ISTANBUL - It must have been tough for Pierre Soumagne to play the second-best average of the day, and get sent home. And how will stylish Turkish player Yilmaz Özcan have felt, with his 1.450 average at the bottom of the ranking on day three of the Istanbul World Cup? With that performance, he could have been in the top-5 of the winners group. It was not just tough, also a bit unfair. Sometimes the draw is simply not your friend.
Pierre Soumagne and Yilmaz Özcan were in a flight with young Pan-American champion Jose Juan Garcia, who drew with Özcan in his first match, but scored 30-23 in 15 innings in the decider against the Frenchman. It gave him the group win, which he fully deserved, with three points and 1.578, ahead of Soumagne with two points and 1.656. Özcan was third with one point and 1.450. This level was not matched in any of the other groups. Korean Jae Guen Kim was the only player to do better than Soumagne, with his four points and 1.764.
Fourteen more players remained unbeaten and rightfully booked a place in the next round. But just to give an example: one of those fourteen was Greek Dionisis Tsokontas, who had a good win (30 in 19) but also an agonizing 30-29 in 43. The Turkish supremacy on this third day was visible, with seven players amongst the best sixteen, and Ahmet Bayatli (5 points, 1.578), Ahmet Alp (4, 1.578), Murat Celik (4, 1.428) Mehmet Goren (4.1.395) and Can Capak (4, 1.333) in the top ten.
The Koreans went to the last qualification round with three players, and were joined by Carlos Crespo (Spain), Nalle Olsson (Sweden), Juan Jose Garcia (Colombia), Vinh Ly The (Vietnam), Jean Reverchon (France) and Dionisis Tsokontas (Greece). Spaniard Jose Maria Mas missed out on qualifying in his last match against Jean Reverchon. Both players had easily beaten Japanese Hiroshi Sasaki, so it was now mano a mano. The Spaniard was first to finish, after some tumult, because a doubtful point was assigned to Mas. Reverchon was furious, but took his revenge when he equalized with two and won his flight on average.
Carlos Crespo is amongst the better players in the early stages, as he was in Porto. He's left with one more obstacle to get into the main draw. Can Capak showed character and spirit in his match against Japanese Kiyota, and Ji Hun Ahn ended the hopes of tournament organizer Gokhan Salman, who can now focus on his work for the event. Therese Klompenhouwer, the ladies world champion, did not come anywhere near her own level. In the Guri World Cup her averages were still okay (14 in 15 and 25 in 18), but the Turkish adventure had no shine at all. She lost against Sang Heon Lee, 30-20 in 28 and against Ahmet Bayatli, 30-17 in 23 (0.725 over two matches).
Jae Guen Kim, the day winner
The day scores:
1 Jae Guen Kim 4-1.764-11
2 Ahmet Bayatli 4-1.578-9
3 Ahmet Alp 4-1.578-8 4 Carlos Crespo
4-1.538-10
5 Nalle Olsson 4-1.428-11
6 Murat Celik 4-1.428-8
7 Mehmet Goren 4-1.395-5
8 Ji Hun Ahn 4-1.363-6
9 Can Capak 4-1.333-13
10 Kwang Yeo Park 4-1.333-6
11 Selim Özden 4-1.333-6
12 Savas Bulut 4-1.333-6
13 Vinh Ly The 4-1.250o-10
14 Dionisis Tsokontas 4-0.967-4
15 Jose Juan Garcia 3-1.578-7
16 Jean Reverchon 3-1.500-6.
The flight for the last qualification round: winners and three best nrs. to advance:
Group A: Carlos Crespo, Nalle Ollson, Jung Han Heo
Group B: Ahmet Alp, Murat Celik, Jean Paul de Bruijn
Group C: Ahmet Bayatli, Mehmet Goren, Quyet Chien Tran
Group D: Jae Guen Kim, Ji Hun Ahn, Jérémy Bury
Group E: Birol Uymaz, Can Capak, Eddy Leppens
Group F: Tolgahan Kiraz, Kwang Yeol Prk, Quoc Nguyen Nguyen
Group G: Kostas Papakonstantinou, Pedro Piedrabuena, Selim Özden
Group H: Javier Palazón, Savas Bulut Chi Yeon Cho
Group I: Arnim Kahofer, Vinh Ly The, Riad Nady
Group J: Nick Polychronopoulos, Murat Tüzül, Dionisis Tsokontas
Group K: Jose Juan Garcia, Christian Rudolph, Murat Naci Coklu
Group L: Anh Vu Duong, Jean Reverchon, Lütfi Cenet.
Ahmet Alp, one of the seven Turks in the top sixteen
Ahmet Bayatli, the number two on the third day
Jean Reverchon deserved his place in the next round in the equalizer
Gökhan Salman is out and can fully focus to the tournament
Jose Juan Garcia took the win in the group of death