CARTAGENA – Reigning champion Seymen Ozbas from Turkey is also the big favorite for this year’s junior world title in Cartagena, Spain. This Saturday evening, in the quarterfinals, Ozbas demonstrated his high class with an almost 2 average match. The other finalists for Sunday are one Korean, one Mexican, and another Turkish player. Do Hyeon Kim will play Ubaldo Sanchez tomorrow, Sunday, at 11:00, the two Turks, Seymen Ozbas and Ataberk Cerkez, play at 13.00 for a place in the world gold medal final. That final is at 16.00.
Seymen Ozbas had a formidable final sprint against Spaniard Toni Garcia in the quarterfinals on Saturday. The Spaniard was completely outplayed by his Turkish opponent in the last five innings. The score was 26-25 in Garcia's favor when Ozbas attacked with runs of 3, 3, 2, and 7 for a final score 40-26, as Garcia couldn't score in those five innings.
Two of the other matches were quite exciting. The youngest Korean, Hyeon Woo Kim, was in contention for victory against Do Hyeon Kim with a 37-31 lead after 26 innings. The last word fell to the older Korean, who flawlessly finished with runs of 5, 1, 0, and 3, leaving his opponent without a single score for four innings: 40-37 in 30 innings.
Ataberk Cerkez secured a spot in the final against Arturo Zotov, the wildcard holder. In the very mediocre match, the score was 37-35, 38-37 at the end, and Cerkez pulled the trigger with 2 for a 40-38 score in 48 innings.
Finally, there was the victory for the unpredictable Mexican Ubaldo Sanchez, who built a commanding lead against Colombia's Jose Martinez, finishing 40-26 in 37.
Top 16
In the Top 16 sessions, the first knockouts after the preliminary rounds, Do Hyeon Kim was an impressive winner against Daniel Sainz Pardo 40-31 in 21, the best in average with 1.905. Arturo Zotov, after a difficult start, was at 5-5 against Luca Philipoom and attacked with 10 to 15-5. That proved to be the deciding factor in the match. The Spaniard maintained a margin of around 10 points, even extending his lead to 30-12. Only then could the Dutchman counter with 5, 2, 3, and 2, but it wasn't enough to pose a threat: 40-29 in 34.
There wasn't much tension in the eight matches, although Seymen Ozbas put up a good fight against Amir Ibraimov. The Turk gained a favorable margin with a run of 11, extended his lead to 36-17 in 24, and saw Ibraimov come back to 40-35 in 31 in a weak finish.
Korean Do Hyeon Kim
Mexican Ubaldo Sanchez
Turkish player Ataberk Cerkez