BORDEAUX - Late in the evening, shame gave way to happiness. Many times American and Pan-American champion Pedro Piedrabuena could have crawled under the billiard table after his first match at the World championship and his poor start against Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran. The closing of the match, a winning run of eight when he was 38-32 behind, brought a smile to his otherwise so deadpan face.
Pedro still has hopes of surviving in Bordeaux where many qualifications are still undecided. The four sessions of today will decide who will be in the last sixteen, the knock-out stage. Sung-Won Choi, the world champion can only hope for a small miracle.
Most of the players from the top 12 have better chances, but Roland Forthomme will have to play a lot better than he did yesterday in his fortunate win (44 innings) over Egyptian champion Nady.
Two players, Dani Sánchez and Eddy Leppens, have averages over 2.000, the rest of the field is below that line. There were three runs over 10 in the first 32 matches, which is extremely low for a World championship: Dani Sánchez and Nikos Polychronopoulos made 12, Andrès Lizarazo 11 and Adnan Yüksel 10.
Dani Sánchez and Eddy Leppens lead the average list with 2.222, followed by Frédéric Caudron (2.000), Marco Zanetti and Tayfun Tasdemir (1.904), Dick Jaspers (1.818), Eddy Merckx (1.666), Anh Vu Duong (1.666), Quyet Chien Tran (1.652), Miguel Torres en Nikos Polychronopoulos (1.538), Michael Nilsson (1.530), Jae Ho Cho en Erick Tellez (1.481), Sung Won Choi (1.470), Pedro Piedrabuena (1.460) and Dong Koong Kang (1.428).
The four Belgians, Frédéric Caudron, Eddy Merckx, Eddy Leppens and Roland Forthomme are still in the race for the qualification.
The matches for today (Thursday) and the positions in the flights:
Group A: Jae Guen Kim-Tatsuo Arai
Standing after two days:
1 Jae Guen Kim 1-2-1.333-6
2 Sung Won Choi 2-2-1.470-9
3 Tatsuo Arai 1-0-0.714-3
Group B: Torbjörn Blomdahl-Ihab El Messery
Ranking:
1 Ihab El Messery 1-2-1.250-5
2 Torbjörn Blomdahl 1-2-1.250-5
3 Jean Reverchon 2-0-0.875-5
Group C: Eddy Merckx-Luis Aveiga
Ranking:
1 Eddy Merckx 1-2-1.666-7
2 Luis Aveiga 1-2-1.250-5
3 Semih Sayginer 2-0-1.250-5
Group D: Dick Jaspers-Ryuuji Umeda
Ranking:
1 Dick Jaspers 1-2-1.818-7
2 Ryuuji Umeda 1-1-1.081-5
3 Hyung Kon Kim 2-1-1.169-6
Group E: Tayfun Tasdemir-Arnim Kahofer
Ranking:
1 Tayfun Tasdemir 1-2-1.904-8
2 Arnim Kahofer 1-2-1.333-9
3 Cetin Behzat 2-0-0.784-5
Group F: Dani Sánchez-Christian Rudolph
Ranking:
1 Dani Sánchez 1-2-2.222-12
2 Chritian Rudolph 1-2-1.212-5
3 Jan Áles 2-0-0.509-4
Group G: Marco Zanetti-Xuan Cuong Ma
Ranking:
1 Marco Zanetti 1-2-1.904-7
2 Xuan Cuong Ma 1-2-1.081-5
3 Jean van Erp 2-0-0.768-5
Group H: Frédéric Caudron-Huberney Catano
Ranking:
1 Frédéric Caduron 1-2-2.000-5
2 Huberney Catano 1-2-1.176-9
3 Christakis Christoforou 2-0-0.833-6
Group I: Jae Ho Cho-Nikos Polychronopoulos
Ranking:
1 Nikos Polychronopoulos 1-2-1.538-12
2 Jae Ho Cho 1-2-1.481-6
3 Andrès Lizarazo 2-0-1.207-11
Group J: Hyung Bum Hwang-Ruben Legazpi
Ranking:
1 Ruben Legazpi 1-2-1.379-8
2 Hyung Bum Hwang 1-2-1.142-4
3 Juan Pablos Sisterna 2-0-0.718-6
Group K: Jung Han Heo-Anh Vu Duong
Ranking:
1 Anh Vu Duong 1-2-1.666-7
2 Michael Nilsson 2-2-1.530-6
3 Jung Han Heo 1-0-1.080-4
Group L: Roland Forthomme-Miguel Torres
Ranking:
1 Miguel Torres 1-2-1.538-6
2 Roland Forthomme 1-2-0.909-8
3 Riad Nady 2-0-0.714-5
Group M: Eddy Leppens-Sameh Sidhom
Ranking:
1 Eddy Leppens 1-2-2.222-9
2 Sameh Sidhom 1-2-0.727-4
3 Cayo Bardales 2-0-0.657-5
Group N: Jean Paul de Bruijn-Adnan Yüksel
Ranking:
1 Adnan Yüksel 1-2-1.081-10
2 Dion Nelin 2-2-1.344-6
3 Jean Paul de Bruijn 1-0-1.000-5
Group O: Jérémy Bury-Dong Koong Kang
Ranking:
1 Dong Koong Kang 1-2-1.428-7
2 Jérémy Bury 1-2-1.176-9
3 Christopher Tevez 2-0-0.887-7
Group P: Quyet Chien Tran-Erick Tellez
Ranking:
1 Erick Tellez 1-2-1.481-9
2 Pedro Piedrabuena 2-2-1.460-9
3 Quyet Chien Tran 1-0-1.652-7.
The French referees for the world's tournament
Dion Nelin, in his winning match against Jean Paul de Bruijn, has still a chance to reach the main tournament.