GURI - Two French meet each other in the quarterfinals at the Junior World championships, three of five Koreans are still in the race together with one Japanese, one Turk and one Austrian. The reigning champion, Adrien Tachoire, survived the start unbeaten, but played only two matches. The third, against Egyptian Ayman Mahmoud, was not played, because the Egyptian did not show up.
Myungwoo Cho (17), with a starting average of 1.647, played in the Korean preselections, was the absolute favourite for the title, but is out after a disappointing performance in the group stage.
The Junior World championships in Guri gets ready for the stunning final rounds with the traditional battle between Europe and Asia. The Frenchman Adrien Tachoire, who had a very difficult season in his own country, has boosted to shine at this World championship. He was the number one ranked after the preliminary rounds with six match points and 1.162.
The European champion Berkay Karakurt took the maximum points (and 1.153), the Korean finalists did not remain unbeaten, partly because Jung Ju Shin and Jun Tae Kim played one draw. Yusuke Mori finished with the best average of the eight finalists: 1428.
The Japanese recovered after a painful loss against Jun Tae Kim in the second round (25-10 in 15) and closed the group stage magnificent with the best match in the tournament so far: he defeated Chang Hae Jung 25-7 in 10 innings (3.000) .
The summary of the groups:
Group A:
Adrien Tachoire won his two matches in 27 and 16 innings, but was rewarded in the ranking with the maximum six points. Patrick Bútora (Austria) is the surprising second after he won in the final round against Arda Gungor 25-22 in 23.
Group B:
Berkay Karakurt preludes Myungwoo Cho's fall: the Turk outplayed the Korean favourite, who was leading 14-7, with an amazing run of 14 and put him on a backlog 21-14. Little Cho lost his way, was confused and finished with a loss in the final round against the Belgian Geoffrey Dresselaerts (25-23 in 22), who finally showed his class in his last match. Tae Kwan Kim advances to the quarterfinals with the group winner Karakurt.
Berkay Karakurt
Group C:
Ju Shin Jung, the group winner, makes one little mistake in his last game against the Frenchman Matthieu Franck, who fights for his pace in the quarters and is rewarded after his strong battle with Shin (25-25 in 22). Manuel Lindao beats the Portuguese Ferreira in the last round (25-14 in 19).
Group D:
Jun Tae Kim is the supreme winner, but is stopped in his last match by the Spaniard Jesus Rico, who thrives with a draw (25-25 in 17). It can't help Rico in the ranking, he finishes fourth in the group: Yusuke Mori has a fantastic final shot vs Hae Chang Jung, whom he defeats 25-7 in 10 innings.
Matthieu Franck
The matches in the quarterfinals (16.00 Korean time, 9.00 GMT):
Tachoire-Franck
Jun Kim Tae-Mori
18.00:
Shin-Bútora
Karakurt-Tae Kwan Kim.
One of the young Korean referees at the World championship