Seoul, September 22th, 2019
Sayginer finally crowns his comeback.
The sixth Survival tournament in the UMB/Kozoom collaboration marked a new high point in the long career of the Turkish Prince, Semih Sayginer. The world champion of 2003 was away from the game for years, made a comeback in 2016 and was now on the highest step of the podium once again. In an exciting Seoul final, he beat Haeng Jik Kim, Eddy Merckx and Jae Ho Cho, to take home 50.000 dollars.
Eight players were left in two semifinal matches on the last day: Sayginer and Merckx had to deal with Korean newcomers D.H. Jang and J.H. Anh, while Sánchez and Tran were in a group with Jae Ho Cho and Haeng Jik Kim. Merckx, always a favorite these days, dominated his semifinal. Sayginer advanced to the final with just a small margin over the always-smiling J.H. Ahn. In the other match, the two Koreans overpowered their opponents with big scores. Jae Ho Cho showed his shining form, best illustrated by the highlight of the week: his run of 26 in the quarterfinal.
The foursome that would decide the tournament win: Sayginer, Merckx, Jae Ho Cho, Haeng Jik Kim. Chances went back and forth, all four players at some point in good position. The final push came from Sayginer, who broke through Merckx’s defense with a spectacular artistic shot which started a run of eight. Jae Ho Cho was the last one to play, he ran five but needed two more for the win. A relieved Sayginer could celebrate his first major victory since his return to the game. Jae Ho Cho went home with 21.000 dollars, there was 15.000 for Merckx and 11.000 for Haeng Jik Kim.
This event, for the first time, had qualification rounds to enter eight players into the main draw. Given the wealth of promising young players knocking on the door, that was a successful change.
The next UMB/Kozoom event will be the Continental Cup, from 20-22 December 2019.
Seoul, September 17th 2019.
From 19 – 22 September, the sixth Survival tournament will take place in Seoul, South Korea. The series started in 2018, and all events have had a big-name European winner. Is it time for one of the great Asian players to throw off the curse?
Dani Sánchez, Dick Jaspers, Frédéric Caudron, again Dick Jaspers and Eddy Merckx are previous winners of Survival tournaments. This difficult format has four players in a match, over two periods of 45 minutes. For each point made, a point is deducted from the total of the other three players. This creates a new and very different dynamic, in terms of attack and defense. A single significant run can completely change the standings for everybody.
For this Survival event, the following players were seeded: Jaspers, Zanetti, Tasdemir, Sayginer, Merckx, J.H. Cho. Q.C. Tran, Sidhom, Coklu, Bury, H.J. Kim, J.H. Heo, Blomdahl, M.W. Cho, S.W. Choi, Nguyen, Sánchez, Forthomme, Cenet and Nelin. The wildcards were given to Therese Klompenhouwer, the first woman ever in a 3CC event, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Wan Young Choi and Hyung Mook Lim.
Eight additional players will be added to the field, once the qualification tournaments are finished. That means the main event will have 32 players.
Prize money in Seoul is once again considerable. The winner will go home with 50.000 dollars, second prize is 21.000, third is 18.000, fourth 15.000. The numbers 5 – 8 will receive 10.000, numbers 9 – 16 win 7000 and finally 17 – 24 still get 5.200.