WONJU - The 48 players in total, from the world top and wildcards, started the long series of matches in the Five&Six World 3-cushion Grand Prix in Wonju, Korea. The first of two major events at the Hotel Inter Burgo is played with 12 teams of four players, with the winning team earning 12 million Korean won (9,000 euros). Torbjörn Blomdahl with his team of four had the best start with a victory over Team Jung Han Heo: 120 points in 71 innings, 1.690 average for the four players. Tayfun Tasdemir with his foursome did not stay far below that: 1.666. Myung Woo Cho had the best performance individually: 49 points in 16 innings, 3.062 on average. Murat Naci Coklu shone with the highest run: 12.
Dick Jaspers lost the first game with his team to Jun Tae Kim's team 120-98. Eddy Merckx lost with his team on 1 point to the team of Marco Zanetti. Team Nikos Polychronopoulos defeated Team Dani Sánchez 120-102. Sameh Sidhom with his foursome was stronger than Quyet Chien Tran (120-111). The team of the world champion, Tayfun Tasdemir, started with a win over Jung Han Heo (120-89) and Torbjörn Blomdahl with his team defeated Haeng Jik Kim 120-72. The team matches are played to 120 points: the four players from one team, who have scored 120 points first in a match against another team, win the match. The tournament format is distinguished by exciting, tactical matches between the teams, which are divided among three groups of four teams.
Therese Klompenhouwer, the women's world champion: ''The team tournament we play at four billiards, the individual tournament afterwards at six tables. I love the format very well. So you play with four players from your team at the same time against the four from the other team. You have to constantly watch the overall score and possibly adjust your tactics accordingly.''
The teams Marco Zanetti and Jun Tae Kim lead Group A, where the teams of Dick Jaspers and Eddy Merckx were defeated. Marco Zanetti's win over Eddy Merckx was spectacular, as there was only one second difference between when the teams made the 120th carom. The teams Sameh Sidhom and Nikos Polychronopoulos lead in Group B after victories over Team Tran and Team Sánchez. Group C is led by Team Blomdahl and Team Tasdemir. The highest individual averages on the first day of play were by Myung Woo Cho (3.062) Marco Zanetti (2.333), Eddy Merckx (2.066), Dick Jaspers (2.062)
Some notable match results:
Myung Woo Cho-Chang Hoon Seo 49-22 in 16
Dick Jaspers-Jun Tae Kim 33-26 in 16
Marco Zanetti-Eddy Merckx 35-13 in 15
Jung Han Heo-Tayfun Tasdemir 26-22 in 17
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Haeng Jik Kim 28-21 in 18
Mahmoud Ayman-Jin Youl Kim 32-14 in 18
Pedro Piedrabuena-Jose Miguel Soares 25-15 in 17
TTT Nguyen-Ruben Legazpi 30-14 in 20
Dani Sánchez-Nikos Polychronopoulos 30-22 in 26
Quyet Chien Tran-Sameh Sidhom 39-30 in 21
Sung won Choi-DAC Nguyen 32-31 in 18
Murat Naci Coklu-Jose Juan Garcia 32-30 in 27 (series 12 Coklu)
Bong Joo Hwang-Sam van Etten 25-31 in 19
The 12 teams, divided into three groups of four teams, will play in each group against each other. Then, when finished, the top two and two best numbers 3 advance to the quarter-finals with eight teams.