BURSA - Two memorable matches in two different contexts: one played today, in the Bursa World Cup, one played during the Verhoeven Open in New York last year. Both played on an extraordinary level, with two opponents not willing to give in. The one in New York: Haeng Jik Kim beat Blomdahl, 40-35 in 9 innings, for 13th/14th place in the Verhoeven. Today, in Bursa: Jose Juan Garcia from Colombia beat Dong Koong Kang from Korea, 40-36 in 10 innings, with a place in the main draw at stake.
Not often was a game of this quality broadcast live, available to many thousands. The Kozoom spectators were in and out of their seats with enthusiasm, during Garcia's battle with Dong Koong Kang. The Colombian had lost to J.P. de Bruijn earlier, frankly without having had much of a chance. But he knew he was still in with a chance, and gave it his all.
Dong Koong Kang, runner-up to Blomdahl in the 2015 world championship and one of the Koreans who can sometimes rise to great heights, took Garcia all the way. The Colombian ran 8 from the break, made a 6 two innings later and had a 16-3 lead after three innings. Dong Koong Kang responded with a 10 (16-13), added another 10 two innings later (27-24) and the match just kept getting hotter. Jose Juan Garcia ran 4 and 5, Kang made 7, bringing the score to 35-30 in 8 innings, advantage Korea. Garcia, former junior world champion, still had one trick up his sleeve: he ran another ten to finish, making it 40-35. Dong-Koong Kang had the equalizing inning, but made only a single point: 40-36 in 10, an historic match. It was the high point of the day, but there was more good stuff to be watched.
Sung-Won Choi also had a 10 inning win, thanks to a run of 14. Jung-Han Heo, the last World Cup winner (Hurghada) shone with a run of 16 in his match against Hakan Incekara (40-15 in 15). The always eccentric Vietnamese Quoc Nguyen Nguyen produced a run of 15, Hyung Kon Kim and Kostas Kokkoris both ran 14, just to illustrate the level of scoring all over.
Sung-Won Choi ended as the day's best winner in his flight with Furkan Senel and Regay Henry: 4 match points and 2.424. Dong-Koong Kang, in spite of his loss against Garcia, did even better in average: 2.714. Quoc Nguyen Nguyen had 2.105, Jung-Han Heo and Lütfi Cenet 1.951, Eddy Leppens 1.818, and from the losers round, Minh Cam Ma (3 points, 1.454), Jose Juan Garcia (2 points, 1.852) and Seung Jin Lee (2 points, 1.809) advanced to the main tournament.
The day was mostly a Korean exhibition, with seven flight winners from that country. two Turks (Cenet and Uymaz), one Greek (Kokkoris), one Belgian (Leppens) and a Vietnamese (Quoc Nguyen Nguyen) joined them at the end of a super quality day in Bursa. Jose Maria Mas, Hakan Incekara and Riad Nadi with 1.571, 1.527 and 1.511 just missed out, Jean Paul de Bruijn with one win and 1.666 was not even close to qualifying. That's how strong today's play was.
Birol Uymaz made his way with a convincing 40-17 win over Quyet Chien Tran. Jung-Han Heo was much stronger than Hakan Incekara with a 40-15 in 15. Eddy Leppens had no problems in his flight: he recorde wins in 25 and 19 innings. Lütfi Cenet ended the hopes of Jose Maria Mas with a 40-26 in 23. Quoc Nguyen Nguyen beat Sung-Jin Lee in the decider, 40-36 in 19. Sung-Won Choi was a class stronger than Regay Henry (40-15) and Furkan Senel (40-20). Dong-Koong Kang in his second match dominated Jean Paul de Bruijn (40-30 in 18).
Myung-Woo Cho and Minh Cam Ma played a draw in the third game of group play. Ji Hun Anh beat two Koreans: Jae Guen Kim and Choong-Bok Lee. Kostas Kokkoris is one of the surprise names in the main draw, he beat Riad Nady and Hyung Bum Hwang in 28 and 24 innings. Chi Yeon Cho started with a loss against Sang Ku Kang, but then paved his way when he beat Murat Tüzül. Hyung Kon Kim stayed ahead of Adnan Yüksel and Sung Il Jeong.
The group winners:
1 Sung-Won Choi 4-2.424-14
2 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen 4-2.105-15
3 Jung-Han Heo 4-1.951-16
4 Lütfi Cenet 4-1.951-9
5 Eddy Leppens 4-1.818-8
6 Hyung Kon Kim 4-1.777-14
7 Ji Hun Ahn 4-1.739-7
8 Birol Uymaz 4-1.600-7
9 Kostas Kokkoris 4-1.538-14
10 Myung Woo Cho 3-1.588-8
11 Dong Koong Kang 2-2.714-10
12 Chi Yeon Cho 2-1.333-8.
The three runners-up:
1 Minh Cam Ma 3-1.454-9
2 Jose Juan Garcia 2-1.852-10
3 Seung-Jin Lee 2-1.809-7
The matches for the main draw:
12.00 (Turkish time):
Frédéric Caudron-Birol Uymaz
Roland Forthomme-Jose Juan Garcia
Sung-Won Choi-Myung Woo Cho
Nikos Polychronopoulos-Chi Yeon Cho
14.00:
Sameh Sidhon-Dong Koong Kang
Marco Zanetti-Hyung Kon Kim
Tayfun Tasdemir-Ji Hun Ahn
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Eddy Leppens
16.00:
Dani Sánchez-Jung-Han Heo
Jae Ho Cho-Huberney Cataño
Eddy Merckx-Semih Sayginer
Jérémy Bury-Minh Cam Ma
18.00:
Murat Naci Coklu-Seung Jin Lee
Quoc Nguyen Nguyen-Can Capak
Haeng-Jik Kim-Lütfi Cenet
Dick Jaspers-Kostas Kokkoris.
Sung-Won Choi, winner in 10 innings and best of the day
Dong-Koong Kang lost to Garcia in a world class match
Vietnamese Quoc Nguyen Nguyen starred with high runs
Lütfi Cenet finished in top five
Jung-Han Heo, last World Cup winner, again amongst the favourites
Eddy Leppens was never in trouble to reach the main draw
Hyung Kon Kim, one of the Koreans who is in the main tournament
The young talent Myung Woo Cho, as the number 10 to the last 32