VILA NOVA DE GAIA – At closing time, after two days of qualification, four more players left the tournament: Raimond Burgman, Jae Ho Cho, Dong Koong Kang, Eddy Leppens and Ryuuji Umeda. It was the final outcome, when the list of the 16 best was made and Murat Naci Coklu proudly headed that list into the knock-out stage.
Three Turks and three Koreans are in the field, with two Belgians, a Dutchman, a Spaniard, a Frenchman, an Italian, a German, a Japanese, an Egyptian and a Colombian.
Most surprising in the last rounds: the elimination of Jae Ho Cho, Filippos Kasidokostas and Torbjörn Blomdahl, who was virtuallywithout a chance with one match to play.
Three players from the world’s top 10 are missing from the final round, that will start tomorrow (Friday) at 13.00 with 4 matches, 4 more to be played at 15.00.
Murat Naci Coklu is the nr. 1 of the placement list, with 2.105. The shortest of the Turkish players will meet Colombian Heriberto Aristazabal in the 1/8 finals, the man who eliminated Torbjörn Blomdahl.
In his final match, Jae Ho Cho could not get past the 25-year old dentist Sidhom Sameh who follows studies in New York. He is the first Egyptian in many years to reach the final stages of a WC; he himself has never before survived the qualifications. Raimond Burgman looked well on his way to repeat his stunt from the European Championship, when he blocked Martin Horn’s way to the final. The German got his revenge this time by coming from behind and beating his opponent to the finish line.
The placement list after the qualifications is (match points, average):
1 Coklu 4-2.105
2 Jaspers 4-2.000
3 Kim 4-1.951
4 Cenet 4-1.904
5 Lee 4-1.813
6 Merckx 4-1.777
7 Caudron 4-1.739
8 Sánchez 4-1.632
9 Zanetti 4-1.600
10 Bury 4-1.538
11 Horn 4-1.509
12 Tasdemir 4-1.431
13 Choi 4-1.355
14 Sidhom 4-1.269
15 Takeshima 4-1.194
16 Aristazabal 2-1.743
The matches in the 1/8 final:
Coklu-Aristazabal
Jaspers-Takeshima
Kim-Sidhom
Cenet-Choi
Lee-Tasdemir
Merckx-Horn
Caudron-Bury
Sánchez-Zanetti