VALENCIA - The 24-junior field of players at the Junior World championships three cushion in Valencia is led once more by the Korean Myung-Woo Cho. The double world champion up to 21 plays his last championship with the juniors in the Ateneo Mercantil de Valencia from Thursday 3 to Saturday 5 October. The recent LGU Cup winner, where he beat the world top for 65,000 dollars, is by far the favorite for his third title in the country of his sponsor and friend Dani Sánchez. Can he stun the rest of the field for the last time?
The competition comes from his countrymen Hwa Woo Cho, Hannuri Kim and Junseo Ko, but also from Frenchman Maxime Panaia, Italian Alessio D'Agata, Austrian Nikolaus Kogelbauer, Dutchman Tom Slikker and the delegation from South America. The Spaniards are always feared outsiders in junior championships.
Myung-Woo Cho became junior world champion for the first time in 2016 in Hurghada ahead of Jung-Ju Shin (Korea) and Andrés Carrion (Spain). Cho won his second title last year in Izmir with 2,022 on average, followed by Dae-Hyun Jang (Korea) and Spaniard Carlos Anguita, who was one of the stars with a run of 16. Anguita grabbed the world title in Murcia in the intervening year, but has made the switch to the seniors.
Following the ladies World championship, the tournament is hosted by the Ateneo Mercantil de Valencia Club with a capacity of 300 spectators. The first matches are Thursday at 10.00, the final is on Saturday at 16.pp. All games are broadcast live by Kozoom.
The participants:
Myung-Woo Cho, (Kor, title holder)
Maxime Panaia (Fr)
Nathan Duriez (Fr)
Nikolaus Kogelbauer (Aus)
Alessio D'Agata (Ita)
Adria Garcia (Esp)
Denizkan Akkoca (Tur)
Nick Rosier (Bel)
Lukas Mortensen (Den)
Milan Ettel (Cz)
Tom Slikker (Nl)
Percy Martinez (Nic)
Luis Carrasco (Per)
Cristian Montoya (Col)
Santiago Soto (Col)
Shouta Funaki (Jap)
Alptekin Canozkan (Tur)
Ivan Mayor (Esp)
Hwa Woo Cho (Kor)
Hannuri Kim (Kor)
Junseo Ko (Kor)
Mahmoud Ayman (Eg)
Kyrollos Gerges (Eg)
Mario Mercader (Esp)
The group formatss:
Group A: MW Cho, Kyrollos, Rosier
Group B: Panaia, HW Cho, Soto
Group C: Martinez, Akkoca, Kim
Group D: Funaki Garcia, Mortensen
Group E: Ayman, D'Agata, Ko
Group F: Duriez, Montoya, Ettel
Group G: Carrasco, Mayor, Slikker
Group H: Canozkan, Kogelbauer, Mercader.
Italian player Alessio d'Agata, one of the contenders for the podium