§VEGHEL - The young Dutchman Joey de Kok (24) was the last in the evening with a smile of joy, the even younger Frenchman Maxime Panaia (20) left the World Cup arena in Veghel with a gloomy look. That is how close a bit of luck and a lot of bad luck were that second day. The Frenchman, after a wonderful run of ten in the last part, played two innings too many in that last match of the day and was out of the game. The Dutchman, depending on that match, was the unexpected group winner with a minimal lead in average. Joey de Kok goes on to the third day, Maxima Panaia must go home. That is how ruthless the system is in the pre-rounds. For two other Dutchmen, it also finished badly at the very last moment. Frans van Schaik, who won his first match against Raymund Swertz, missed out on one carom against Turk Ilbay Dagdelen. And Paul Bruijstens, who won his first match to Dave Christiani, was knocked down by Austrian Kostistanski, an accidental substitute. So, Dave Christiani after all went to the next round.
Two Turkish brothers, Omer and Berkay Karakurt (29 and 27), were the best day winners on the second day with exactly the same average 1,304 (60 in 46 innings). Bart Ceulemans, the youngest playing billiard grandson of the legend Raymon Ceulemans, finished third in the day's ranking ahead of Turk Savas Gungo and Spaniard Faraco Jaime Sanchez.
Korean Ji Hun Ahn was eliminated from the World Cup (but later came in) with the best average of all players on the second day: 1,384. Other well-known players who had to leave the field were Jean Reverchon, Gerhard Kostistanski, Maxime Panaia, Raymund Swertz, William Oh, the talented Korean youngster Ji-eun Han, Nikolaus Kogelbauer, Ronny Brants and Tom Löwe.
Five Dutchmen finished in the top sixteen and return to the tournament today, Tuesday (Huub Wilkowski, Kay de Zwart, Jeffrey Jorissen, Joey de Kok and Dave Christiani) as do two Belgians: Bart Ceulemans and Francis Forton. For the homeland, Wil Janssen, Joris van 't Zelfden, Raymund Swertz, Jack van Peer, Paul Bruijstens, Harrie van de Ven and Frans van Schaik were eliminated, for Belgium Ronny Brants and Philip Coenen.
The arrival of many well-known players for the new session, on the third day, raises the status of the preliminaries. Joey de Kok already had a flashy start against German Lukas Stamm (22 in 11). Jean van Erp is the undisputed favourite of the Brabant home crowd, Raymon Groot, who came over from New York, started against Jeffrey Jorissen. Ludo Kools, the so surprising Dutch champion, makes his international debut, Gülsen Degener, who opened a great billiards club in Istanbul, makes her entry at the World Cup, Ja In Kang (formerly In-won Kang) is a striking Asian in the field, Robinson Morales is playing a World Cup again for the first time after his return from the PBA, Raymond Burgman, the Karakurt brothers, Jef Philipoom, Peter De Backer, Dave Christiani, Ronny Lindemann, David Pennör, Mikael Devogelaere, Jose Maria Mas and Ahmet Alp are all renowned tournament fighters.
The final ranking of the sixteen winners on the second day was
1 Omer Karakurt 4-1,304-6
2 Berkay Karakurt 4-1,304-6
3 Bart Ceulemans 4-1,224-9
4 Savas Gungor 4-1,200-6
5 Faraco Jaime Sanchez 4-1.200-5
6 Huub Wilkowski 4-1,176-9
7 Ilbay Dagdelen 4-1,153-10
8 Kay de Zwart 4-1.153-9
9 Francis Forton 4-1.052-7
10 Murat Gökman 4-1.034-7
11 Hakan Celik 4-0.789-4
12 Manuel Sousa 4-0.731-6
13 Jeffrey Jorissen 3-1.132-5
14 Marcel Dirn 3-1,052-6
15 Joey de Kok 2-1,217-8
16 Dave Christiani 2-1,177-6
The first runner-up Ji Hun Ahn was allowed to come in to the tournament today. Frans van Schaik and Harrie van de Ven do not return as the numbers two and three of the runners-up with two match points and 1.229 and 1.212 on average.
Bart Ceulemans, in top 3 of the day ranking
Berkay Karakurt, same average of his broter Omer
Kay de Zwart, one of five Dutch players to survive the second day
Joey de Kok and Maxime Panaia in a hard fight to qualify