VALENCIA - What are the chances for 22-year-old Korean mega talent Myung-Woo Cho to win two world titles in three cushion this year? Two titles, you say? Yes, two gold medals because the young Cho will play for the junior title for the last time in the next days in Valencia. He is the title holder and the huge contender for his last junior victory. And later this year, he will meet the real worlds top players in Denmark where Cho competes against the big stars of three cushion for the most coveted world title. Today, on the opening day with the juniors, he was miles away from the others with 2,000 on average over two games. The competition, as expected, remained far behind on average on the first day.
Myung-Woo Cho, the winner of one of the most prestigious tournaments a few weeks ago, the LGU Cup, made his entrance in Valencia with a demonstration of his high class. He won his first match against Egyptian Kyrollos Gerges (25-13 in 15 and then played a superior match against Belgian Nick Rosier 25-4 in 10 (two runs of seven, four misses in the final phase and finally out with 3).
Who could launch themselves as serious competitors for the towering favorite on this first day?
Hwa Woo Cho, another Korean, achieved just one average (1,041) in his two wins and is one of his challengers. Frenchman Maxime Panaia was not in Cho's shadow and needed a one-run in the equalizer against Colombian Santiago Soto to qualify as number two in his group. Three players with just under one average were Junseo Ko with 0.942, Percy Martinez with 0.925 and Alptekin Canoscan with 0.905.
Percy Martinez, a surprisingly strong player from Nicaragua, opened strongly with 25 in 19 (1,315) against Hannuri Kim from Korea in the group in which the Turk Akkoca did not show up and which was decided by two players. Martinez won the second game 25-21 in 35 and played 0,925 over two games. Shouta Funaki was the best in a group in which the three players were very closely. The Japanese was also the best in average with four match points: 0,735 ahead of Lukas Mortensen with 0,721 and Spaniard Adria Garcia with 0,707.
The third Korean in the schedule, Junseo Ko, started with a win over Italian Alessio D'Agata (25-20 in 22) and will definitely take part in the battle for the podium places. D'Agato beat Ayman on one carom (25-24 in 34) and is the second to join the next round. Turkish Alptekin Canoscan is a contender for the final rounds. He opened 25-13 in 22 against Spaniard Mario Mercador and closed with a loss against Kogelbauer 25-23 in 31. Austrian Nikolaus Kogelbauer remained unbeaten in that group with two wins in 31 innings and 0.806.
The matches for the knockout, on Friday with the best sixteen of the tournament;
11.00: Myung-Woo Cho-Hannuri Kim, Ivan Mayor-Alptekin Canozkan, Nikolaus Kogelbauer-Cristian Montoya, Percy Martinez-Nick Rosier
13.00: Junseo Ko-Luis Carrasco, Shouta Funaki-Lukas Mortensen, Nathan Duriez-Alessio D'Agatha, Hwa Woo Cho-Maxime Panaia.
The seven players who were eliminated after this pre-rounds are:
Kyrollos Gerges (Egypt), Santiag Soto (Colombia), Adria Garcia (Spain), Mario Mercader (Spain), Mahmoud Ayman (Egypt), Tom Slikker (the Netherlands) and Milan Ettel (Czech Republic).
The field of players at the Junior World championship in Valencia with the organizers
Korean players show respect for the competion at the tables
Austrian Nikolaus Kogelbauer, unbeaten in the pre-rounds
Hwa Woo Cho, the second player over one average
Maxime Panaia escaped in the equalizer
Turkish player Canoscan, second in his group behind Kogelbauer
Belgian Nick Rosier, to the knock-outs in the group with Myung-Woo Cho
Two Korean ladies, who played the women's World championship, supporting the juniors: Kim and Yong
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Dutchman Paul Brekelmans, a spy in the arena to registrate the details: the Dutch federation is the organizer of the three next World championships for ladies and juniors