WONJU - The final day in the preliminary rounds for the team-challenge at the World 3-cushion Grand Prix in South Korea starts tomorrow with three teams reaching the maximum score of 4 match points. Jun Tae Kim, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Nikos Polychronopoulos lead the rankings with their teams in Group A, Group B and Group C. The top two teams from the three groups and top two numbers three advance to the eight-team quarterfinals. Nikos Polychronopoulos was the best individual player on the second day with a match against Sidhom that he won 44-17 in 11, 4,000 on average for the Greek. Ruben Legazpi played a match with 3.833 on average. Jun Tae Kim's team leads in Group A with 1.387 on average ahead of Team Merckx with 2 points and 1.512, Team Zanetti with 2 points and 1.282 and Team Jaspers with 0 points and 0.929. Nikos Polychronopoulos leads in Group B with his team with 4 points and 1.558 ahead of Team Sidhom with 2 points and 1.380, Team Sánchez with 2 points and 1.321 and Team Tran with 0 points and 1.191. Team Blomdahl leads in Group C with 4 points and 1,578 ahead of Team Tasdemir with 2 points and 1,403, Team Haeng Jik Kim, 2 points and 1,333 and Team Heo with 0 points and 1,200.
The teams Merckx and Jaspers met on Friday on the second day. The Belgian and Dutch leaders opened the match with a one-man show by Eddy Merckx. The Belgian was a way stronger than Jaspers and won 40-11 in 14 innings. That meant for Merckx 2.857 on average, for Jaspers 0.846. Merckx shone with a run of 15, the highest so far. For Merckx's team, Dion Nelin also won in an excellent match against Murat Naci Coklu 43-21 in 17/16 innings, 2.529 average for Nelin.
Jun Tae Kim's team triumphed in the match against Team Zanetti 120-80 in 72 innings. Jun Tae Kim defeated Marco Zanetti 28-20 in 11. Most notable match was between youngsters Burak Hashas and Sam van Etten. The 16-year-old Turk won the mutual match 32-16 in 17/16 innings: 2,000 average for Hashas. For Jun Tae Kim's team, Therese Klompenhouwer was the winner in her match against Güzin Mujde Karakasli 30-12 in 23 innings: 1.304 for Klompenhouwer.
Jun Tae Kim's team consists of Jun Tae Kim, JJ Garcia, Burak Hashas and Therese Klompenhouwer.
In Group B, Dani Sánchez won his match over Quyet Chien Tran 43-19 in 17 innings (2.529) and young Italian Alessio D'Agata won against Japanese Miyashita 31-25 in 17 (1.823). The Sánchez team defeated Tran's team 120-82 in 77 innings (1,558). Nikos Polychronopoulos whirled past Sameh Sidhom 44-17 in 11 (4,000) as the leader for his team and had an excellent second man: although Choong Bok Lee was defeated by his Korean compatriot Sung won Choi 28-27 in 13, both players scored over 2 average. Poly's team won 120-83 in 62 (1,935), the best team average over two days.
Nikos Polychronopoulos' team includes Polychronopoulos, Choong Bok Lee, Jun Hyuk Son and Jung Hee Lee.
In Group C, Torbjörn Blomdahl was the outstanding leader with a win over Tayfun Tasdemir: 43-17 in 17 innings (2,529). Myung Woo Cho was winner for Team Tasdemir against TTT Nguyen 41-19 in 23 (1,782). Haeng Jik Kim played with his team against Jung Han Heo's team. The mutual match ended in a win for Kim 29-16 in 2. Ruben Legazpi was the star player in Haeng Jik Kim's team with a match against Chang Hoon Seo, which the Spaniard won 46-18 in 12 (3,833).
Torbjörn Blomdahl's team consists of Blomdahl, TTT Nguyen, Pedro Piedrabuena and Wan Young Choi.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, on top with his team
The Jun Tae Kim team with Therese Klompenhouwer JJ Garcia and Burak Hashas
The Poly team with Jun Hyuk Son, Choong Bok Lee, Jung Hee Lee and Nikos Polychronopoulos