EL GOUNA/HURGHADA - The new location in the Egyptian resort El Gouna, close to Hurghada, will host the world championship 3-cushion for junior players this week. The 19-year ol talent Tae-Kwan Kim, younger brother of top player Haeng-Jik Kim, is the defending champion in a field of sixteen players. The WC starts on Thursday 8 December, ends on Saturday 10 December and will be followed by the last World Cup of this year's cycle.
The four Koreans in the field are viewed as favorites to win the title, the Europeans as the dark horses. Myung-Woo Cho (18), who reached the semifinals of the Guri World Cup this year, tops the average list with 1.600. Tae-Kwan Kim won last year's world title in a final against Jung-Ju Shin, now also a known player in the World Cups.
Haeng-Jik Kim, runner-up in the WC in Bordeaux last month, says about his younger brother: ,,He lives with me in Incheon, has finished school and now practices five or six hours every day.'' Haeng-Jik Kim, in his younger years, won the world junior title four times.
In addition to the four Koreans, no less than three Egyptian juniors are in the field. Youssef Oussama from Alexandrië is their national champion, with Ahmet Hatem coming in second and Mahmoud Ayman, last year's champion, third. The Egyptian junior players have lessons given by Spanish coach Jose Maria Quetglas four times every year, in Alexandria Mahmoud Ayman: ,,He is here for two weeks twice a year, and twice for one week. He is the best coach we could imagine having.''
The billiard arena for both the junior and the World Cup is in the Hotel Movenpick in El Gouna, Omar Samy is the tournament director. The sixteen players come from Europe (6), Asia (4), America (3) and Africa (3).
The flights:
Group A: Tae-Kwan Kim (Korea), 1.250 Youssef Ossama (Egypte), 0.830 Carlos Anguita (Spanje), 0.993 Mahmoud Ayman (Egypte) 0.750
Group B: Andres Carrion (Spanje) 1.050 Jiseung Han (Korea) 1.155 Christoper Ramirez (Peru) 0.713 Thibaut Espada (Frankrijk) 1.037
Group C: Caro Nelson (Colombia) 0.719 Tom Loewe (Duitsland) 0.937 Patrick Butora (Oostenrijk) 0.857 Jung-Ju Shin (Korea) 1.190
Group D: Myung-Woo Cho (Korea) Christian Sanchez (Colombia) Arda Gungor (Turkije) Ahmed Hatem (Egypte).
The opening ceremony is on Thursday 8 December at 11.00. First matches in the group stage start at 12.00. The semifinals and final are on Saturday, at 12.00, 14.00 and 17.00. In the groups, matches will be played to 25 points. On the final day matches are to 35.
All matches are live on kozoom.com
Tae-Kwan Kim, the title holder in Al Gouna, Hurghada