HO CHI MINH - Where are things going for the European sub-top players in the World Cup events played every year in South Korea and in Vietnam? The Dutch have sent home in the World Cup pre rounds in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, the Belgians have quietly dropped out, no more French and no more Germans were in the final qualifiers, only room left for a stray but super strong Spaniard, a Colombian born Spaniard, a trio of Turks and one Dane. The Asians are overwhelming the Europeans en masse, the predicted takeover of power is almost inevitable, even they were with six of the 12 final group winners to advance to the main draw. So like the Turks, Vietnam and Korea had three men for the main tournament. Added to that were the three best runners-up: Bong Joo Hwang (Korea), Dong Hoon Kim (Korea) and Quang Hai Dinh (Vietnam).
The nine Dutchmen were knocked off without even being able to survive one round. Roland Forthomme played against a not even that famous Vietnamese, Trung Hau Do Nguyen, this Thursday, and was 36-2 behind after a sensational start to the match. Peter Ceulemans was eliminated by a Turkish guy (Tolgahan Kiraz) and Jeffrey Jorissen by both Ceulemans and Kiraz. Murat Naci Coklu, as we know a future PBA player, met the same fate: played out of the tournament in his decisive match by Korean Dong Ryong Kim 40-33 in 32 innings. Berkay Karakurt, the coming-man in Europe, just missed out on qualifying for the main draw. The Turk was knocked down 40-37 by Roland Forthomme in the final stage of his match, but before that he had won a nice match against Nguyen. Karakurt was the fourth runner-up to miss out.
The preliminary stage, with Vietnamese and Korean supremacy, was already a bad omen. Younhyun You (who do you say?) played 1,818 in the pre-pre-qualifiers, Duc Minh Tran and Van Ly Dao 1,714 in the next session and Sung Il Jeong 2,000 in the penultimate qualifier. Only Spaniard Jose Maria Mas, the European standout, could top that with his 2,068.
The day's scores were even more crazy:
X Sixteen of 16 group winners on the first day were Koreans or Vietnamese, the first 27 in the rankings were Asians.
X Fourteen of the 16 group winners on the second day were Asians (one Dutchman, one Italian).
X Twelve of the 16 group winners on the third day were Asians (only Jose Maria Mas was the jammer).
When this party was over, it finally went into the final qualifying day with 36 players on Thursday, of whom 9 Vietnamese, 8 Koreans, 2 Japanese, 1 African and 5 Turks were the most feared opponents. The other European countries were represented by 3 Spaniards, 2 Danes, 2 Austrians, 2 Belgians 1 Swede and 1 Dutchman.
The European highlights came from Michael Nilsson, who in his match against Ji Hun Ahn made a run of 15 in the 15th inning, but still lost 40-35 in 20 innings. Dion Nelin faced Riuuji Umeda, the 54-year-old 2007 world champion. The Dane needed to win, saw the cunning Japanese fight back with a run of 7 in the closing stages, but Nelin won the match 40-37 in 33, making him the group winner. Phuong Vinh Bao was the best finisher with a draw against Hwang. He finished group winner, Hwang could join him to the main draw.
Jose Maria Mas was again the best day winner with 4 match points and 1,739 in his group ahead of a dangerous Vietnamese, TTT Nguyen. Two Turks, Tolgahan Kiraz and Lütfi Cenet, finished in the top five, Dion Nelin, Robinson Morales and Omer Karakurt were numbers 6, 7 and 8 in the day's standings.
The ranking on Thursday:
Jose Maria Mas 4-1,739-8
Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1,632-11
Hang Chiem Thai 4-1,509-7
Dong Ryong Kim 4-1,454-9
Lütfi Cenet 4-1,355-13
Dion Nelin 4-1,311-9
Robinson Morales 4-1,159-12
Omer Karakurt 3-1,666-12
Phuong Vinh Bao 3-1,600
Ji Hun Ahn 2-1,777-10
Trung Hau Do Nguyen 2-1,710-12
Myeong Jong Cha 2-1,666-6
The draw for the first day of the main tournament with 32 players in eight groups of four (best two per group to the knockouts with 16):
Group A: Dick Jaspers, Quang Hai Dinh, Tolgahan Kiraz, Mashhour Abu Tayeh
Group B: Tayfun Tasdemir, Jose Maria Mas, Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, Dong Hoon Kim
Group C: Marco Zanetti, Thanh Luc Tran, Jun Tae Kim, Bong Joo Hwang
Group D: Eddy Merckx, Martin Horn, Hong Chiem Thai, Myeong Jong Cha
Group E: Haeng Jik Kim, Trung Hau Do Nguyen, Jung Han Heo, Dong Ryong Kim
Group F: Sameh Sidhom, Ji Hun Ahn, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Lütfi Cenet
Group G: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Quyet Chien Tran, Phuong Vinh Bao, Dion Nelin
Group H: Myung Woo Cho, Omer Karakurt, Jérémy Bury, Robinson Morales
Ryuuji Umeda, the world champion in 2007
Omer Karakurt, one of the Turkish group winners
Tran Thanh Tu Nguyen from Vietnam
Van Ly Dao
Phuong Vin Bao
Jacob Haack Sörensen