SEOUL - With two top guns in the Seoul World Cup and two outsiders on a big stage for the first time, the world of three-cushion is on the way to another grand final day in the South Korean stronghold on Sunday. Dick Jaspers defeated Eddy Merckx in the battle of the low countries with 50-28 in in 27, Dani Sánchez passed another champion, Torbjörn Blomdahl, in the quarter-finals, 50-30 in 21. The other two, still relatively unknown players who will be fighting for World Cup gold on Sunday are Frenchman Gwendal Maréchal and Korean Myeong Jong Cha, goodness sakes the numbers 81 (Cha) and 95 (Maréchal) in the world rankings. And surely it has to be said: the Europeans dominate again, with three of them in the semi-finals.
The Sunday semi-finals:
14.00 Korea (7.00 Western Europe):
Gwendal Maréchal-Myeong Jong Cha
16.30 (9.30 Western Europe):
Dick Jaspers-Dani Sánchez
Final Sunday 21.00, West Europe 14.00.
Report semi-finals:
The Dick Jaspers who played against Jérémy Bury early Saturday (and still won) was unrecognisably much better in the start of his match against Merckx. The Holland/Belgium match got off to a flashy start for the Dutchman, who seemed to play Merckx with a lot of self-confidence and focus in the first half, witness the 22-4 and 25-9 lead at the break in 11 innings. The wide margin was increased to 32-11 and 34-16, as the Belgian kept playing under one moyenne and showed no signs of a sudden revival, although he narrowed the margin slightly to 35-21 in 19 with a five.
Dani Sánchez and Torbjörn Blomdahl showed up for a more exciting fight. The crowd was waiting for the first attack, after both top players had harassed each other in the first half with short attacks and a score that remained in balance for a long time. The first attack came from Dani Sánchez, who controlled the balls shortly after the break (25-22) and ran away to a 13-point lead (37-24) with a run of nine. Torbjörn was unable to catch up, also due to a few unlucky balls in the part where he had a few chances. The Spaniard approached the finish line with a run of 3 (44-30) and finally pulled the trigger with a 6 (50-30 in 21.
Gwendal Maréchal, the young French student who turned 25 two days ago, had almost packed his suitcase. He seemed to miss out on the main draw when finishing the last qualification, as he ended up exactly equal to Duc Anh Chien Nguyen in match points, average and three best runs, but was bizarrely beaten by the Vietnamese in the fourth high run: 5 to 4. The Frenchman however was allowed to come in through the back door (third substitute), then, anyway, finished just behind Dick Jaspers on place 2 in the last preliminary round before the knock-outs and on Saturday defeated first Marco Zanetti (50-44 in 28) and then Jun Tae Kim 50-44 in 33. The French youngster, who saw his compatriot Jérémy Bury disappear from the World Cup against Jaspers, had a whirlwind start against Jun Tae Kim with 7, maintained a margin after two times 6 in the 12th and 15th innings (29-20) and finally took victory 50-44 in the thrilling finale, in which Kim came back with 10 in the 27th innings (score 39-39).
And there was even more sensation on the other billiard table where Semih Sayginer and Myeong Jong Cha met in a match with the Turk being the irrevocable favorite to win. But what happened in the match after Sayginer had started smoothly (9-2 in 3, 11-4 in 4, 16-7 in 6)? Myeong Jong Cha, at the expense of Murat Naci Coklu among others in the main draw and even looser to Jeffrey Jorissen in the pre rounds,, showed no fear of the Turkish wizard and attacked when Sayginer had a part in the match with 3 points in 11 innings towards the end. When the Korean came to 46-41, Sayginer got upset again with 5 misses in his last seven innings. To his great surprise Myeong Jong Cha was able to finish with 2 and 2 for a final score 50-43 in 38.
The final Sunday starts in the semi finals with the match between Maréchal and Cha and then is waiting for the always great match between Dick Jaspers and Dani Sánchez, the numbers one and two in the world ranking. A nice detail before is that Dani Sánchez won his last four matches against Jaspers in in Berlicum (Europeans), Veghel (World Cup), Virtual Challenge en Antalya (World Cup).
