Turkish hegemony in under 21 Grand Prix

GARLASCO - 16-year-old Turk Burak Hashas and 18-year-old Turk Seymen Ozbas lead the rankings in the CEB Longoni Grand Prix after one day of play. Burak already won three matches in Group A, with five players, with an overall average 1.470. Seymen Ozbas is the leader in Group B with two wins and 1.351. The Grand Prix enters the final stage of qualifying tomorrow, Saturday with a total of 17 players. Saturday at 5pm in Garlasco (Lombardy) are the quarter-finals, Sunday at 10.30am are the semi-finals and at 2pm is the final.

Burak Hashas is the leader in Group A with 6 match points and 1.470 average ahead of Greek Christos Falangas with 6 points and 0.797. The threat to the top two positions, good for two places in the quarter-finals, comes from Amir Ibraimov, one of two German brothers, who has 4 match points and 0.864. Amir Ibraimov lost a match to Falangas 25-23 in 30. Italian Paolo Turla and 11-year-old Dutchman Joeri Wilkowski close the rankings in Group A.

The second Turk following Burak Hashas, Seymen Ozbas, won his two matches with 1.351 on average and leads ahead of Dane Daniel Kristiansen with 2 points and 0.836. The rival is Tangui Duriez, who is lower in average and playing against Ozbas in his last match.

Nathan Duriez is the undisputed leader in Group C and has already secured his place in the quarter-finals. The Frenchman plays in his last match against Lukas Mortensen, who was surprisingly eliminated. Numbers 2 and 3, Yigit Baran Kara and Joris van 't Zelfden are fighting for second place and qualification. Joris van 't Zelfden already beat Lukas Mortens for his first. The Dane was counted among the contenders. The former Dutch junior champion beat the Dane 25-21 in 28. Mortensen then also lost to Baran Kara 25-24 and has no chance left.

Austrian Nikolaus Kogelbauer did not start well against Luca Philipoom, winning 25-23 in 31 after a hefty deficit, but recovered well against Ali Ibraimov in a real thriller. Kogelbauer won 25-24 in 24. Kogelbauer has 4 match points, Ibraimov and Turk Ozkul Selahattin 2 points. Only Belgian Luca Philipoom, who lost twice (to Selahattin and Kogelbauer) has been eliminated.

The rankings after the first day:

Group A:

1 Burak Hashas 6-1.470-5

2 Christos Falangos 6-0.797-7

3 Amir Ibraimov 4-0.864-7

4 Paolo Turla 0-0.400-3

5 Joeri Wilkowski 0-0.383-3

Group B:

1 Seymen Ozbas 4-1.351-5

2 Daniel Kristiansen 2-0.836-4

3 Tangui Duriez 2-0.453-4

4 Giuliano Di Gabriele 0-0.301-3

Group C:

1 Nathan Duriez 4-0.806-5

2 Yigit Baran Kara 2-0.789-4

3 Joris van ’t Zelfden 2-0.606-4

4 Lukas Mortensen 0-0.737-6

Group D:

1 Nicolaus Kogelbauer 4-0.909-5

2 Ali Ibraimov 2-1.065-6

3 Selahattin Ozkul 2-0.704-5

4 Luca Philipoom 0-0.614-4.

Turkish player Seymen Ozbas leading his group