings, 40-17 in 40 and takes second place.
Ranking in Group G:
1 Jérémy Bury 4-1,849-9
2 Antonio Montes 4-1,828-9
3 Quyet Chien Tran 4-1,770-19
4 Roland Forthomme 0-1,222-10
Group H:
The Turkish outsider Gökhan Salman, one of the sub-top players in his country, who never won a match before in a main tournament of a World Cup, is the very surprising winner in a group with two famous countrymen. Gökhan has a great start with a win over Murat Naci Coklu (40-23 in 18), then suffers a loss to Lütfi Cenet (40-34 in 19) and closes the evening against Sameh Sidhom with a one-point-win, 40-39 in 28. With four match points, Salman is the winner on average: 1,753 against 1,738 for Lütfi Cenet, which also ends on four points. Murat Naci Coklu, the third on 4 match points, is out due to the average: 1,450.
Ranking in Group H:
1 Gokhan Salman 4-1,753-11
2 Lütfi Cenet 4-1,738-8
3 Murat Naci Coklu 4-1,450-8
4 Sameh Sidhom 0-1,268-5.
The group winners:
1 Jae-Ho Cho 6-2,307-10
2 Marco Zanetti 6-2,105-10
3 Dick Jaspers 6-1,904-9
4 Semih Sayginer 6-1,666-11
5 Jérémy Bury 4-1,849-9
6 Tayfun Tasdemir 4-1,809-10
7 Gökhan Salman 4-1,781-11
8 Eddy Merckx 4-1,568-10
The numbers two:
1 Dani Sánchez 4-2,018-10
2 Antonio Montes 4-1,828-9
3 Lütfi Cenet 4-1,765-8
4 Torbjörn Blomdahl 4-1,706-11
5 Nguyen Duc Anh Chien 4-1,512-7
6 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 4-1,216-7
7 Jun-Tae Kim 3-1,637-11
8 HaengJik Kim 2-2,075-9
The matches for Friday:
12.00:
Jae-Ho Cho-HaengJik Kim
Eddy Merckx-Dani Sánchez
Jérémy Bury-Torbjörn Blomdahl
Semih Sayginer-Duc Anh Chien Nguyen
14.00:
Dick Jaspers-Nguyen Quoc Nguyen
Tayfun Tasdemir-Lütfi Cenet
Gokhan Salman-Antonio Montes
Marco Zanetti-Jun-Tae Kim.
Semih Saygineer beat Dani Sánchez, both to the final sixteen
Dick Jaspers, the only player in the final sixteen from the homeland
Eddy Merckx, beaten by Myung-Woo Cho, with a strong finish to the group win
Marco Zanetti, strong show and one of four players over 2 average
Quyet Chien Tran, out of the game despite a great final run of 19