GURI - The second of three World championship organizations in three-cushion in Korea is starting on Thursday (September 3rd) in Guri. Last year, the men's world championship was held in Korea (Sung-Won Choi was the first Korean winner), this week the juniors under 22 play for gold and next year Therese Klompenhouwer defends the women's world title in Korea. The world championship for juniors (3-5 September) will be held at the same place, the Guri Gymnasium, where the World Cup is starting the day after the final. That is the reason for the schedule at the World championship from Thursday to Saturday. Sunday will be used to set up the arena and prepare for the World Cup.
The time of the opening ceremony at the World championship has been changed from 10.00 to 13.00 pm Korean time. The first round is at 14.00. The games will be broadcast live by Kozoom.
Defending champion at the World championship is Frenchman Adrien Tachoire, who won the final in Sluiskil in the final against young Korean Myungwoo Cho 35-25 in 28 innings. Tachoire was the first ever French world champion.
Tachoire finished 1.096 when he took the title, Myungwwo Cho 1.205, the Turk Berkay Karakurt 1.391, the second Korean Kim 1.192, the Portuguese Ferreira 1.142 and Japanese Mori 1.214.
17-year-old vice world champion Myungwoo Cho gained a year of experience in the World Cups and looks even more sharp than last year for his return at the Juniors championship. He has qualified for the World championship during the Korean selection matches with 1.647.
One of the other favorites is the current European champion Berkay KarakKurt. The Turk was third last year and won the continental title in spring this year with 1.250 average.
The group stage seems already very interesting because Berkay Karakurt is in the group with Muyngwoo Cho. Another strong group at the start with Manuel Lindao, the second Frenchman Matthieu Franck, Portuguese Joao Ferreira and Korean Jung Ju Shin.
The group format:
Group A:
Adrien Tachoire (France)
Mahmoud Ayman (Egypt)
Arda Gungor (Turkey)
Patrick Butora (Austria)
Group B:
Berkay Karakurt (Turkey)
Muyngwoo Cho (South Korea)
David Steven Mogollon (Colombia)
Geoffrey Dresselaerts (Belgium)
Group C:
Manuel Lindao (Ecuador)
Matthieu Franck (France)
Joao Ferreira (Portugal)
Jung Ju Shin (South Korea)
Group D:
Yusuke Mori (Japan)
Sarmiento Andreas Camilo (Colombia)
Jesus Rico (Spain)
Jun Tae Kim (South Korea).