VEGHEL - Three happy Dutch players posed in front of the wall with the Team NL poster, launched in 2014 for the best Dutch athletes. It was the end of the third day of competition at the World Cup in Veghel. Jean van Erp, Huub Wilkowski and Raymund Swertz were the first Dutch winners in the early stage, they were later joined by Barry van Beers as group winner and Dave Christiani as the best number two. The home crowd in Veghel's World Cup is looking forward for the next days. Huub Wilkowski is the most spectacular winner this day, beating Robinson Morales and Vietnamese Tran Thanh Tu Nguyen. ''I celebrated my victory rather delighted,'' he confessed later, ''but I was so happy with the win against these two top players.'' Because once, in the distant past, Wilkowski explained, he had made it to the top 16 of a World Cup. ''But that was back in the days when the level was so much lower.''
On this day, which in the World Cup cycle is called 'the PQ round', it was mainly the day of these Dutch successes, also of Jose Miguel Soares, the 28-year-old FC Porto player, certainly also Thomas Andersen, the Dane who beat two strong French players to his victory chord, Kostas Kokkoris, beating Peter De Backer in a tactical battle on the finishing line, Berkay Karakurt, a stunning winner against Turgay Orak and Jef Philipoom. And maybe it was also the day when Wilco van Wijk, a modest, 47-year-old Dutch substitute, showed his fans how vulnerable billiard players can be. ''I thought I finally got rid of my nerves, but today I blocked so strongly that I couldn't hit a ball straight ahead,'' he sighed after a game he still lost to Frenchman Cédric Melnytschenko in a richly won position.
The biggest names that flew out were those of Robinson Morales, Gwendal Maréchal, Tolgahan Kiraz, Turgay Orak and Peter De Backer. The outliers on this third day were the quickies of Jose Miguel Soares against Claus Maurer in 10 innings, Dave Christiani against Behzat Cetin in 11, Thomas Andersen against Gwendal Maréchal and Vinh Bao Phuong against Khaled Salem, both in 12 innings for 30 points (2,500 average).
The group overview:
Group A:
The French clash between Gwendal Maréchal and Kevin Vasseur gets an unexpected winner. Vasseur starts more energetically than his reputable opponent and leads 18-7 after seven innings. That margin is further increased to 24-11 and despite Maréchal's come-back, Vasseur finishes 30-23. Maréchal, who lost his luggage during his flight and has to play with different equipment, is still allowed to equalize, but misses after 6 caroms on 30-29 in 18. Thomas Andersen, the third player in this group, makes the verdict on Maréchal, the semi-finalist of the World Cup in Korea, 30-22 in 12, his best game so far. Andersen and Vasseur play for the group win: Andersen escapes with the overall win: 30-13 in 21.
Group B:
Robinson Morales is soon out of the game after the Colombian first loses to Huub Wilkowski 30-20 in 17 and in the next round he's no match for TTT Nguyen 30-17 in 18, a setback for the South American. The two winners, Wilkowski with 1,764 and Nguyen with 1,666, play the match to decide on continuing. Huub Wilkowski shines again, leaving the Vietnamese hopeless at 30-19 in 16. The Dutchman celebrates his win with a shout of joy.
Group C:
Ronny Brants and Dustin Jäschke drew in the opening match in 21 innings. The Belgian faces Rui Costa first, loses rather hopelessly 30-18 in 20 and is eliminated definitely. Rui Costa and Jäschke battle it out later in the day. The Portuguese has been showing excellent form all this year and also wins sovereignly against Jäschke 30-14 in 22.
Group D:
Kostas Kokkoris and Peter De Backer move Swede David Pennör out of this World Cup in the first two games. The Greek has a slightly better final sprint with 5 and 1, but at 30-22, Pennör still comes close to a draw with 6. Peter De Backer starts with 4 and 5, Pennör responds with 8 and stays close to his opponent until the final stage, where he spoils his chances with seven misses in a row. De Backer wins 30-21 in 22. The Belgian and the Greek play an exciting match, in which the chances go up and down. Kokkoris, who took 24 hours over his trip from Greece, finishes 4 and 1 at the crucial stage and wins 30-28 in 18.
