SEOUL – The world’s billiard president Farouk Barki made up the balance this early Saturday morning (evening in South Korea) in a fantastic World Cup in Seoul so far, where the finals are played this Sunday. The Egyptian praeses referred to Jun Tae Kim's top run of 28, equaling the world record, Myung Woo Cho's 21, the very high-level matches with the Koreans, Europeans, Vietnamese and other world stars. ‘’We are near to the end of the best World Cup cycle ever played,‘’ assured Mister Barki, who is looking forward to this year's final World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh. ‘’We will make the balance after that last tournament, but already it’s almost certain, that the averages in the main tournaments of the World Cup this year are higher than ever.‘’
That high level goes to a climax on Sunday with the four players remaining for the finals. Myung Woo Cho, Dick Jaspers, Jun Tae Kim and Tayfun Tasdemir paved the way on Saturday for a wonderful final day, in which once again the clash between Europeans and Asians will determine the battle for gold. Korean world champion Myung Woo Cho, with his laugh of happiness and bowing deeply to the home crowd, was the first to announce himself as a final player for the last day this Sunday. He beat the previous world champion, Vietnamese Phuong Vinh Bao, in a just over one hour match 50-36 in 18/17 (20-14 in 10, 42-28 in 15, runs 11 and 5). The Korean top favorite was very quick after his finish to go for the interview with the Korean television channel moments later. Dick Jaspers, the Number 1 player ranking, followed suit, but needed more time to shake off Martin Horn, an ever-feared rival, 50-35 in 27 innings (25-20 in 10, 38-28 in 20, runs 8 and 6).
That first semi-final between Dick Jaspers, the world number one, and Myung Woo Cho, the world champion, is on the schedule for early European viewers Sunday morning at 5am (1pm in Korea). The other semi final between Tayfun Tasdemir and Jun Tae Kim follows at 7.30am in Europe. The final will be played at 11.00.
The World Cup saw more high averages and highlight scores on Saturday on the penultimate day, like Dick Jaspers' 2.941 against Haeng Jik Kim, Martin Horn's 2.380 against Sameh Sidhom, Quyet Chien Tran's 2.272 against Tolgahan Kiraz and Jun Tae Kim's 2.272 against Van Ly Dao in the round with the best 16. That led to the quarter-finals with four Europeans, two Koreans and two Vietnamese.
Dick Jaspers and Myung Woo Cho got into the semi-finals in their matches against Martin Horn and Phuong Vinh Bao. Jaspers scored an 8, a 6 and five times a 4 to take a lead vs Horn. Myung Woo Cho had only three zeros in his match over 18 innings.
Jun Tae Kim closed the Korean day with a win over Quyet Chien Tran, the previous World Cup winner in Veghel. The Korean high run player took a lead just before the break with 11 (34-15), Tran's counter went to 41-31, but Kim finished 50-33 in 25 innings.
Tayfun Tasdemir sprinted away from Eddy Merckx before the break, which he entered 27-13. The Turk increased the score to 39-19 and won 50-22 in 33.
Semi-finals
Jaspers-Cho
JT Kim-Tasdemir
Myung Woo Cho in his match with Phuong Vinh Bao, the recent world champion facing the former champion
Dick Jaspers, the better of Martin Horn, his eternal rival
Martin Horn, farewell to a great World Cup
Phuong Vinh Bao, farewell with a big smile
Myung Woo Cho, ready for next clash
Jun Tae Kim
Eddy Merckx
Quyet Chien Tran
Tayfun Tasdemir
Myung Woo Cho in his match with Phuong Vinh Bao, the recent world champion facing the former champion
Dick Jaspers, the better of Martin Horn, his eternal rival
Martin Horn, farewell to a great World Cup
Phuong Vinh Bao, farewell with a big smile
Myung Woo Cho, ready for next clash
Jun Tae Kim
Eddy Merckx
Quyet Chien Tran
Tayfun Tasdemir