LUXOR - The always treacherous break-off shot, on the final day of the qualifications at the Luxor World Cup, kept Sung Won Choi out of the main tournament. Ahmet Alp ( home picture) finished as the lucky winner and will return in the knockout stage. The battle between the Turk and the Korean was decided at the line, both players knowing the winner would be in the main draw of the World Cup. Ahmet Alp, replacing Filippos Kasidokostas after Tuesday evening's drama, made his last point when the Korean was on 37. He still had the equalizer, but missed from the points.
photo EGYPTIAN REGAY HENRY
The final judgment day of qualifications, with big name players like Semih Sayginer, Murat Naci Coklu, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Hyung Bum Hwang, Jung Han Heo, Lütfi Cenet, Quoc Nguyen Nguyen Jérémy Bury and Pedro Piedrabuena in the arena of the Sonesta hotel in Luxor, turned into a battle of kill or be killed.
Tension rose high in these flights, like in the group where Polychronopoulos had a poor start but recovered well with a quality win over Vietnamese Xuan Cuong Ma, Javier Palazón survived despite a loss against Sayginer, and Adnan Yüksel was too up and down to stay in. Murat Tüzül also began with a loss (against Korean Kwang Yeol Park), but he put it right when he face Dong Koong Kang, on paper a much stronger Korean. The flight was won by Kang anyway, but Tüzül came along through the back door. Sung-Won Choi will not return, and after his glorious year as world champion, he will fall further down on the world ranking.
The Turkish victory march was impressive, even where it was brother against brother. Murat Naci Coklu and Lütfi Cenet came out on top, and Ahmet Alp eliminated Choi. Two other Koreans were on top of the day ranking, Hyung Bum Hwang and Jung Han Heo had four match points, as did Jeremy Bury who scored a 1.632 average.
Jean Paul de Bruijn, who is a great billiard player but he does not always show it, finished off a Korean in form, Jae Guen Kim. And Jérémy Bury was invincible in his flight with two dabgerous Vietnamese players: Trung Hau Do Nguyen and Anh Vu Duong. Pedro Piedrabuena had a fine finish, after he played a draw in his first match.
The day ranking on Wednesday:
1 Hyung Bum Hwang 4-1.632-11
2 Jung Han Heo 4-1.632-8
3 Jérémy Bury 4-1.632-6
4 Murat Naci Coklu 4-1.403-9
5 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen 4-1.355-7
6 Ahmet Alp 4-1.311-8
7 Lütfi Cenet 4-1.230-8
8 Jean Paul de Bruijn 4-1.212-4
9 Pedro Piedrabuena 3-1.600-9
10 Nikos Polychronopoulos 2-1.590-8
11 Javier Palazón 2-1.460-6
12 Dong Koong Kang 2-1.444-8.
The three second best for the main tournament:
1 Xuan Cuong Ma 2-1.552-7
2 Trung Hau Do Nguyen 2-1.488-7
3 Murat Tüzül 2-1.442-8.
The main draw:
Matches for Thursday 12.00 uur:
Blomdahl-Cenet
Hwang-Chi Yeon Cho
Jae Ho Cho-Nady
Tasdemir-Ma
14.00:
Tran-Tüzül
Zanetti-Alp
HaengJik Kim-De Bruijn
Merckx-Do Nguyen
16.00
Jaspers-Polychronopoulos
Heo-Erfan
Caudron-Leppens
Sidhom-Kang
18.00:
Forthomme-Palazón
Bury-Garcia
Coklu-Piedrabuena
Sánchez-Nguyen