3-Cushion
VEGHEL - The French rookie at the World Cup in Veghel, Tangui Duriez, only 14 years young from Saint Quentin, could have been luckier on his first day. In his second match, the young man faced Swedish giant Michael Nilsson, a six-time world champion at the World team championships together with Torbjörn Blomdahl. The match didn't last much more than an hour, lacked any tension and the result was predictable in advance. The young Tangui, still proud after his first WC performance, left the tournament with his second loss of the day: 30-15 in 33 innings. The Swede with his 'golden past' had a slow start and apologized after the game: "It's so hard to start, in a new environment, at new billiards, but it will get better." He finally finished fifth on the day ranking following Stef van Hees, Harrie van de Ven, Raymund Swertz and Brian Knudsen.
We had to wait until the end of the sessions for Nathan Duriez, Tangui's three years older brother, who entered the arena in the last rounds facing young Spaniard Mario Mercader. It turned out well for the Frenchman, however, only with a one carom difference.
The two French youngsters were part of an opening day with many young talents, most of all from the home land. Nathan and Tangui were the two teenagers from the Saint Quentin club with eighty members. Nathan said: ''I played judo and football in my younger years, my brother played basketball, but we both switched to billiards. Tangui was eight when he started, I was nine. For Tangui, this World Cup is his first big tournament, I already played three myself and I participated in the Junior World championship in Valencia this year."
23-year-old Belgian Stef van Hees, who, after playing the classical disciplines in his younger years, will now focus fully on three cushion, had a promising start against Gürhan Kabak (30-12 in 22) and crowned to the day's best in his next match by beating Karsten Witte 30-13 in 14. Stef van Hees now knows for sure: only three-cushion will has his attention, saying goodbye to the classic game types.
Raymund Swertz and Raymon Groot, no longer among the youngest in the field, started the tournament with a mutual match. Raymon Groot, who has moved to New York, still led 26-20, but Swertz had a super sprint and won 30-27 in 24 (1,250 against 1,125). With his second win, the Dutch balk-line specialist shared himself among the top three when German Jens Krause couldn't stop him at all: 30-11 in 23.
Harrie van de Ven, on of the routine players now from his home country and last year the number two in the Dutch championship behind Dick Jaspers, was never in danger against German Dieter Ernst and Czech Marcel Dirn, whom he beat 30-17 and 30-11 with a decent average, 1,304 and the best run of the day: 11.
Joey de Kok (22) from the home country was among the youngsters who survived the opening day. He started with a draw against Danish Nikolai Jensen and played a strong second game against Korean Sung-Taek Jung: 30-17 in 20 innings. The Zeeland guy was visibly happy with it. "I couldn't make such a good start in the Dutch Premier League, but this gives me confidence.'' De Kok, who has been trained by Jean Paul de Bruijn since he was 14, wants to give his career a new boost.
Tom Löwe (22) was one of the modest winners playing 0.779, Kay de Zwart switched off the lights at the end of the evening after he won by one point against Akif Guvenmez in an exciting battle to the end.
Sam van Etten lost his first game against Sander Jonen in one of the early sessions in a 'sliding game' on the new tables and played a draw against another countryman, Huub Wilkowski, later in the day. Wilkowski then defeated Sander Jonen 30-16 in 25 and qualified for the next round.
The final ranking after the first day:
1 Stef van Hees 4-1.666-7
2 Harrie van de Ven 4-1.304-11
3 Raymund Swertz 4-1.276-6
4 Brian Knudsen 4-1.250-9
5 Michael Nilsson 4-1.016-6
6 Nathan Duriez 4-0.983-5
7 Kay de Zwart 4-0.857-5
8 Vangelis Moulos 4-0.800-6
9 Tom Löwe 4-0.779-6
10 Adam Baca 4-0.769-7
11 Jérôme Riotto 4-0.722-4
12 Gungor Bastunali 4-0.582-5
13 Joey de Kok 3-1.052-5
14 Wesley de Jaeger 3-0.983-7
15 Huub Wilkowski 3-0.857-4
16 Muhammed Gavusoglu 3-0.705
Belgian Stef van Hees, the best day winner in Veghel
Raymund Swertz during his final sprint beating Raymon Groot
Joey de Kok, strong win against Korean player
The referees for the World Cup listen to the instructions by UMB referee Willem Hofman