ANKARA - He didn't know what he saw, Francis Forton (nickname Cisse), when he had to start his first match for the World Cup in Ankara this Monday morning. ''I was counting on a match against a Belgian, but suddenly a Turk came into the arena'', Cisse mumbled when talking about the unexpected opponent. ''I immediately went to the match officials and asked: what is happening here? Cisse was told that Peter Willems, the other Belgian, had cancelled his match two days ago, but the Turkish organizers had forgotten to inform Francis Forton. With a slight reluctance he started the match, both with a moderate start (9-8), but then the Turk, Erol Karahancer, ran out with a great run of 11. The scoreboard after that inning: 19-10 in 11. ''I had to fight a lot to get my chance", Forton smiled after the match. ''The end came with a score in balance, I finished with 4, 3 and 2, he was on 27, made two and missed his last point in the equalizer.''
The only winning Belgian in the schedule on this opening day (30-29 in 31) got away with a scare, because he also won his second match against a Turkish player who lives in Germany: Berkulay Gonguoglu, 30-14 in 25. And Francis Forton was allowed to advance to the next round after those two victories. He is hopeful to survive another few days, because 59-year-old Francis Forton from Brussels (he turns 60 next month) is no stranger at the World Cup stage. In the BWA years, Cisse even won a World Cup in Athens in 1996 with a win in the semi-final against Theriaga and in the final against Christian Rudolph. ''After that World Cup, I was 5th in the world ranking with players like Dani Sánchez and Dion Nelin in the top 5.''
Francis Forton was the number eight on the ranking on the first day of the tournament. The frontrunner was Frenchman Pierre Soumagne with 4 match points and 1,578, with the best run of the day: 12. He was followed by two Turks, Hayri Altunsaslar and Murat Celik, Frenchman Vahit Kunt and Korean Bong Jo Hwang. Two young players also were moving up on the first day: German Tobias Bouerdick and Austrian Nikolaus Kogelbauer.
Pierre Soumagne, back from a short PBA stop, first beat his compatriot Joel Switala in his group by 30-17 in 27 and shone in his second match against Turk Salih Kemal Kalkin by 30-11 in 11 innings (run of 12 in the 7th inning for a break of 25-7). Gerhard Kostistansky, another player with a World Cup history, started with a loss against Frenchman Patrice Pinard (30-25 in 28), but won his group on average.
Famous players who were eliminated are Spaniards Carlos Crespo and Sergio Jimenez and Korean lady Jieun Han. Jimenez is going on to the next day as best reserve player.
Final ranking on Monday:
1 Pierre Soumagne 4-1.578-12
2 Hayri Altuntaslar 4-1.363-8
3 Murat Celik 4-1.363-5
4 Vahit Kunt 4-1.333-7
5 Bong Joo Hwang 4-1.304-7
6 Hong Chiem Thai 4-1.200-7
7 Temel Kaptanoglu 4-1.071-9
8 Francis Forton 4-1.071-7
9 Ismail Yasin 4-1.71-5
10 Hyuk Son Jun 4-0.952-5
11 Tobias Bouerdick 4-0.937-6
12 Murat Yurdadonen 4-0.882-6
13 Nikolaus Kogelbauer 4-0.821-5
14 Murat Gökmen 2-1.414-6
15 Gerhard Kostistansky 2-1.057-7
16 Vincent Lelievre 2-0.920-7
Some interesting groups for Tuesday:
Groupl D: Sam van Etten, Gülsen Degener, Nikolaus Kogelbauer
Group F: Berkay Karakurt, Volkan Cetin, Tobias Bouerdick
Group I:
Francis Forton, Myeong Jong Cha, Ilbay Dagdelen
Group J: Grégory Le Deventec, Serdai Bas, Temel Kaptanoglu
Group L: Omer Karakurt, Herbert Szivach, Bong Joo Hwang
Group M: Tonny Carlsen, Bart Ceulemans, Vahit Kunt
Group N: Murat Tüzül, Murat Celik, Sergio Jimenez
Group P: Pierre Soumagne, Jamai Soboh, Manuel Sousa.
