SHARM EL SHEIKH - The ranking for places in the knock-outs at the Sharm El Sheikh World Cup is led by Dick Jaspers, Jérémy Bury and Quyet Chien Tran, all three with six match points and exactly 2,000 on average. Five big names from the world's top ten are missing in the final rounds: Tayfun Tasdemir, the world champion, Torbjörn Blomdahl, the World Cup winner in Veghel, Eddy Merckx, this year's World Cup winner in Ho Chi Minh City, Martin Horn and Egypt home-player Sameh Sidhom.
Tayfun Tasdemir could not live up to his world title and even finished last in a group where Chang Hoon Seo and Pierre Soumagne were the numbers one and two and Eddy Merckx was eliminated as well. Torbjörn Blomdahl was the third on average in a group with Jun Tae Kim and Semih Sayginer. The home favorite Sameh Sidhom remained in the shadow of Nikos Polychronopoulos and Haeng Jik Kim, Martin Horn finished without any match point in a group with Jérémy Bury, Dion Nelin and Choong Bok Lee.
Myung Woo Cho had a tremendous finish in his match against his sponsor and friend Dani Sánchez, with whom he reached the top 16 together. Peter Ceulemans accompanied Dick Jaspers to the knock-outs, Roland Forthomme eliminated Murat Naci Coklu and became the runner-up in a group with Quyet Chien Tran. The best run came from Haeng Jik Kim with 13, the highest average was for Jun Tae Kim with 2.051.
Two Frenchmen, Jérémy Bury and Pierre Soumagne, open the gala in the knock-outs against each other, five of 16 finalists are Koreans, Roland Forthomme and Peter Ceulemans take the place of Eddy Merckx for the Belgians.
The matches in the first knock-out round:
Friday, 11am (10am Western Europe):
Jérémy Bury-Pierre Soumagne
Dani Sánchez-Haeng Jik Kim
Nikos Polychronopoulos-Dion Nelin
Marco Zanetti-Jung Han Heo
13.00 (12.00 Western Europe):
Quyet Chien Tran-Peter Ceulemans
Chang Hoon Seo-Semih Sayginer
Jun Tae Kim-Myung Woo Cho
Dick Jaspers-Roland Forthomme
The overview of the eight groups of four (best two to the knock-outs with 16):
Group A:
Dick Jaspers gets off with a scare in his first game against Ye Sung Jeong, as the Korean comes up with a run of 12 on four points from the end and Jaspers is just in time to rule it out at 40-37 in 23. Peter Ceulemans wins his first againstJhon Fredy Martinez (40-36), but has to bow to Jaspers 40-22 in 21 in the next match, forcing the Belgian to win over Jeong in the last game. He succeeds after a wonderful 12 in the sixth inning and eventually 40-36 in 24. Dick Jaspers remains unbeaten.
Standings Group A:
1 Dick Jaspers 6-2,000-10
2 Peter Ceulemans 4-1,275-12
3 Jhon Fredy Martinez 2-1,265-7
4 Ye Sung Jeong 0-1,329-12
Dick Jaspers
Peter Ceulemans
Group B:
Young Korean Myung Woo Cho brings the excitement to this group after beating Dani Sánchez 40-37 in 14 in the second round with a 10 final run at 37-30 down. The first three places determine over the two qualifiers. Sánchez wins over Egyptian Nady (40-27 in 19), Omer Karakurt beats Myung Woo Cho 40-26 in 26, leaving three players tied and Sánchez and Cho continuing on averages. Cho earns that qualification with a stunning final shot against Sánchez.
The standings in Group B:
1 Dani Sánchez 4-1,983-8
2 Myung Woo Cho 4-1,682-10
3 Omer Karakurt 4-1,418-9
4 Riad Nady 0-1.125-4
Dani Sánchez
Myung Woo Cho
Group C:
Marco Zanetti already shows his supremacy in the first match against Jean Paul de Bruijn (40-12 in 18) and is not really threatened against Kamal and Heo either. The Korean secures second place by first beating Kamal 40-20 in 28 and in the final round Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-33 in 26. The Dutchman does not get beyond a scant 1.062 on average and is eliminated.
