BOGOTA – The final days at the World Cup in Bogota, with 16 players in the knock-out rounds, feature a European tinted line-up. This trend in the World Cups began last year, after the strong rise of Koreans and Vietnamese declined somewhat and European topguns continue to dominate the world circuit. This weekend in Bogota, the European contingent includes three Turks, two Belgians, two Dutchmen, one Italian, and one German in the final field, of whom Marco Zanetti was the best of 32 finalists last Friday, his 64th birthday, ahead of Sameh Sidhom and Dick Jaspers. The South Americans are still shining with one player: Colombian Luis Martinez. For the Asians, two Koreans and two Vietnamese are still in action. The Egyptian Sameh Sidhom is the African who aims for a podium finish on Sunday.
Marco Zanetti's high average (6 match points, 2,448) and the top runs by Luis Martinez (21), Eddy Merckx (15), Frédéric Caudron and Birol Uymaz (14) made it a brilliant day at the first session of the main draw. Marco Zanetti was sublime in his match against Raymon Groot (40-4 in 11, 3,636), Dick Jaspers was masterful against Phuong Vinh Bao (40-21 in 11) and Luis Martinez was on fire for the Colombians in his match against Mikaël Devogelaere (40-8 in 11). Frédéric Caudron and Eddy Merckx excelled with 40 in 13. Only Jaspers, Zanetti and Sidhom reached the maximum 6 match points. The players eliminated from the top of the rankings are Quyet Chien Tran, Peter Ceulemans, and Phuong Vinh Bao.
The round with the best 16, today, Saturday:
12.00 PM Colombia (19.00 in Western Europe)
Zanetti-Tasdemir
Merckx- B. Karakurt
Martinez-Cho
Bury-Thai
2:30 PM in Colombia (9:30 PM in Western Europe)
Jaspers-Choi
Uymaz-TL Tran
Caudron-Horn
Hofman-Sidhom
The overview of the 8 groups of four on Friday
Group A:
Myung Woo Cho, the world number 1, starts with a slip-up against Sam van Etten; the young Dutchman wins 40-36 in 35 innings. That puts a certain tension on this group, in which Birol Uymaz is the best starter to William Villanueva (40-26 in 21 innings). In the later stages, Myung Woo Cho recovers with two wins over Uymaz and Van Etten. The Turkish comeback man remains the highest in average and wins the group ahead of Cho. Villanueva and Van Etten are out of the tournament.
The standings in Group A:
1 Birol Uymaz 4-1.885-14
2 Myung Woo Cho 4-1.611-10
3 William Villanueva 2-1.397-8
4 Sam van Etten 2-1.294-6
Group B:
Dick Jaspers starts his mission against Huberney Cataño with a modest win; Hong Chiem Thai is the other winner against Phuong Vinh Bao. The former world champion cannot match the level of the final qualifiers and loses his three matches. Dick Jaspers also wins the match for the top spot against Hong Chiem Thai 40-25 in 20 innings and delivers a real knockout to Bao 40-21 in 11. Two feared opponents, Cataño and Bao, do not make it to the knockouts. Standings in Group B:
1 Dick Jaspers 6-1.764-9
2 Hong Chiem Thai 4-1.567-9
3 Huberney Cataño 2-1.177-8
4 Phuong Vinh Bao 0-1.368-8
Group C:
The start of Eddy Merckx, who gave a magnificent demonstration in a Colombian billiards room just before the World Cup, looked far from a Merckx match. The Belgian was defeated by Ja In Kang 40-19 in 28 innings. Glenn Hofman was the better against a Colombian of his generation: Jose Juan Garcia was defeated 40-35 in 29 innings. Merckx made an inimitable comeback after his poor start with victories against Garcia in 17 innings and Hofman in 13. That brought the Belgian from the top of the rankings to the top of his group ahead of Glenn Hofman. The Dutchman secured qualification against Garcia and Kang.
Standings in Group C:
1 Eddy Merckx 4-1.706-15
2 Glenn Hofman 4-1.492-8
3 Jose Juan Garcia 2-1.480-11
4 Ja In Kang 2-1.166-6
Group D:
It was Marco Zanetti's day of glory in this group with a flawless race. The Italian's first win was the most impressive: 40-4 in 11 against Raymon Groot. Zanetti's top form was further evident in the 40 in 16 against Wan Young Choi and the 40 in 22 against Peter Ceulemans. That last match brought the most tension. Peter Ceulemans said farewell to the tournament with a 40-39 loss against the Italian master. The Belgian missed his last point in the 22nd inning and saw Zanetti finish with 4. Wan Young Choi went along with Zanetti to the next round.
Standings in Group D:
1 Marco Zanetti 6-2.448-13
2 Wan Young Choi 4-1.558-9
3 Raymon Groot 2-1.166-5
4 Peter Ceulemans 0-1.289-9
Group E:
Group winner Jérémy Bury finished with 5 match points ahead of Tayfun Tasdemir with 4. Those two players prevented Roland Forthomme from reaching the last 16 after a more or less unfortunate performance for the Belgian. Forthomme had a substantial lead over Bury (37-28), the Frenchman finished with 10 and 2, only then Forthomme managed to level the score with 1 after a poor finish. In his match for qualification, Forthomme missed his final point three times, after which Tasdemir was able to finish with 1 following three misses: 40-39 in 25.
Standings in Group E:
1 Jérémy Bury 5-1.518-10
2 Tayfun Tasdemir 4-1.459-9
3 Roland Forthomme 3-1.416-6
4 Alejandro Piza 0-1.30-8
Group F:
The Vietnamese clash between two Tran’s set the tone. Thanh Luc Tran, the previous winner in Bogota, defeated Quyet Chien Tran 40-24 in 24 innings. Luis Martinez turned out to be the star of this group with his match against Mikaël Devogelaere. The Colombian started with 3 and made a fantastic 21 in the second inning. That led him to a 40-8 victory in 11 innings and ultimately the group win. Thanks to his first victory, Thanh Luc Tran stayed just ahead of Quyet Chien Tran and advanced to the final phase.
Standings in Group F:
1 Luis Martinez 4-1.946-21
2 Thanh Luc Tran 4-1.630-10
3 Quyet Chien Tran 4-1.575-9
4 Mikaël Devogelaere 0-1.122-7
Group G:
Two Karakurts opened the proceedings; Berkay defeated his older brother Omer 40-30 in 21 innings. Sameh Sidhom emerged as the leader in this group and won his three matches with an overall score 1.846. Berkay Karakurt took second place; Sergio Jimenez and Omer Karakurt are out of the tournament.
Standings in Group G:
1 Sameh Sidhom 6-1.846-9
2 Berkay Karakurt 4-1.962-10
3 Sergio Jimenez 2-1.661-11
4 Omer Karakurt 0-1.500-8
Group H:
The most interesting and decisive match was between Martin Horn and Frédéric Caudron. The Belgian had a better start with 14-4 and 20-11, but after a middle section with many misses, Horn came back with 8 and three times 4 in the final part. The last 4, trailing 39-36, were enough for the match win: 40-39 in 25. Caudron became the group winner because Horn lost to Rahmet in his last match. Javier Vera was the brave Mexican who had to leave the court.
Standings in Group H:
1 Frédéric Caudron 4-1,830-14
2 Martin Horn 4-1,661-10
3 Javier Vera 2-1.410-11
4 Muammer Rahmet 2-1,298-13.
