SEOUL - The first day of the three cushion World championship in Seoul was the day of Pedro Piedrabuena, four South Americans who started the tournament with a victory and two of the three Koreans who amused the audience in the Olympic hall with a promising start. Javier Teran and Guido Sacco played the most exciting match (40-39), Tonny Carlsen sparkled with the most surprising win and of two Belgians, Roland Forthomme and Eddy Leppens, Forthomme was by far the best (40-24 in 21).
The Vietnamese audience favorite Quoc Nguyen Nguyen seems to be off after his first performance in Seoul. The semi-finalist of the last World Cup in Guri, where he was the sensation with victories against two strong Koreans, Dong Koong Kang and Kim Kyung-Roul, lost in his first against Danish veteran Tonny Carlsen (40-32 in 26 innings) and later in his group will face Marco Zanetti.
The other matches on the opening day were overshadowed by Pedro Piedrabuena's world class performance (40 in 8 innings, run eighteen). The level was remarkably high in some other games. Egyptian Sameh Sidhom, one of the players from Glenn Hofman's generation, won his first match against Korean Yeon Chi-Cho 40-22 in 15 innings (2.667, the second best after Piedrabuena), Ruben Legazpi defeated Glenn Hoffman 40 -29 in 19 (2.105) and Choong-Bok Lee robbed the Argentine Juan Pablo Sisterna of all his illusions (40-8 in 18, 2.222 average).
The overview of the first day:
Group A:
Japanese Tatsuo Arai defeated Jérôme Barbeillon without being in danger: 40-28 in 31. Tomorrow Frédéric Caudron first will meet Barbeillon.
Group B:
Vietnamese Xuan Cuong Ma dealt with the Greek Kostas Papakonstantinou (40-37 in 24). Torbjörn Blomdahl first plays against Papakonstantinou.
Group C:
Luis Aveiga had a flowing start and knocked down Arnim Kahofer 40-29 in 31. The Austrian tomorrow meets Dick Jaspers in his way.
Group D:
Pedro Piedrabuena showed his high class with a gorgeous match in eight innings against Tolgahan Kiraz (40-16 8, 5.000 average, run 18). The Turk plays against Filipos Kasidokostas tomorrow.
Group E:
Ramon Rodriguez defeated Antoine Golam (40-24 in 31), the loser faces Sung-Won Choi.
Group F:
Two South Americans played a thrilling final: Javier Teran bested Guido Sacco 40-39, who plays against Eddy Merckx in his next match.
Group G:
Tonny Carlsen surprised with a win against the Vietnamese Quoc Nguyen Nguyen (40-32 in 26). Nguyen may recover against Marco Zanetti.
Group H:
Huberney Catano was the second South American who took an option for the next round. He defeated Martin Bohac 40-32 in 29 and has to beat Kyung-Roul Kim in his next match.
Group I:
Ruben Legazpi was the better player against Glenn Hoffman (40-29 in 19), the Dutchman plays against Dong Koong Kang tomorrow.
Group J:
Pan American champion Henry Diaz defeated German champion Christos Christodoulidis (40-37 in 34), the German plays against Jae Ho Cho.
Group K:
Sameh Sidhom had an excellent start against Chi-Yeon Cho (40-22 in 15, 2667). The Korean meets Tayfun Tasdemir.
Group L:
The new German champion Christian Rudolph won the battle with the Japanese Kouji Funaki (40-24 in 23), who will Dani Sánchez tomorrow.
Group M:
Jung Han Heo, the favorite of the Koreans, didn't flaunt with a best start, but bested Cetin Behzat (40-26 in 32), who plays against Jérémy Bury.
Group N:
The Belgians Roland Forthomme and Eddy Leppens seemed ready for a hard fight, but Leppens was stopped by bad positions, had some bad luck and was knocked down after Forthomme's strong start (32-6 in 13). Leppens plays against Hyun Min Seo.
Group O:
Jean Paul de Bruijn had a lightning start with 31-7 in 14 innings, lost his way for a while, but won 40-16 against Mohsen Fouda, who plays against Nikos Polychronopoulos.
Group P:
Choong-Bok Lee was the most impressive of the three Koreans on the opening day. He killed the Argentine Juan Pablo Sisterna at the table (40-8 at 18), Sisterna plays against Quiet Chien Tran.