HO CHI MINH CITY - Did you want to continue tot he last day of qualifications in the Ho Chi Minh World Cup, Mr. Horn, Mr. Kahofer, Mrs. Klompenhouwer, Mr. Salman or Mr. De Bruijn? Then, unfortunately, your level was not good enough on the third day of the pre-rounds. The spotlights were for Asian players, such as Young Hoon Lee (2.727), Kwang Yeol Park (2.727) and Jin Pyo Hong (2.400). In the European field, only David Pennör, with four match points and 1.714, finished in the shadow of the top three. Birol Uymaz slipped to the next round with 1.621, Gökhan Salman was eliminated with 1.689.
That was the outcome on this Wednesday after an Asian show. The four Dutch players in this run-up all went out after one day. Martin Horn could return home with two losses and 1.294, Arnim Kahofer with 1.266, Glenn Hofman with 1.195 and Tolgahan Kiraz with 0.982 in a setting where high-level matches were up for grabs. Korean Kwang Yeol Park twice scored his 30 caroms in 11 innings, Young Hoon Lee in 8 and in 14 and Jin Pyo Hong in 10 and 15 innings. These three were the big guns in this run-up to the last qualification, where it's all about a place in the main draw. Many of the well-known Europeans did not even come close to that.
David Pennör, who was on top of the podium two weeks ago after beating Torbjörn Blomdahl in the final of the Swedish championship, made a strong impression again with wins over Michael Carlsen (30-16 in 15) and Regay Henry (30-14 in 20). Birol Uymaz was good, but was almost punished for a bad finish in his match against Dutchman Sam van Etten. Therefor the Turkish coming man missed the top position in his group, because Duc Anh Chien Nguyen had the same average (1.621), but the Vietnamese had the better run (10 against 9).
What a bad luck for Uymaz, who could have finished at least five innings before in his first match. But what a good luck that he coule continue as the first runner-up.
Dustin Jäschke was knocked down in his second appearance against Atsushi Kiyota (30-12 in 12), Gökhan Salman was beaten by strong Kwang Yeol Park (30-19 in 11), Michael Carlsen couldn't compete with David Pennör, Jean Paul de Bruijn, after a good start (30-15), ran into the knock-out by Hao Tri Vo (30-26 in 28), Arnim Kahofer went out against Murat Celik and Ahmet Alp was defeated by Murat Tüzül (30-26) in a group with two other draws.
The Europeans who survived, together with David Pennör, could be counted on the fingers of one hand. Kostas Kokkoris remained unbeaten (3 match points) with 1.224 of average, Murat Celik with two wins and 1.111 and Murat Tüzül with three match points and 1.176.
That led to the next day ranking:
1 Kwang Yeol Park 4-2.727-10
2 Young Hoon Lee 4-2.727-9
3 Jin Pyo Hong 4-2.400-7
4 Trung Hau Do Nguyen 4-1.875
5 David Pennör 4-1,714-8
6 Minh Thien Vuong 4-1.621-6
7 Yi Hun Ahn 4-1,538-8
8 Duc Minh Tran 4-1.363-8
9 Tatsuo Arai 4-1.363-5
10 Atsushi Kiyota 4-1.224-10
11 Murat Celik 4-1.111-9
12 Hao Tri Vo 4-1.071-6
13 Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 3-1.621-10
14 Kostas Kokkoris 3-1.224-5
15 Murat Tüzül 3-1.176-6
16 Jung Ju Shin 2-1.190-6.
The last qualifying round on Thursday:
Group A:
Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, Hao Tri Vo, Jae-Ho Cho
Group B:
Dong-Koong Kang, Kostas Kokkoris, Murat Celik
Group C:
Anh Vu Duong, Murat Tüzül, Atsushi Kiyota
Group D:
Tayfun Tasdemir, Jung Ju Shin, Tatsuo Arai
Group E:
Myung-Woo Cho, Adnan Yüksel, Duc Minh Tran
Group F:
Eddy Leppens, Tonny Carlsen, Ji Hun Ahn
Group G:
David Martinez, Seung Jin Lee, Minh Thien Vuong
Group H:
Lütfi Cenet, Birol Uymaz, David Pennör
Group I:
Roland Forthomme, Jae-Guen Kim, Trung Hau Do Nguyen
Group J:
Xuan Cuong Ma, Hyung Kim, Jin Pyo Hong
Group K:
Semih Sayginer, Can Capak, Young Hoon Lee
Group L:
Riad Nady, Dinh Nai Ngo, Kwang Yeol Park.
The Swedish champion David Pennör showed his good form
Kwang Yeol Park, two 30 points matches in 11 innings, best of the day
Birol Uymaz passed on as the best runner-up
Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, one of the best Vietnamese players today