SEOUL - After two days the question was, who can be the first to threaten the Asians at Seoul's World Cup. The answer did not take too long. Dutchman Jean Paul de Bruijn topped the ranking followed by a small bunch of Koreans and Vietnamese on Wednesday, the second day of qualifying. With an excellent average and wonderful highlights in the two matches he won, de Bruijn was smoking hot, just like his best days in World Cups. A highs-and-lows player with his great matches and his off-days. High class and mental toughness do not always go hand in hand, but if 'Jeepee' is going with the flow, you just get out of his way.
Two players from the Asian camp were blown off the table in the Korean arena. Japanese Nobuyasu Sakai 30-12 in 16 innings, Korean Keon Hwi Cho 30-10 in 15 innings and a run of 12 to the finish. The number one of the day ranking's comment was short and dry afterwards: "I'm a player with ups and downs, but I continue to try my best.'' People who don't know De Bruijn well, seeing him play today, must have thought, how is it possible that he dropped to 50th position on the ranking after his peaks in the early 2000's. Anyone who knows him better, has the explanation. 'Jeepee' is a technician, a player with brilliant solutions and shots, but not a man with a feared character when it comes to winning and certainly not a street fighting man. When the time is there, usually just before the main event in a World Cup, his technology and the quality leave the Dutch player too often.
But not today in his two matches, in which he showed his explosions and self-confidence. Ask him how come, what happened? and he replies, "I have have no explanation at all.'' Tomorrow, Thursday, the last hurdles before the main tournament, De Bruijn faces another tough mission to prove that it was no coincidence: Belgian Roland Forthomme and Spaniard Javier Palazón are the opponents to beat, two players who happen to be known for their ups and downs as well.
The Dutch camp, in the shadow of Dick Jaspers not so thickly blessed by successes in the World Cups, celebrated besides Jean Paul de Bruijn another group winner: Barry van Beers in his matches against the Colombian Aquilar and the Egyptian Abdin, with two victories and 1.304. Two other Dutch are out: Glenn Hoffman and Therese Klompenhouwer, both with one win and one loss. Jae-Guen Kim was too strong for Klompenhouwer in her second appearance (30-22 in 26), Glenn Hoffman was outplayed by the revelation of the preliminaries: Sang-Woon Ko, 30-19 in 14 innings. The recovery against the Greek Tsokontas, in a match in 15 innings was not enough: Hofman was the number one of the first losers group with 2 points and 1.689, the second best average of the day.
Choong-Bok Lee was the best in the strongest group with a win over Chi Yeon Cho in 16 innings and Yusuke Mori in 22 innings. Robinson Morales topped his group, Filippos Kasidokostas did it as well including a victory over Kostas Kokkoris 30-13 in 20 and a loss against one of the Nguyens. Dion Nelin was the last of the sixteen winners despite losing his first match. The best matches came from Tae Jun Oh (12), who nevertheless was eliminated, from Bong chul Kim (12) and from Hideaki Kobayashi (13 innings).
The top sixteen:
1 Jean Paul de Bruijn 4-1.935-12
2 Sang-Woon Ko 4-1.621-12
3 Choong-Bok Lee 4-1.578-6
4 Hideaki Kobayashi 4-1.538-9
5 Jin Pyo Hong 4-1.538-5
6 Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 4-1.500-9
7 Hyun Min Seo 4-1.463-7
8 Robinson Morales 4-1.333-8
9 Barry van Beers 4-1.304-5
10 Trung Hau Do Nguyen 4-1.276-7
11 Jae-Guen Kim 4-1.224-6
12 Hyung Bum Hwang 3-1.276-8
13 Jose Juan Garcia 3-1.200-10
14 Bong chul Kim 2-1.548-6
15 Filippos Kasidokostas 2-1.526-6
16 Dion Nelin 2-1.450-7.
The groups for the last qualification day (twelve group winners and three best runners up to the main draw):
Poule A:
Jose Juan Garcia, Hyung Bum Hwang, Semih Sayginer
Poule B:
Bong chul Kim, Jae-Guen Kim, Tayfun Tasdemir
Poule C:
Dinh Nai Ngo, Trung Hau Do Nguyen, Filippos Kasidokostas
Poule D:
Dion Nelin, Barry van Beers, Eddy Leppens
Poule E:
Nikos Polychronopoulos, Hyung Kon Kim, Robinson Morales
Poule F:
Adnan Yüksel, Jérémy Bury, Hyun Min Seo
Poule G:
Riad Nady, Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, Lütfi Cenet
Poule H:
Can Capak, Jin Pyo Hong, David Martinez
Poule I:
Minh Cam Ma, Birol Uymaz, Hideaki Kobayashi
Poule J:
Myung-Woo Cho, Choong-Bok Lee, Tonny Carlsen
Poule K:
Anh Vu Duong, Xuan Cuong Ma, Sang Woon Ko
Poule L:
Roland Forthomme, Javier Palazón, Jean Paul de Bruijn.
The revelation in the pre-rounds: Sang-Woon Ko
Choon-Bok Lee, the best in the group of death
Hideaki Kobayashi, among the players with the best matches of the day.