3-Cushion
LUXOR - The French artistic player Jean Reverchon spoke it out consipicuous when he had recovered after a poor start at the World Cup in Luxor: ,,The ranking says it all: you have to be lucky with the draw and your opponents to survive here. The Belgian Peter De Backer, with Egypt as his second homeland, was the living proof after two days and four wins: ,,I play terrible, but I win my matches and so I'm happy.''
Jean Reverchon was eliminated by the strong Turkish player Can Capak and then repaired with a win over the Korean Jae Guen Kim. ,,This is not a fair competition'', the Frenchman explained, because the opponent (Can Capak) in his first performance already had played in four matches. ,,The rules should be changed: we deserve a better preparation instead of only five minutes for the warm-up.''
But also a bit of luck with the draw plays a role in the preliminaries. Semih Sayginer was eliminated by an opponent who was in an amazing form and played a tremendous match. And while the Turkish phenomenon was sent to the stands, the Belgian debutant Nicky Defraeye, a 30-year, likeable player, who showed up in his first World Cup, still was in the tournament with five wins. He survived with 0.666 and 0.510 matches, with an admirable courage and even a chance to survive his third day against Mehmet Goren. The Turk just could prevent it by an ultimate final effort: 30-28 in 44.
It was obviously painful for Jean Reverchon, when he looked at the day's ranking and saw scores. Can Capak won his group with 1.764 average, Reverchon was second with 1.612 and Jea Guen Kim third with 1.419. They played extremely high averages compared with Mehmet Goren (four points, 0.714) and Peter De Backer (winner of his group with 0.895).
The Turkish and Korean dominance was predictable this day: the Turks were with four in the top six, the Koreans with two. Can Capak (four match points, 1.764), Hyung Kon Kim (4, 1.578) Tolgahan Kiraz and Tae Soo Lim (4, 1.333) were the outliers.
Hakan Incekara had to fire up after his excellent start against Ra Hee Kim (30-13 in 15) to stop the Vietnamese Ngo Dinh Nai, who isn't in his best days. The Turk could narrowly draw, but even could afford a loss with his higher average. Arnim Kahofer had a horribly bad start (against Murat Celik 10 in 18 innings) and recovered with a win. That was not good enough for qualifying. Vinh The Ly and Tuncay Aslan battled it out in a great fight that turned out into a draw (30-30 in 21). The Vietnamese advanced on average.
Murat Tüzül showed a deep respect for his opponent, the sixteen year old Korean Myung Woo Cho after their match. ,,He will grow out into a fantastic player'', said the billiard room owner from Istanbul, where among others Semih Sayginer and Birol Uymaz are prominent members. Tüzül defeated the diminutive Korean 30-21 after a strong final shot.
Birol Uymaz was on the rack against Ricardo Garcia Alarcon after his demonstration of high class against Semih Sayginer. The Spaniard, who could shine after his bad first day, sealed victory 30-22 in 19 innings. The Turk stayed on top of the group with a small margin on average.
Therese Klompenhouwer disappeared from the tournament with a bad feeling and a lost match against the Korean Tae Soo Lim. ,,I feel sick and weak, probably because I ate something wrong'', Therese explained her poor match (30-10 in 24).
The last point of the day came from the hand of Gokhan Salman, who escaped from the elimination in his match against the Egyptian Mohamed Zayed, who needed three points in the equalizer, but missed his last by a kiss.
The Korean Hyung Kon Kim was the second in the day ranking.
The day ranking with matchpoints and average:
1 Can Capak 4-1.764
2 Hyung Kon Kim 4-1.578
3 Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1.333
4 Tae Soo Lim 4-1.333
5 Murat Tüzül 4-1.224
6 Savas Bulut 4-1.176
7 Ihab El Messery 4-1.090
8 Emilio Sciacca 4-1.016
9 Gokhan Salman 4-0.983
10 Peter De Backer 4-0.895
11 Mehmet Goren 4-0.714
12 Hakan Incekara 3-1.621
13 Vinh Ly The 3-1.333
14 Emrullah Basegmez 3-1.132
15 Birol Uymaz 2-1.485
16 Murat Celik 2-1.260.
The Belgian newcomer Nicky Defraeye showed his fighting spirit and almost survived the third day.