LAS VEGAS - The fight for the sixteen places in the knock-out in the World Cup in Las Vegas has made the first shuffle for the final of the tournament. Three players, Dick Jaspers, Jung Han Heo and Dani Sánchez finished as group winners with the maximum match points. Semih Sayginer, with 4 match points, had the best average (2.016), the most famous names who missed the round with 16 are Eddy Merckx, Tayfun Tasdemir, Sung-Won Choi and Martin Horn.
The group winners are 4 Europeans (Jaspers, Sánchez, Sayginer and Bury), 2 Koreans (Heo and Lee), 1 African (Sidhom) and 1 American (Piedrabuena). The numbers two in the eight groups are Can Capak, Marco Zanetti, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Quyet Chien Tran, Haeng Jik Kim, Huberney Cataño, Myung Woo Cho and Murat Naci Coklu.
The most exciting group was the one with Semih Sayginer, Quyet Chien Tran and Ja In Kang, who all finished with 4 match points. Sayginer was the best in average with 2.016 before Tran with 1.552 and Kang with 1.452. Sidhom and Cataño finished with 5 and 3 match points in the pool with Roland Forthomme and Eddy Merckx (both 2 points). Jérémy Bury and Myung Woo Cho (both 4 match points) eliminated Tayfun Tasdemir and Turgay Orak. Choong Bok Lee and Murat Naci Coklu were 1 and 2 in the group with Martin Horn and Sung Won Choi.
The best winners were:
X Jung Han Heo against Luis Aveiga 40-25 in 14
X Sung won Choi against Martin Horn 40-22 in 16
X Dick Jaspers against Can Capak 40-31 in 18
X Quyet Chien Tran against Semih Sayginer 40-39 in 18
X Jérémy Bury against Tayfun Tasdemir 40-36 in 18
X Sameh Sidhom against Eddy Merckx 40-25 in 18
Marco Zanetti against Dion Nelin 40-19 in 19
X Haeng Jik Kim against Antonio Montes 40-35 in 19
X Choong Bok Lee against Sung Won Choi 40-39 in 19
Dani Sánchez against Hugo Patino 40-30 in 20
Semih Sayginer against Ja In Kang 40-26 in 20
Sameh Sidhom against Roland Forthomme 40-33 in 20.
The scores of the sixteen players:
Group A:
1 Jaspers 6-1,764-9
2 Capak 4-1,707-8
Group B:
1 Piedrabuena 5-1.666-10
2 Zanetti 4-1,661-12
Group C:
1 Sánchez 6-1.690-10
2 Blomdahl 4-1,611-8
Group D:
1 Sayginer 4-2.016-10
2 Zanetti 4-1,552-8
Group E:
1 Heo 6-1.935-11
2 HJ Kim 4-1,614-10
Group F:
1 Sidhom 5-1,846-9
2 Cataño 3-1,253-7
Group G:
1 Bury 4-1,661-9
2 MW Cho 4-1,407-6
Group H:
1 Lee 4-1,888-9
2 Coklu 3-1,554-7.
The matches in the last sixteen:
Heo-Cataño
Bury-Capak
Piedrabuena-Blomdahl
Sidhom-Tran
Sánchez-Cho
Sayginer-Kim
Lee-Zanetti
Jaspers-Coklu.