ANTALYA - On the banks of the Mediterranean Sea, Tayfun Tasdemir won the Antalya World Cup this Sunday afternoon. The 43-year-old Turk climbed with his victory to the fifth place on the world rankings. For his own crowd in the Starlight Resort hotel, Tasdemir defeated in the final match 38-year-old Korean Jae-Ho Cho 40-21 in 21 innings. Jae-Ho Cho even rose to third place on the ranking. Dick Jaspers remains the number one. On the podium were also Murat Naci Coklu from Turkey and Quyet Chien Tran from Vietnam.
Tayfun Tasdemir was very happy with his win, not with the level at which he played. "I was not at my best, but I was lucky that most players did not play well in their matches against me. That is not because I play defensively. I am a player who likes to attack. But sometimes you are a bit lucky. What I have to do better, is fighting against my nerves. I have to deal with the tension. Sometimes, my mind is confused. I have to find rest in my head in these important matches. But, luckily, I feel strong because of my new life after I got married last year. The good thing is also, that I find more time to practice.''
He loved the atmosphere with the full stands on the final day and the people who were cheering him. "My new position, the fifth place on the ranking, is not my best ever. When I won the World Cup in Ho Chi Minh in 2015, I was number 4 on the ranking. But of course, this gives me a good feeling, because this will be an important year.''
The tournament in the Turkish tourist enclave was overshadowed by the many rumors behind the scenes considering a new, professional and illegal league in South Korea. The new organization is similar to the BWA cycle at the end of last century. That caused a break between professional players and amateurs, with suspensions for the BWA players by the UMB.
UMB president Farouk Barki was speaking about the upcoming league in a speech during the ceremony after the World Cup. He warned the players who want to share the new organization that they will face hard measures. "We will not hesitate to punish them with suspensions and to exclude players who play tournaments outside the UMB for a long time. We will not allow them to return to the UMB for many years.''
In this World Cup, the best three players from the home country were Tasdemir, Coklu and Cenet. Only Semih Sayginer could live up to his high position on the rankings. On his way to World Cup gold, Tasdemir had to deal with two strong countrymen: first with Lütfi Cenet in the quarter finals (40-33 in 18), later in the semi-finals with Murat Naci Coklu 40-37 in 27.
The final when he played Jae-Ho Cho turned into a convincing victory with a decisive attack just before and just after the break with 7, 6 and 3 runs. That brought him from 19-16 up to a comfortable 35-19 and resulted in a 40-21 score in 21 innings. The winner was offered the Turkish flag from his federation chairman immediately after the winning point and showed him to the crowd. Jae-Ho Cho, who eliminated Dani Sánchez and Pedro Piedrabuena, was blown away by his opponent in the final fight and could not show his high class in high scores.
The Turkish clash, that preceded the final, between Tayfun Tasdemir and Murat Naci Coklu, showed Tasdemir's domination in the second part after 20-19 and a fall back for Coklu. The leading score, 39-24, brought Tasdemir close to the finish and was forced by a run of seven. Coklu, scoring five times 1 in nine innings, was left far behind. When Tasdemir missed the match ball five times, Coklu came back with two 5-runs to 39-37, but Tasdemir finished in the 27th inning: 40-37. It was Tasdemir's 6th place in a World Cup final, one time he was winner in Ho Chi Minh 2015 with Torbjörn Blomdahl, Eddy Merckx and ... Jae-Ho Cho on stage.
Jae-Ha Cho was never in trouble in the one-way match against Quyet Chien Tran in the other semi-final. The Korean quickly ran to 16-2 lead (10-run), and led 21-11 at the break and kept the margin around ten points in the last part of the game. By taking the victory at 40-28 in 19, Cho went for his fourth final place in a World Cup. He won in Istanbul in 2014 with Sung-Won Choi, the regretted Kyung-Roul Kim and Eddy Merckx on stage.
The first 2019 World Cup was played for the first time according to the new format. The first day of the main draw after the pre-rounds was played in eight groups of four instead of direct knock-out. Two players per group, sixteen in total, moved up to the real knock-out on Saturday. The pre-selection didn't show the high average as in previous World Cups. Serdar Bas, a fairly new Turkish name (36, from Istanbul) showed himself the revelation and survived every day from the start to the main tournament. The Asians Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, Sun Woong Lee and In-Won Kang were other star players in the preliminary phase.
The real top players came into the spotlight from the last qualification day with Nikos Polychronopoulos, Myung-Woo Cho and Torbjörn Blomdahl in a main role. Frédéric Caudron, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dani Sánchez, Martin Horn and David Martinez were the five players with the maximum match points on the first day of the main event, when Marco Zanetti, Semih Sayginer and Nikos Polychronopoulos were eliminated.
The Saturday with the last sixteen turned out into a real battlefield for the top favorites. The top five (Jaspers, Caudron, Merckx, Zanetti, Sayginer) disappeared from the scene. Pedro Piedrabuena was the stuntman with two victories in a row against the world champion Dick Jaspers, but was eliminated by Jae-Ho Cho on Saturday night (40-39). That eventually led to a final day with Tayfun Tasdemir, Murat Naci Coklu, Jae-Ho Cho and Quyet Chien Tran.
Tayfun Tasdemir celebrating with the Turkish flag.
The two final players in a hug after the final match
The podium after the World Cup with Coklu, Tran, Tasdemir and Cho (left to right)
The final ranking in Antalya's World Cup:
1 Tayfun Tasdemir 8-1.758-10
2 Jae-Ho Cho 6-1.516-15
3 Quyet Chien Tran 4-1.963-15
4 Murat Naci Coklu 4-1.746-9
5 Sung-Won Choi 2-1.818-11
6 Lütfi Cenet 2-1.738-8
7 Martin Horn 2-1.904-18
8 Pedro Piedrabuena 2-1.196-9
9 David Martinez 0-1.888-9
10 Torbjörn Blomdahl 0-1.636-11
11 Dinh Nai Ngo 1.360-10
12 Roland Forthomme 0-1.347-12
13 Eddy Merckx 0-1.272-13
14 Dani Sánchez 0-1.150-11
15 Dick Jaspers 0-1.090-7
16 Frédéric Caudron 0-1.000-15
17 Serdar Bas 3-§.740-16
18 Birol Uymaz 3-1.355-8
19 Semih Sayginer 2-1.754-8
20 Sameh Sidhom 2-1716-8.
Tayfun with his wife Neslihan and the trophy
UMB president Mr. Farouk Barki in his speech during the ceremony
The new world ranking:
1 Dick Jaspers 454 points
2 Frédéric Caudron 440
3 Jae-Ho Cho 301
4 Semih Sayginer 285
5 Tayfun Tasdemir 267
6 Marco Zanetti 264
7 Quyet Chien Tran 264
8 Eddy Merckx 258
9 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 223
10 Murat Naci Coklu 220
11 Jérémy Bury 214
12 Jung-Han Heo 213
13 Sameh Sidhom 208
14 Dinh Nai Ngo 187
15 HaengJik Kim 182
16 Sung-Won Choi 178
17 Eddy Leppens 170
18 Dani Sánchez 160
19 Torbjörn Blomdahl 158
20 Martin Horn 148
21 Nikos Polychronopoulos 143
22 Minh Cam Ma 140
23 Robinson Morales 131
24 Filippos Kasidokostas 128
25 Lütfi Cenet 120.
Tayfun Tasdemir in the match for the semi-finals to beat Murat Naci Coklu
Murat Naci Coklu, strong performance, out in the semi-finals
Jae-Ho Cho on his way to the final in the match for the semi-finals against Tran
Quyet Chien Tran, the second Asian on stage in Antalya