Dick Jaspers is facing Dani Sánchez on Sunday, on of his feared opponents
Dani Sánchez eliminated Torbjörn Blomdahl in the quarters
Torbjörn Blomdahl, out by Dani Sánchez
Gwendal Maréchal, one of two outsiders on the final day
Myeong Jong Cha, the hero of the Korean crowd on the final day
The overview with the best sixteen
The World Cup in Seoul goes to magnificent matches in the quarter-finals on Korean Saturday night. The famous champions of three cushion are facing each other in this round, which has to determine the best four players for the World Cup finals on Sunday. Dick Jaspers plays against Eddy Merckx, Dani Sánchez against Torbjörn Blomdahl.
Dick Jaspers barely survives the match with Jérémy Bury, in which the Dutchman is trailing all the way, but in the end he can attack again with a magnificent run of 11. That brings Jaspers to 49-43, because he misses his last point and then has to shoot four times for the match ball. The winning ball finally arrives, to the great joy of the Dutch world champion, at 50-48 in 29 innings. Jaspers escapes again miraculously, as so many times in top events.
Eddy Merckx is for the first time in his career facing t Vietnamese Phuong Vinh Bao, the graduated master, who was the fantastic qualifier in his first World Cup outside Vietnam. The Belgian has been warned about his opponent's unsuspected powers and keeps the match under control superbly. He starts with five, but later excels only in small runs of 2, 3 and 4. That turns out to be enough for the cannibal's victory. Merckx winst eventually 50-34 f in 30 innings. The Belgian number six at the world ranking, who played against the Turks Sayginer and Cenet in his previous round, is getting ready for the magnificent poster in the quarterfinals: Jaspers-Merckx.
Dick Jaspers and Eddy Merckx are joined in the quarter-finals in Seoul by golden players in the world three cushion: Dani Sánchez, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Jun Tae Kim, Semih Sayginer and two outsiders: Frenchman Gwendal Maréchal and Korean Myeong Jong Cha.
Gwendal Maréchal eliminated one of the big stars, Marco Zanetti, 50-44 in 28 on Saturday morning (deep in the Western European night). The Frenchman remains close to his famous rival throughout the match, leading 14-13 in ten innings, 31-28 in 18, but looses the margin by Maréchal runs of 3, 4 and 5, Maréchal, who took the lead 44-37, 46-39 and then finishes it off with 3 and 1.
Semih Sayginer has an excellent start in the West European encounter with Nikos Polychronopoulos. The Turkish/Greek clash comes to 21-9 after ten innings for Sayginer, who benefits from the weak phase of his opponent. The Greek again cannot finish strong with many missed opportunities in the last ten innings. Sayginer goes out with 3 and 4: 50-31 in 33.
Myeong Jong Cha causes a sensation in his match against his illustrious compatriot Haeng Jik Kim. A tough match between the two compatriots, who both don't come over 5 in runs. Cha is the best starter with 14-7 in 10, after which Kim keeps struggling and enters the final with 34-29. At 45-35, Cha plays out with 2 and 5.
Torbjörn Blomdahl and Sameh Sidhom play a thriller with constantly changing scores. The Swede starts the first attack in the fifth inning with a run of 10 (15-2), but sees Sidhom come back with 11 in the 16th to 29-26 for Blomdahl. Then it becomes 38-38, 45-43, the best final shot comes from the Swede with 3 and 2: 50-46 in 33.
Dani Sánchez has no problem with Jung Han Heo, the usually so solid Korean, who is not able to shine in this World Cup. Sánchez starts with 10-5 in 3 (series 7), but cannot launch his dreaded high runs either. As a result, it remains a game that goes gently to the end with six more misses by the Spaniard in the last 9 innings: 50-37 in 28.
Jun Tae Kim is the most famous Korean in the last eight after his victory over Way Young Choi, who does start off well by 14-3 in 4, but then falls incredibly short with 3 points in his next 15 innings. Jun Tae Kim takes his chances better, although not on his best at all. It is the worst match in this round, ending in 50-47 in 47 innings!