Group E: Menno de Vries' adventure is over, but the player from Brabant proudly leaves the World Cup arena. German Tom Löwe first holds the Dutchman in check with 30-27 in 29, then Arnim Kahofer is too strong with a 30-24 in 25. The German-Austrian clash falls to Kahofer, who is too strong for the German 30-17 in 31.
Group F: Raymund Swertz and Gökhan Salman prepare for the decisive camp with nice games. Swertz beat a seasoned Czech, Ivo Gazdos, by 40-29 in 17 (1.765), Salman needed one less inning for 30-21 in 16 (1.875), after the Turk knocked the decisive blow in the 9th inning with a strong 12 (23-10). Raymond Swertz, who explains the difficulty of the billiards with a few examples afterwards, nevertheless saves the best for last, winning 30-22 in 26.
Group G:
Ja In Kang's opening is ten innings better than Ramazan Durdu's in the first games against Herbert Szivacz. Then it goes between Kang and Durdu for the top ranking. Korean Kang, once playing in his younger years in Amsterdam and Germany, beats Durdu by generous figures: 30-14 in 18.
Group H: Jean van Erp makes it through the first showdown against Korean Jeong with a solid match: 30-27 in 21. A little later, so does Austrian Gerhard Kostistansky with 30-26 in 23 on his way to the match where it is all about winning. Jean van Erp takes a lead with 7 and 4 to 19-11 in 6, then loses the rhythm for a while, misses 5 more times in his last 8 innings, but still ends the match well in time: 30-24 in 20.
Group I:
Tolgahan Kiraz loses his first game against Lukas Stamm (30-27 in 28), but returns the tension slightly with his win against Abousaleh 30-26 in 22. Lukas Stamm is a brilliant winner in his second game against Abousaleh, when he scores a 14 and eventually wins 30-9 in 13.
Group J:
Jose Miguel Soares enters the decisive battle with Claus Maurer after both players beat Dong Ryong Kim. Maurer by 30-17 in 19, Soares by 30-26 in 26. The Portuguese young man, a pupil of Rui Costa, triumphs improbably strongly against Maurer by 30-6 in 10 innings, 3,000 on average in that match, the best of the tournament in these three days.
Group K:
Dong Hoon Kim, in his battle with Maxime Panaia with 6, 3 and 2 in his last three attempts, just slips through the 30-29 finish as the Frenchman makes only 3 points instead of 4 for the equalizer. Panaia leaves nothing to chance against Henry (30-7 in 16), after which Korean Kim has another tough go at Henry, 30-28 in 33.
Group L: Sam van Etten closes his tournament against Spaniard Jose Maria Mas and Korean Bong Hoo Hwang, two players just a bridge too far for the Dutch talent. Mas wins 30-24 in 22, Hwang 30-24 in 17. The Spaniard, the only one in this round, beats Korean Hwang 30-25 in 24 in the last game.
Group M:
What tension can do to a player, Wilco van Wijk showed in his match against Cédric Melnytschenko. The Dutchman has a formidable start (4, 4, 3, 2), leads 13-1, 18-4 and 22-7, but flies out for his final points. Seven misses in the last 9 cost him the match: the Frenchman wins 30-28 in 24. Melnytschenko does lose his first to Cengiz Karaka 30-21 in 21. The former German champion also decides against Wilco van Wijk (30-25 in 22) in a win and continues as group winner with 2 points.
Group N: Jef Philipoom needs a minor miracle to survive, after finishing a rare poor match against Turgay Orak: 30-18 loss in 26 innings. The Turk loses in his first game against his young compatriot Berkay Karakurt (30-15 in 14). Karakurt has to finish it off against Philipoom, leading 25-5, but falls down and still let the Belgian come back with runs of 7 and 2 times 4, but Philipoom misses at one point from the draw: 30-29 in 19.
