SHARM EL SHEIKH - The only 24-year-old French student Gwendal Maréchal sent the Belgian giant Roland Forthomme home with a 40-10 score in the final qualification. That was the most spectacular result so far in the World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh, where Choong Bok Lee and Nikos Polychronopoulos were the other top three players to advance to the main draw. The Koreans produced five of twelve group winners of which Choong Bok Lee was the best in match points and on average (2,352) ahead of Wan Young Choi, Jung Han Heo, Jun Tae Kim and Chang Hoon Seo. The surprising home player Mohamed Abdin slipped into the main tournament and Robinson Morales returned to the front for the second time after his PBA adventure. Three other Colombian contenders were eliminated.
The Asian invasion, even without the Vietnamese, is imposing with eight players out of 32 represented in almost all eight groups of four. In the first knock-outs tomorrow, Thursday, tough battles are to be expected. The most remarkable foursome: Dani Sánchez, Jung Han Heo (the two Veghel finalists), Jun Tae Kim (number three on the podium) and Martin Horn. Two-time day winner Choong Bok Lee, after two years back in the World Cups, plays in his group with Marco Zanetti, Dong Hoon Kim and the Egyptian wildcard Youssef Ossama. The three reserves from the group with the runner-ups are Can Capak, Dong Hoon Kim and Peter Ceulemans.
Gwendal Maréchal, who had that little bit of luck against Therese Klompenhouwer one day before, missed the first World Cup in Veghel because he finished an exam a few days ago and could hardly train for three weeks. The young French promise has to study for another two years for a future in banking. Still, a professional career in billiards beckons for the player who in Sharm El Sheikh for the fourth time reached a main tournament in a World Cup after La Baule, Blankenberge and Porto. In his match with Forthomme, it was not even his first 13-inning match: he also did it facing Spaniard David Martinez as his opponent in La Baule, so also 2,857 as a match-average. ''I had feeling and motivation in the match with Roland (Forthomme) and the balls rolled well for me, otherwise winning against Forthomme can never be so easy'', Maréchal commented.
Nikos Polychronopoulos also had such a comfortable score in his matches against Jan Ales (40-16 in 18) and Gerhard Kostistansky (40-22 in 22), which put the Greek in the top of the day's ranking with 2,000 on average. Dion Nelin, with the best run of the day (12), took victory against Barry van Beers and Ji Hun Ahn, who tied in their match together.
Roland Forthomme certainly had a bad day with a double loss against Dong Hoon Kim and Maréchal. Peter Ceulemans, the other Belgian in this round, had an unlucky start. Jose Maria Mas went out at 35-34 with five, Ceulemans scored five times in the equalizer and missed the last. The big riant over Pedro Gonzalez (40-19 in 26) gave the Belgian the prospect of a favourable runner-up position.
Antonio Montes was stopped in his advance by Choong Bok Lee, Dane Jacob Haack Sörensen, best man in the German league last week, now looked on hopelessly in the group where Robinson Morales was the better of Can Capak (1,509 against 1,355), both with three match points. Wan Young Choi was by far the best in the group with Jäschke and Alp, Gökhan Salman in the group with Garcia and Kahofer. Chang Hoon Seo defeated the Turk Kiraz and the Ecuadorian Teran.
The day ranking:
1 Choong Bok Lee 4-2.352-9
2 Gwendal Maréchal 4-2.162-8
3 Nikos Polychronopoulos 4-2.000-7
4 Wan Young Choi 4-1.904-5
5 Jung Han Heo 4-1.568
6 Dion Nelin 4-1.509-12
7 Jose Maria Mas 4-1.454-5
8 Robinson Morales 3-1.09-5
9 Jun Tae Kim 2-1.396-9
10 Gökhan Salman 2-1.311-9
11 Mohamed Abdin 2-1.283-8
12 Chang Hoon Seo 2-1.265-6
The top three reserve listt:
1 Can Capak 3-1.355-7
2 Dong Hoon Kim 2-1.600-9
3 Peter Ceulemans 2-1.426-9.
The groups for the first knock-out rounds in the main draw (groups of four players, all four meet each other, the two on top advance to the knock-outs with 16):
Poule A: Dick Jaspers, Peter Ceulemans, Gwendal Maréchal, Erick Tellez
Poule B: Marco Zanetti, Choong Bok Lee, Dong Hoon Kim, Youssef Ossama
Poule C: Eddy Merckx, Can Capak, Sung-won Choi, Riad Nady
Poule D: Tayfun Tasdemir, Lütfi Cenet, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Chang Hoon Seo
Poule E: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Mohamed Abdin, Jérémy Bury, Wan Young Choi
Poule F: Dani Sánchez, Martin Horn, Jung Han Heo, Jun Tae Kim
Poule G: HaengJik Kim, Robinson Morales, Murat Naci Coklu, Dion Nelin
Poule H: Sameh Sidhom, Jose Maria Mas, Semih Sayginer, Gökhan Salman.
Jung Han Heo, final player two weeks ago in Veghel World Cup
Nikos Polychronopoulos, in the next round facing two Turks, Cenet and Tasdemir
Robinson Morales, back to back, second time in a row to the main draw in a World Cup
Dion Nelin, solid wins, best day run of 12
Jose Maria Mas, one time lucky loser, now in the main tournament
Choong Bok Lee, impressive in the run-ups
Roland Forthomme could'nt reach to his best level
Peter Ceulemans came out as the third lucky loser and is preparing for a Jaspers battle
Barry van Beers, the only Dutchman in the last qualifiers, out after a draw and a loss.