ANTALYA - Will Gülsen Degener, for years the leading lady in Turkish billiard, still be able to load up for the ladies World championship at the end of the year in Tokyo? The crowd in the World Cup arena could see that it will not be easy: she left the tournament with two bad matches: one of 0.560 average, the other even 0.483. The elimination of the stylish Turkish lady wasn't surprising, because there was no form and no confidence.
Maybe there will be better times again. In the days of the European championships in Lille she said last year: ,,I can't motivate myself, because we're always playing in Europe. I don't believe we will get another World championship, so it's hard for me to find the inspiration for practicing.''
Ryuuji Umeda, the Japanese top player, however has given ladies billiards new impulses with the announcement that Japan (Tokyo) will organize the World championship in Tokyo in December of this year. Therese Klompenhouwer can be seen as the absolute favorite there, but nobody can say on beforehand how strong Orie Hida, the Japanese who still is the holder of the world title, will be in her own country. She expects to shine one more time in her carreer.
Gülsen Degener couldn't manage to show the audience in her own country if she's still one of the top players in ladies billiard. She needs a lot of practice, that's for sure, to be a competitor for Hida and Klompenhouwer.
The Portuguese veteran Jorge Bastos, who has performed in many World Cups and other international tournaments, was one of the other anonimous players in the field of 72 participants today. He lost twice in his group, in which Hamit Akkaya took the win with exactly one average.
Two group winners were very impressive today. Birol Uymaz finished with two victories and averaged 1.521 in group D, Yilmaz Özcan played even 1.566 in Group H. The 14-year-old Korean Myung Wong Cho shone with almost one average and two easy victories in the weak group O.