BLOIS - Tears of joy wiped away the emotions of two winners at the Women's World championship three cushion. Two very young Korean girls, aged 19 and 20, came to the World’s in Blois, France, on a golden mission. Two European rivals ended the illusion on the second last day at the championships. Jeong Hyeon Park (20) and Ha Eun Kim (19) may return home, surely heading for a great future. Denmark's Charlotte Sörensen and the Netherlands' Karina Jetten pointed out a harsh reality to the two huge talents.
Things could be even worse: for 44-year-old Peruvian Jackeline Perez, the day got an improbably sad ending. The semi-finals were laughing at the Pan American champion, but she missed 10 match balls to reach the World podium for the first time, eventually bowing to 20-year-old Vietnamese Nguyên Hoàng Yên Nhi: 30-29.
The ladies remaining for the podium at the World championship are Therese Klompenhouwer (Yuko Nishimoto), Charlotte Sörensen, Nguyên Hoàng Yên Nhi and Karina Jetten (Estrela Cardoso). That only Asian will compete with three Europeans tomorrow, Thursday. The Koreans, Japanese and South Americans missed out on the much-coveted World podium. The Dutch clash between Klompenhouwer and Jetten is one semi-final on Thursday (13.00), the other is between Charlotte Sörensen and Vietnamese Nguyen (11.00).
The first sensational elimination in the sessions with the best eight was that of Jeong Hyeon Park, the 20-year-old starlet of the first day of play. The clash with the cool Charlotte Sörensen, a rising top player in Europe, got a painful ending after the 24-24 could still went two ways. Showing her class and nerves of steel, the Danish won 30-25 in 36 and for a moment could not hold back her tears.
In that round, Jackeline Perez's tragedy also took place. With a 29-20 lead, there seemed no more trouble for the Peruvian. However, she missed ten times in a row and was finally led to the slaughter by a Vietnamese, upcoming champion: 30-29.
The final gala of the day brought two Dutchmen, a Japanese and a Spanish into the arena. Therese Klompenhouwer attacked with a fast start against Nishimoto, ran to a 15-9 at the break and kept an iron grip on the match. The queen of women's three cushion, after a slow finish in that match (even 25-24), finished it of at 30-24 in 34 and has two more rivals ahead of her to capture a sixth world title.
The Orange success with two ladies among the best four then depended on Karina Jetten. The Dutch lady launched her attack towards the end and had the much better finish: 30-21 in 45 innings.
The two Dutch ladies are looking forward to the final day. Therese Klompenhouwer: ’’,We show the world that we are still very strong with Europe and especially with the Netherlands. This has not happened before that we were with two Dutch girls in the semi-finals. We can be proud of that. I also want to say something about the Korean girls who are now out. They are 19 and 20, still very, very young, and there is already so much pressure. They had the world title, were the number 1 in the world and now there was expected a lot from the outside world. You can see now that it is not so easy to win the world title under so much stress.‘’
Report eighth finals
South American Jackeline Perez excelled in average in the first knockouts of the World championship. With 16, it went to eight winners who would play the quarter-finals later in the day. Jackeline Perez outclassed the top favorites with a superb game against Kien Tuong Phung of Vietnam, whom she beat 30-22 in 26 innings (average 1.154).
The Peruvian even outclassed Therese Klompenhouwer (1.000 against Magali Declunder), Jeong Hyeon Park and Karina Jetten, the second Dutch player to put up an admirable fight against 19-year-old Korean Ha Eun Kim, winning 30-27 thanks to a final run of 6.
That match eliminated the first of two Korean contenders. Karina Jetten, who recently won a Grand Prix with the best Europeans in the final against Therese Klompenhouwer, showed growing confidence and was overjoyed with her victory. ‘’I knew there was one more chance coming up and I took it with the final run,‘’ she said of her winning final set after the match.
Therese Klompenhouwer was ahead the whole match against Magali Declunder and won riotously 30-13 in 30 innings. Jeong Hyeon Park was no shadow of the girl she was on the opening day, but parried the opposition of Daniëlle le Bruyn, who still came close at the end of the match with a run of 8: 30-23.
Estela Cardoso went on to win for Spain against Claudia Lalinde, the last of four Colombians at the Worlds (30-24 in 57). Stefi Träm showed character and fighting spirit with a strong finish against Yuko Nishimoto, but was eventually trounced 30-28 in 60.
The only Vietnamese left, Nhi Hoanguyen Nguyen, was the better of Gülsen Degener, who had the match halted for a while as she was not feeling well. The Vietnamese won 30-20 in 37. Claudia Sörensen joined the last eight by winning against Helga Mitterböck 30-18 in 48.
The Vietnamese lady, lucky with her victory
Charlotte Sörensen shows happy with her win over Park
Vietnamese Nguyen after her winning point against Jackeline Perez, who missed 10 matchballs
Korean Jeong Hyeon Kim, out in the quarters by Charlotte Sörensen