SHARM EL SHEIKH - The star of Dick Jaspers, five-time world three cushion champion, still shines brightly at the age of 58, but in Dutch billiards, fans are often philosophising about a successor for later. The same in Turkish billiards for current, big champions like Tayfun Tasdemir and Semih Sayginer. Two of the Dutch talents played themselves into the main draw at the World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh on Wednesday. Glenn Hofman (33) and Sam van Etten (27) qualified for the best 32 and once again highlighted their progression. Burak Hashas is seen as such a successor to the best Turks for a few years now with his titles in the juniors. The up-and-coming champion, like Berkay Karakurt still in the shadow of Tayfun Tasdemir and Semih Sayginer, made it to the main draw on Wednesday against an American and a Jordanian and advanced to the best 32 along with six other Turks.
At 17 of age, the young Turk Hashas, under the wings of ladies billiards star Gülsen Degener, is a natural, as Myung Woo Cho is and was for the Koreans. The Dutch youngsters, Glenn Hofman and Sam van Etten, are talents who have matured a bit more, just as Gwendal Maréchal, at 26, for the French. He slipped into the top 32 on Wednesday in a thriller against Korean Hyung Kon Kim (40-39).
The Vietnamese have recently added to that line-up of talents Phuong Vinh Bao, the so sensational world champion, who is only 28. Three years younger, Hong Chiem Thai (25), also shone in his last World Cups. He was one of the top three runners-up this Wednesday with 3 match points and 1.311 going into this year's final main tournament.
Glenn Hofman was the best in average of the group winners and steps into the final rounds with a lot of ambition. Nice detail: the Dutchman, who has decided to play all World Cups again from now on, survived his first round as a substitute for Spaniard Mas. Hofman's follow-up was impressive, including runs of 14 and 13, but especially his victory over Nikos Polychronopoulos (40-26 in 22).
Sam van Etten, the other Dutch promise, with minimal experience in the final stage of a World Cup, came through qualification with wins over Lukas Stamm (40-31 in 32) and Mashhour Abu Tayeh (40-22 in 33). Omer Karakurt committed fratricide against Berkay in the last match of his group. The elder of the two brothers won 40-37 in 22, but Berkay had one of the highest averages (1.925) and qualified as runner-up for the top 32.
Roland Forthomme and Robinson Morales fought a nice battle with the Belgian as the winner: 40-38 in 22, making Forthomme one of two Belgians to join Eddy Merckx on Thursday. Peter Ceulemans won his matches against Ruben Legazpi (40-37 in 35) and Yavuz Gungordu (40-30 in 22). The most surprising Turk, Thursday in the main draw with 8 Turks, is Muammer Rahmet, coming from the early preliminaries, who could now clear the final hurdle to the best 32 with 3 match points and 1,600.
Roland Forthomme outplayed Robinson Morales and is one of the three Belgians in the main draw
Omer Karakurt beat his brother and is together with Berkay one of the 8 Turks in the main
Peter Ceulemans in the main with Merckx and Forthomme for Belgium
The group winners on Wednesday in the last qualification:
- Glenn Hofman 4-2.051-13
- Roland Forthomme 4-1.739-9
- Omer Karakurt 4-1.600-9
- Mehmet Goren 4-1.600-9
- Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1.568-7
- Peter Ceulemans 4-1.403-9
- Gwendal Maréchal 4-1.379-8
- Burak Hashas 4-1.355-6
- Sam van Etten 4-1.230-9
- Muammer Rahmet 3-1.600-6
- Chang Hoon Seo 3-1.142-8
- Thanh Luc Tran 2-1.704-7
Runners-up:
Hong Chiem Thai 3-1.311-7
Berkay Karakurt 2-1.925-9
Ahmet Alp 2-1.717-5
The groups in the main draw on Thursday (8 groups of 4, best 2 qualify for the knock-outs with best 16):
Poule A: Marco Zanetti, Ahmet Alp, Roland Forthomme, Daniel Morales
Poule B: Myung Woo Cho, Berkay Karakurt, Glenn Hofman, Riad Nady
Poule C: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Hong Chiem Thai, Martin Horn, Mahmoud Ayman
Poule D: Dick Jaspers, Thanh Luc Tran, Jung Han Heo, Omer Karakurt
Poule E: Quyet Chien Tran, Mehmet Goren, Jun Tae Kim, Chang Hoon Seo
Poule F: Sameh Sidhom, Jérémy Bury, Tolgahan Kiraz, Muammer Rahmet
Poule G: Eddy Merckx, Phuong Vinh Bao, Sam van Etten, Peter Ceulemans
Poule H: Haeng Jik Kim, Gwendal Maréchal, Tayfun Tasdemir, Burak Hashas