Group O:
Vietnamese Bao gets off to a flying start again, beating Egyptian Khaled Salem 30-15 in 12. Radek Novak takes slightly longer, but has even less resistance from Salem (30-10 in 18). The only serious match is between the two winners: Radek Novak and Vinh Bao Phuong. The Czech comes out narrowly victorious in the nerve-wracking final, in which the Vietnamese first misses a bankshot and then a counter-effect ball miraculously in a small corner. The final score: 30-28 in 27.
Group P:
Two Dutchmen in one group with Behzat Cetin from Switzerland: that makes the mutual match of the two Dutchmen of big importance beforehand. Barry van Beers is quickly on his way to win against Dave Christiani with runs of 7 and 8 in the 3rd and 4th innings for an early lead of 16-6. Christiani does not recover that margin, although Van Beers tooks eight innings over his final three points: 30-23 in 23. Christiani's disappointment, after being the best man on the second day of play, is evident to the Limburger in his second game against Cetin, which he wins in 11 innings, 2.727 on average. Barry van Beers finishes gloriously against the Swiss Cetin 30-8 in 19 and is the fourth Dutchman to advance at that point.
Tuesday's 16 group winners who advance to the final qualifying day (five Dutch, two Germans, two Portuguese, two Koreans, one Turk, one Spaniard, one Dane, one Greek, one Czech and one Austrian). Dave Christiani's fate hangs on a thin line at the end of the day, but in the end the Dutchman is the best runner-up with 2 match points and 1.647 on average, best run 12.
Tuesday's final ranking, heading into the final qualifiers:
1 Berkay Karakurt 4-1,818-11
2 Huub Wilkowski 4-1.818-8
3 Thomas Andersen 4-1,818-8
4 Jose Miguel Soares 4-1.666-6
5 Kostas Kokkoris 4-1,621-7
6 Lukas Stamm 4-1,463-14
7 Jean van Erp 4-1,463-7
8 Barry van Beers 4-1,428-8
9 Rui Costa 4-1,428-7
10 Raymund Swertz 4-1,395-9
11 Ja In Kang 4-1,363-5
12 Radek Novak 4-1,333-8
13 Jose Maria Mas 4-1,304-4
14 Dong Hoon Kim 4-1,111-6
15 Arnim Kahofer 4-1,071-8
16 Cengiz Karaca 2-1,428-4
The groups for the final qualifiers on Wednesday (12 winners and three best runners-up will continue). Start at 10am:
Group A: Jun Tae Kim, Ja In Kang, Radek Novak
Group B: Jose Maria Mas, Raymund Swertz, Duc Anh Chien Nguyen
Group C: Sung-won Choi, Dong Hoon Kim, Cengiz Karaca
Group D: Arnim Kahofer, Rui Manuel Costa, Nikos Polychronopoulos
Group E: Jacob Haack Sörensen, Barry van Beers, Myung Woo Cho
Group F: Dave Christiani, Jean van Erp, Ruben Legazpi
Group G: Ronny Lindemann, Lukas Stamm, Lütfi Cenet
Group H: Choong Bok Lee, Myeong Jong Cha, Kostantinos Kokkoris
Group I: Trung Hau Do Nguyen, Jose Miguel Suarez, Michael Nilsson
Group J: Dion Nelin, Thomas Andersen, Peter Ceulemans
Group K: Riad Nady, Huub Wilkowski, Jose Juan Garcia
Group L: Roland Forthomme, Berkay Karakurt, Chang Hoon Seo.
Jose Miguel Soares
Huub Wilkowski
Berkay Karakurt
Thomas Andersen
Rui Costa
Wilco van Wijk
Barry van Beers
Kostas Kokkoris
Radek Novak