PORTO - The 57-year old Rui Manuel Costa, playing for his home crowd in the World Cup in Porto, thought his clock had already run out. The expressive Portuguese was sitting in his chair in the last evening sessions, fascinated by the start of Dutchman Jean Paul de Bruijn, who launched his attack to 13-0 in two innings and 22-6 in ten. The mission seemed impossible, but the comeback was brilliant. When De Bruijn lost his scoring rhythm, Rui Costa fought himself back into the match. He came back to 24-16, 24-19 and finally, after 29-26, the Portuguese even reached the finish line at 30-29. The point fort he draw was only important for the statistics. Rui Manuel Costa may return for the final day of qualifications, Jean Paul de Bruijn was out of the game, the fifth of five Dutchmen on this doomsday for Orange.
The most exciting of sixteen groups was in level not the best. Tonny Carlsen and Wan Young Choi shone with averages over two, Antonio Montes, Birol Uymaz and Chi Yeon Cho completed the top five with great performances and Carlos Crespo, Gökhan Salman and Ronny Lindemann had to fight until the last points to join the top sixteen.
How strong this third day of qualifications was, proved the average of the Dutch runners up in the second group: Jean Paul de Bruijn with 1.764, Dave Christiani with 1.611 and Barry van Beers with 1.555: wonderful averages, but not good enough to survive.
The best matches were played by Wan Young Choi, in 10 innings against Therese Klompenhouwer (30-7), by Tonny Carlsen, in 11 innings against Barry van Beers (30-12), by Jean Paul de Bruijn and Thomas Andersen who played a draw in 12 innings and Antonio Montes, in 12 innings against Kostas Papakonstantinou (30-17). The most impressive equalizer came from Jean Paul de Bruijn, with 11 in his match against Thomas Andersen.
Young Korean Jung Ju Shin, who makes eyes at a Dutch team in the main league, played two excellent matches and eliminated the new Spanish champion David Martinez 30-22 in 20. Martin Horn escaped from the grip of his young compatriot Dustin Jäschke (30-29) and the Korean Chi Yeon Cho came out as the winner in a tough group with Ruben Legazpi (second with 1.444 and Glenn Hofman, third with 1.026. Ronny Lindemann returns tomorrow after beating Murat Tüzül in the deciding match (30-26 in 28).
But the highlight of the day was the Houdini act the uncrowned king of the FC Porto bastion realized: Rui Manuel Costa. "I'm so lucky, it was so fantastic to do this for my own audience'', he commented after the match. ,,The Porto fans have greatly supported me and helped me to make my come back. I felt down during the break, but then began to believe in my chances when my opponent was more and more under pressure'', said the Portuguese, who won the Europe Cup with his star team last month.
Tonny Carlsen, the best of all on the second last day of qualifications
The top sixteen on Wednesday:
1 Tonny Carlsen 4-2.142-8
2 Wan Young Choi 4-2.000-8
3 Antonio Montes 4-1.764-7
4 Birol Uymaz 4-1.764-7
5 Chi Yeon Cho 4-1.666-6
6 Ahmet Alp 4-1.621-8
7 Hyung Bum Hwang 4-1.621-7
8 Jung Ju Shin 4-1.463-11
9 Mehmet Goren 4-1.395-5
10 Martin Horn 4-1.304-7
11 Hideaki Kobayashi 4-1.176-8
12 Ji Hun Ahn 4-1.071-5
13 Manuel Rui Costa 3-1.363-5
14 Carlos Crespo 3-1.176-5
15 Gökhan Salman 2-1.583-9
16 Ronny Lindemann 2-1.076-5.
The Korean Wan Young Choi amazed among others beating Therese Klompenhouwer in 10 innings (30-7)
Thomas Andersen, leading 30-19 at the finish, but Jean Paul de Bruijn draws with 11
Young Korean Jung Ju Shin outplayed the new Spanish champion David Martinez
The twelve groups for the final qualifying day:
Group A: Rui Costa, Quyet Chien Tran, Ji Hun Ahn
Group B: Tayfun Tasdemir, Carlos Crespo, Hideaki Kobayashi
Group C: Sung-Won Choi, Gökhan Salman, Martin Horn
Group D: Minh Cam Ma, Ronny Lindemann, Mehmet Goren
Group E: Dong-Koong Kang, Choong-Bok Lee, Jung Ju Shin
Group F: Eddy Leppens, Xuan Cuong Ma, Hyung Bum Hwang
Group G: Semih Sayginer, Adnan Yüksel, Ahmet Alp
Group H: Javier Palazón, Dinh Nai Ngo, Chi Yeon Cho
Group I: Riad Nadi, Jae Guen Kim, Birol Uymaz
Group J: Hyung Kon Kim, Can Capak, Antonio Montes
Group K: Roland Forthomme, Lütfi Cenet, Wan Young Choi
Group L: Anh Vu Duong, Jérôme Barbeillon, Tonny Carlsen.