VILA NOVA DE GAIA – Two bows, one in the direction of his opponent (Filippos Kasidokostas) and one for the audience, preceeded his ultimate joy. 36-year old O Takeshima from Tokyo in the early hours of the evening won his match against the Greek former world champion (40-37). It was the biggest triumph in his sof ar fairly unremarkable career.
He owes his wildcard to the title he won in Japan, in a final against artistic player Sakai, and his second place in the Asian championship behind Kyung-Roul Kim.
His first name O is unique, even in Japan. ,,My parents named me O, which is a strange name. In airports and at passport checks I must always explain that it is my name, not an abbreviation. I have never met another person by that name in Japan'', he tol dus, after he had come through his group on his first WC, beating Anh Vu Duong and Filippos Kasidokostas, the 2009 Lausanne World Champion.
His victory over the Greek had a lot to do with a run of 8, that brought him close to the finishline. Kasidokostas had two more misses, then had the equalising inning to produce three more points and qualify. But, having made the break-off, he got kissed out on the second point.
O Takeshima, who was taught by Nobuaki Kobayashi and Martin Horn, was the most remarkable player to qualify in this round, Kyung-Roul Kim was by far the best. The 1.85 tall Korean played a world class match against Juan Carlos Toro of Chili, with two runs of 11, the last one to finish, using only 14 innings (best match so far), averaging 2.857.
Jérémy Bury, showing dependable form and shining with a run of 14, and Sung Won Choi average don a lower level than the tall Korean, but they did win their matches to qualify. The Frenchman could freewheel against Luis Aveiga (40-20 in 29 innings), Choi defeated Savas Bulut with 40-32 also in 29 innings.