PORTO - The highlights this evening in the final qualifying stages at the Porto World Cup were two final runs by two Vietnamese. Thanh Luc Tran ended his match with a run of 16, Hong Chiem Thai with 14. The highest in average on this fourth day towards the main tournament was Jose Juan Garcia, a former world junior champion. The runner-up in the day's rankings, the current world junior champion, was Burak Hashas. The Turks were with three in the winner's field of the qualifiers, the the Belgians and the Colombians with two players.
Jose Juan Garcia led the field with four match points and 2,105 ahead of Burak Hashas with 1,860, Hong Chiem Thai with 1,888, Jacob Sörensen with 1,632 and Ruben Legazpi also with 1,632. Tolgahan Kiraz and Berkay Karakurt were the two Turks, Peter Ceulemans and Roland Forthomme the two Belgians.
Gwendal Maréchal was among the three runners-up with Vinh Phuong Bao and Chang Hoon Seo. The Dutch, in the shadow of Dick Jaspers, again failed to survive the qualifiers. Huub Wilkowski, Sam van Etten, despite a nice start and Volkan Cetin were eliminated. Robinson Morales, Dion Nelin, Gökhan Salman, Wednesday's glorious winner, Javier Vera, Michael Nilsson and Omer Karakurt also had to leave the World Cup before the main tournament starts.
The report from the final group stages in the qualifiers:
Group A:
Ruben Legazpi and Lukas Stamm had the best start with wins over Kevin Vasseur in 23 and 24 innings. The Spaniard and the German met for the group win, Legazpi winning 40-31 in 26.
Group B:
Robinson Morales took a long time to beat Huub Wilkowski, teammates in the Netherlands. The match lasted 37 innings (40-33) and after Wilkowski had beaten Roland Forthomme in the second session (40-37 in 30), the battle was still open. Belgian Forthomme had the best final sprint, beating Morales 40-22, 23 and stepping into the main tournament.
Group C:
Thomas Andersen was pitted against Rahmet, from whom he lost 40-3-0 in 22 and Cha from whom he won 40-24 in 20. Myeong Jong Cha walked away with the group win by beating Rahmet 40-31 in 32.
Group D:
Burak Hashas got the best position to go on after a win over Sung Il Jeong with 40-21 in 23. His rival Dion Nelin had a much inferior start and was beaten by Jeong with 40-30 in 30. The Dane was left empty-handed after he also lost to Hashas with 40-22 in 20.
Group E:
The match for the group win was between Tolgahan Kiraz and Michael Nilsson, who both routed Colombian Alexander Salazar. Kiraz in 33 innings, Nilsson in 30 innings. The Turk had the best papers in the final session, beating Nilsson 40-26 in 27.
Group F:
Things looked favorable for a Mexican and a Vietnamese after the first games. Javier Vera was yet to win after winning over Thanh Luc Tran, though Seo lost to Tran. The Vietnamese finished with a run of 16 and therefore also advanced to the main tournament on average, as Seo won from Vera 40-18 in 23.
Group G:
Gwendal Maréchal turned a deficit against Volkan Cetin into a win in the final stage, but the Frenchman lost in his final game to Jose Juan Garcia 40-30 in 15. The Colombian finished with the excellent average 2.105, Maréchal went in as number two on: 1.707. average
Group H:
Huberney Cataño had no trouble with Gerhard Kostistansky (40-20 in 27) and slightly more with Mashhour Abu Tayeh (40-36 in 32). With those two wins, Cataño secured the main tournament.
Group I:
Koreans Hwang and Jung set the tone with wins for Bong Joo Hwang. They then encountered Peter Ceulemans, who finished victorious twice and sent the Koreans home. The Belgian showed his nerves of steel in the final innings of his two games, winning 40-36 in 34 and 40-39 in 31.
Group J:
Sam van Etten started promisingly with 40-35 in 31 against Hyuk Son Jun and Berkay Karakurt lost to the Korean with 40-20 in 19. The Turk played a brilliant match against Sam van Etten (40-9 in 13) and secured the top spot.
Group K:
Jacob Sörensen settled first with Riad Nady (40-22) and then in the thriller with Omer Karakurt, the match ending in 40-39. Karakurt became the number two with runs of 11 and 10.
Group L:
Vietnamese Hong Chiem Thai also had a superb final shot in his last match. He defeated with 14 in the last inningGökhan Salman, the Turk who had such a great day on Wednesday, but disappeared from the tournament due to two losses with a nice 1.571. Hong Chiem Thai won 1.777, Phuong Vinh Bao became one of the three runners-up with 2 match points and 1.674.
The day-ranking on Thursday:
Jose Juan Garcia 4-2.105-9
Burak Hashas 4-1.860-9
Hong Chiem Thai 4-1.777-14
Jacob Sörensen 4-1.632-12
Ruben Legazpi 4-1.632-9
Huberney Catano 4-1.355-6
Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1.333-8
Peter Ceulemans 4-1.230-5
Berkay Karakurt 2-1.875-9
Thomas Andersen 2-1.666-9
Thanh Luc Tran 2-1.613-16
Roland Forthomme 2-1.452-12
Beste runners-up
1 Gwendal Maréchal 2-1.707-10
2 Phuong Vinh Bao 2-1.674-8
3 Chang Hoon Seo 2-1.534-6
Jose Juan Garcia
The draw for the best 32 for eight groups of four (best 2 to best 16)
Poule A:
Dick Jaspers, Chang Hoon Seo, Burak Hashas, Pedro Gonzalez
Poule B:
Marco Zanetti, Phuong Vinh Bao, Jose Juan Garcia, Jose Miguel Soares
Poule C:
Tayfun Tasdemir, Gwendal Maréchal, Martin Horn, Rui Manuel Costa
Poule D:
Eddy Merckx, Jun Tae Kim, Roland Forthomme, Hong Chiem Thai
Poule E:
Torbjörn Blomdahl, Thanh Luc Tran, Jung Han Heo, Jacob Sörensen
Poule F:
Haeng Jik Kim, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Ruben Legazpi, Thomas Andersen
Poule G:
Sameh Sidhom, Quyet Chien Tran, Huberney Cataño, Berkay Karakurt
Poule H:
Myung Woo Cho, Peter Ceulemans, Jérémy Bury, Tolgahan Kiraz.