PORTO - The first attack on the top positions in the Porto World Cup came from two Asians with victories over the world's top two players. Dick Jaspers and Marco Zanetti (1 and 2 in the world rankings) were beaten by Chang Hoon Seo and Phuong Vinh Bao, not even the best-known Korean and Vietnamese names in the World Cup circuit. The main draw with 32 was marked by a flashy start. Jaspers put in another catch-up but fell just short (40-37 in 26), Zanetti saw a bigger margin against Vietnamese Bao (40-25 in 15). The tournament featuring the 32 finalists (in eight groups of four) was marked over the long day by more sensational results.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, the world number three, was the next top European player to perish against a rather unknown Vietnamese. Thanh Luc Tran flashed to the finish line 40-15 in 13, an unprecedentedly generous victory against the Swede, who was also outplayed in his second match by Dane Jacob Sörensen and was already out of the tournament after the second session.
Eddy Merckx was knocked out of the World Cup by Hong Chiem Thai, another unknown phenomenon. But conversely, Peter Ceulemans, coming-man in the European field, started the marathon day with an excellent victory over Myung Woo Cho, the best of the young generation Koreans (40-18 in 13 innings).
The draw for the top 16 is as follows:
Jun Tae Kim-Jung Han Heo
Sameh Sidhom-Dick Jaspers
Thanh Luc Tran-Marco Zanetti
Jérémy Bury-Nikos Polychronopoulos
Chang Hoon Seo-Martin Horn
Phuong Vinh Bao-Hong Chiem Thai
Haeng Jik Kim-Peter Ceulemans
Tayfun Tasdemir-Quyet Chien Tran.
The most curious matches in the last evening sessions came from the group with Jérémy Bury and Peter Ceulemans. The Frenchman initially faltered through the match against Ceulemans with 5 times a 1 and 11 times a 0 after his 10th carom, but exploded towards the end with 8 and in his last two innings 10 and 9 for a final score of 40-28 in 24. Peter Ceulemans in turn played at a fantastic level against Tolgahan Kiraz with consecutive runs of 10 and 12, leading to a 40-30 in 17 win, taking the Belgian's match average over three games to 2,000.
The match day with the main field remaining eventually led to a great final including a top day for Thanh Luc Tran, Chang Hoon Seo, Quyet Chien Tran, Peter Ceulemans, Tayfun Tasdemir, Dick Jaspers, Jérémy Bury, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Jun Tae Kim, Jung Han Heo and the unexpected elimination among others of Torbjörn Blomdahl, Eddy Merckx, Myung Woo Cho, Roland Forthomme, Berkay Karakurt and Burak Hashas.
The overviews of the eight groups:
Group A:
The first sensation comes from Chang Hoon Seo, the much better starter than Dick Jaspers, who grabs the win (40-37 in 26) just in time after a counter attack by the Dutchman. Burak Hashas subdues South American Pedro Gonzalez (40-26 in 31). The young Turk is then the next victim of the unleashed Seo (40-37 in 26), placing the Korean after just two rounds. Jaspers recovers as usual against Gonzalez (40-15 in 12) and is yet to enter the ring for the match against Hashas. The winner of the Dutch/Turkish clash in the shadow of Seo will definitely advance to the best 16, the loser is eliminated. Jaspers demonstrates his high class against the junior world champion, who’s going through a dark tunnel with runs of 8 and 6 at the end. The Dutchman is relentless in 14 innings: 40-14. Still, with the maximum match points, Seo becomes the group winner (6-1,621-8) ahead of Dick Jaspers with 4-2,250-12.
Group B:
The new star of the Vietnamese, Vinh Phuong Bao starts his rise with a win against Marco Zanetti (40-25 in 15) and finishes just ahead of Jose Juan Garcia in his next game thanks to a final run of 4, which already gives Bao a free pass. Marco Zanetti, Jose Juan Garcia and Jose Miguel Soares (playing 40-40 against each other) battle for second place in the final round. The Italian goes on automatic pilot to a solid win against Garcia (40-30 in 24) and secures the next round. Vinh Phuong Bao suffers his only loss against Soares (40-38 in 25), but remains the group winner on average: 4-1.843 against Zanetti 4-1.721-9.
Group C:
Two quick wins give world champion Tayfun Tasdemir quick passage to the next round. The Turk wins against Gwendal Maréchal (40-33 in 22) and Martin Horn (40-30 in 18) and goes into the final session with 2,000 on average. Then, it goes between Horn and Maréchal for the second ticket. The German does not let the young French student surprise him and is the strong runner-up after Tasdemir. Tayfun finishes at 6-1,846-6, Martin Horn at 4-1,594-11.
Group D:
The result after two sessions is that Jun Tae Kim has already qualified and Roland Forthomme has already been eliminated without a chance. Merckx beats Forthomme 40-19 in 23, but then loses to Kim 40-32 in 22. The third contender in the field is Hong Chiem Thai, Merckx's opponent in the third round and eventual the dark horse for the two Belgians. Thai, who has a great final shot, beat both Forthomme (40-35 in 20) and Merckx in the final rounds (40-23 in 17). Jun Tae Kim finishes 6-1,967-10, Thai 4-1,733-10. Merckx has to go home with 1.532 (run 15), Forthomme with 1.576 (run 11).
Group E:
The starring role belongs to Jung Han Heo, who gloried after victories against Jacob Sörensen (40-24 in 31) and Thanh Luc Tran (40-29 in 16). By then, Torbjörn Blomdahl's verdict has already been felled by Tran and Sörensen with 40-15 in 13 and 40-24 in 25. For place two, it will be between Sörensen and Tran in the final session. The Vietnamese (TL, the other Tran) finishes stunningly with 40-11 in 15 and is even the highest in average of the whole field: 4 points, 2.477. Blomdahl only wins his last game against Heo, the Korean who comes second in the group.
Group F:
Nikos Polychronopoulos sets the tone for the foursome by first beating Ruben Legazpi (40-19 in 19) and then also Haeng Jik Kim with 40-31 in 22, with the Greek already putting himself out of reach of his rivals. For place two, Haeng Jik Kim and Ruben Legazpi battled it out, but Polychronopoulos' loss against Thomas Andersen (40-35 in 26) meant Haeng Jik Kim (winner against Legazpi with 40-24 in 22) still became group winner with 4-1,734 against Poly 4-1,716.
Group G:
Not without any luck, Quyet Chien Tran slipped through the finish against Sameh Sidhom, who could not cash in on a pair of chances, after which Tran did with his winning points (40-39 in 28). Thus, the Vietnamese is already sure of placement and Sidhom still has to battle Huberney Cataño, who, like Berkay Karakurt, is on one match point out of two games. Sidhom grabs the pool win against Cataño (40-33 in 24), Tran the second position despite losing against Karakurt.
Group H:
What a flawless start Peter Ceulemans has, just about wiping young Korean Myung Woo Cho off the table in his first game 40-18 in 13. The Belgian is an instant favorite, also has Jérémy Bury in his grip for a long time, but suddenly sees the Frenchman escape with a curious finish. The tension is back. Three players battle it out for two places in the final round. Ceulemans is superior against Kiraz, who fails to escape from the Belgian (40-30 in 17) despite a strong final shot. Bury and Cho fight a bitter battle. The little Korean plays out as Bury is still on 35 and needs to win for the group win. The Frenchman shows his fighter's mentality and puts the match in the balance (40-40 in 24), putting himself through and eliminating Cho.
Jérémy Bury, strong final shot against Myung Woo Cho with five in the equalizer
Tayfun Tasdemir, the world champion in a great form
Dick Jaspers, loss in his first match, moves on with high average