The standings in Group C:
1 Marco Zanetti 6-1,904-10
2 Jung Han Heo 4-1,410-9
3 Jean Paul de Bruijn 2-1,062-8
4 Samer Kamel 0-0,800-5
Group D:
The two Vietnamese meet first in this Group D: Quyet Chien Tran beat Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 40-29 in 23 to take an option for group win. Roland Forthomme beats Murat Naci Coklu 40-33 in 23, but loses to Tran (40-35 in 19) one round later. And as Coklu also goes down against Tran, Forthomme has enough by a draw against Nguyen in his last game. This score comes on the board as Forthomme goes out by 9 and Nguyen equalises. That one point is enough for the Belgian to go through and means elimination for the Vietnamese: 40-40 in 30.
The standings in Group D:
1 Quyet Chien Tran 6-2,000-10
2 Roland Forthomme 3-1,597-9
3 Murat Naci Coklu 2-1,500-7
4 Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 1-1,346-7
Quyet Chien Tran
Group E:
Haeng Jik Kim and Sameh Sidhom will battle it out for second qualification in the final match, after Nikos Polychronopoulos remains unbeaten. The Greek wins his three matches, including his first against Haeng Jik Kim 40-38 in 24 and strikes in his second against Sidhom 40-36 in 32, securing his position in the knock-outs. Korean Haeng Jik Kim, with runs of 13 and 12 over two games, earns his second place following Polychronopoulos with the win over Sidhom: 40-29 in 21.
Standings in Group E:
1 Nikos Polychronopoulos 6-1,500-10
2 Haeng Jik Kim 4-1,815-13
3 Sameh Sidhom 2-1,346-11
4 Peter De Backer 0-1,057-6
Group F:
Jérémy Bury is the glorious winner in this group with wins over Choong Bok Lee (40-36 in 20), Dion Nelin (40-18 in 20) and Martin Horn (40-37 in 20). The French player has the most solid scores with three 40 games all in 20. Dion Nelin secures second place with a win over Martin Horn in the first match, 40-23 in 21.
Standings in Group F:
1 Jérémy Bury 6-2,000-11
2 Dion Nelin 4-1,484-10
3 Choong Bok Lee 2-1,565-10
4 Martin Horn 0-1,430-6
Group G:
Two world leaders may go home, Chang Hoon Seo and Pierre Soumagne grabbing the top two positions. Frenchman Soumagne, recovered from food poisoning, performs a minor miracle as he equalises with 4 for the draw against Chang Hoon Seo. That takes him past Eddy Merckx in the rankings and is good for a curious outcome of the group. Soumagne starts with a loss against Tasdemir, but then wins against Eddy Merckx 40-34 in 23. The Belgian on his turn loses to Chang Hoon Seo 40-35 in 24, but does win against Tasdemir 40-24 in 13, one of the day's top games. That does not help Merckx to qualify as Soumagne outclasses himself and Seo is group winner by 5 match points.
Standings in Group G:
1 Chang Hoon Seo 5-1,764-9
2 Pierre Soumagne 3-1,472-7
3 Eddy Merckx 2-1,816-10
4 Tayfun Tasdemir 201,455-6
Pierre Soumagne
Group H:
The fight in Group H starts with a narrow win by Torbjörn Blomdahl over Jun Tae Kim after the Swede finishes by 7 and Kim scores 1 instead of 2 for the draw. That opening later dominates the group, with Semih Sayginer winning his two games against Garcia and Blomdahl 40-22 in 18 and 40-35 in 35. The climax brings three players to 4 points. Sayginer loses to Jun Tae Kim 40-21 in 15, but still finishes higher than Blomdahl, who beats Garcia. The Colombian finishes as the only one without points, Jun Tae Kim is the best in average.
Standings in Group H:
1 Jun Tae Kim 4-2,051-12
2 Semih Sayginer 4-1.485-11
3 Torbjörn Blomdahl 4-1.337-8
4 Jose Juan Garcia 0-1.125-9
Semih Sayginer
Photos Paul Brekelmans, Hervé Lacombe, Ton Smilde