HO CHI MINH – On the way to the final qualifiers in the Ho Chi Minh World Cup, one Frenchman and one Dutch player were the day’s best among the many world and Asian top players. Gwendal Maréchal (27) and Sam van Etten (29) are in their late twenties looking to improve their ranking. They spearheaded their country's in the Vietnamese stronghold on Wednesday. The French and the Dutch both had three players among the 16 group winners. Only home country Vietnam did better with four group winners.
The ambitions and pro chances of the young Frenchman and the Dutchman run apart. Gwendal Maréchal has a full-time job at a bank since two years, Sam van Etten wants to break through in the rankings and aspires to a pro career. The road is still long: Sam van Etten is 56th on the UMB event ranking, Gwendal Maréchal is number 79. The Dutchman is basically skipping nothing internationally, the Frenchman will definitely miss two of the next five World Cups: Ankara and Porto. Anyway, he hopes for new opportunities. Gwendal: ’’Difficult to have a real billiard life no wand maybe more difficult in the very future for young Europeans.’’
The Dutchmen were with 7 on the third day on Wednesday. Sam van Etten, Jean Paul de Bruijn and Volkan Cetin went through to the next leg, in which Glenn Hofman and Jeffrey Jorissen also report on Thursday. The two Hague billiard players will even play each other in the group with Korean Ja In Kang as opponent.
The French were with a total of six on Wednesday. Gwendal Maréchal, Mikaël Devogelaere and Kevin Vasseur were group winners and survived, Nathan Duriez, Pierre Soumagne and Maxime Panaia were sent home.
Sam van Etten beat one of those French players: he won against Panaia 35-18 in 19 and then also beat Vietnamese Long (35-30 in 21). Gwendal Maréchal set the tone against one of the Dutch, Reggy Brouwers, with 35-27 in 20 and then won against Vietnamese Dinh Quoc Nguyen 35-31 in 18.
Two Frenchmen battled each other: Mikaël Devogelaere was the better of Pierre Soumagne 35-29 in 31. Two Dutchmen also battled each other. Jean Paul de Bruijn won his match vs Huub Wilkowski 35-25 in 21, then lost to Quoc Ho Le 35-20 in 16, but went to the next round as best in average of three two-point players. Kevin Vasseur remained unbeaten against Alexander Salazar (35-34) and Fatih Kokmaz (4 match points, 1.296). Volkan Cetin won his two games against Nguyen Dinh Luan (35-26 in 34) and Jose Miguel Soares (35-32 in 34), good for 4 match points and 1.029.
The Vietnamese had group winners with Van Ly Dao, Nguyen Nhu Le, Hoai Phong Nguyen and Minh Kiet Doan. The Koreans had success with Wan Young Choi and Ja In Kang. For Japan, Ryuuji Umeda survived another qualifying round.
Dinh Quoc Nguyen advanced to the next round as first reserve. Jun Hyuk Son, Ahmet Alp, Alexander Salazar and Birol Uymaz, among other big names, missed out on qualification.
The group winners on Wednesday:
- Gwendal Maréchal 4-1,842-11
- Sam van Etten 4-1,750-10
- Van Ly Dao 4-1,590-10
- Wan Young Choi 4-1,521-11
- Nguyen Nhu Le 4-1,521-9
- Mikaël Devogelaere 4-1,346-6
- Ja In Kang 4-1,346-6
- Ryuuji Umeda 4-1. 320-6
- Kevin Vasseur 4-1,296-9
- Hoai Phong Nguyen 4-1,186-6
- Mehmet Goren 4-1,129-7
- Volkan Cetin 4-1,029-7
- Sergio Jimenez 3-1,372-8
- Arnim Kahofer 3-1,272-9
- Minh Kiet Doan 2-1,512-12
- Jean Paul de Bruijn 2-1,486-6
Dutchman Sam van Etten, second best following Gwendal Maréchal
The best of the Asians, Van Ly Dao
The groups for the final qualifying day on Thursday:
Group A: Sergio Jimenez, Volkan Cetin, Hong Chiem Thai
Group B: Arnim Kahofer, Mehmet Goren, Dinh Quoc Nguyen
Group C: Minh Kiet Doan, Hoai Phong Nguyen, Peter Ceulemans
Group D: Jérémy Bury, Kevin Vasseur, Jean Paul de Bruijn
Group E: Turgay Orak, Ryuuji Umeda, Haeng Jik Kim
Group F: Glenn Hofman, Jeffrey Jorissen, Ja In Kang
Group G: Bong Joo Hwang, Mikaël Devogelaere, Frédéric Caudron
Group H: Tran Thanh Tu Nguyen, Nguyen Nhu Le, Nick Polychronopoulos
Group I: Omer Karakurt, Wan Young Choi, Duc Minh Tran
Group J: Gökhan Salman, Van Ly Dao, Myeong Jong Cha
Group K: Manuel Rui Costa, Sam van Etten, Ruben Legazpi
Group L: Roland Forthomme, Gwendal Maréchal, Chang Hoon Seo.
Roberto Molina