HO CHI MINH - The home land has one player left in the race, the Koreans are with two and Dick Jaspers is guest of honor at the Asian gala ball this Sunday. Three of the world's top 10 players face one outsider. The Dutch world number one meets top Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran, Jung Han Heo gets Bong Joo Hwang, number 46, thanks to a good position in the Bogota World Cup. That climax with three Asians and one European came on a remarkable day, when the world could not see live footage due to a mourning period in Vietnam. The loyal viewers on Soop did not witness the four quarter-finals, which actually did not show much excitement. Dick Jaspers was just about supreme against Zanetti thanks to a formidable start with 9, 5, 4, 4 and 5, good for 27-9 in 6 innings. The heralded European topmatch was already played before it had even started properly. Jaspers threw another 11 over in the 11th inning for 41-15 and finished sovereign 50 22 in 17, averaging 2.941 for the Dutchman, the best of the four quarter-finals.
Quyet Chien Tran came closest with 2.778 in his match against Haeng Jik Kim, which was also put in the decisive fold early on. Tran started with 6, 3, 5 and 13 in the first six innings and also put an unbridgeable gap on the scoreboard: 29-5, eventually extended to 50-27 in 18/17.
The end of a fantastic tournament came for Sergio Jimenez in the match against Jung Han Heo. The Spaniard had suddenly lost his way after so much beauty in the previous days. The paltry 9 in 13 innings gave Heo the chance to run out to 40-9 with, among other things, runs of 7, 9 and 6 between the 10th and 13th innings. So goodbye Sergio Jimenez, revelation of this World Cup, glorious in his run of 24 and high averaes in his appearances until the quarterfinals, but now without any chance against Heo with 50-25 in 25/24.
Most surprising in that quartet of finalists was of course Bong Joo Hwang, conqueror in the previous days among others of Myung Woo Cho, the world champion, with 40-27 in 20, only loser in a great match against Sergio Jimenez with 40-27 in 17. The way to the podium was open, the Korean grabbing it with both his hands by beating Sameh Sidhom with 50-35 in the quarter-finals.
The matches for Sunday in the semifinals:
11.30:
Jung Han Heo-Bong Joo Hwang
14.00:
Dick Jaspers-Quyet Chien Tran
Round with eight
Only the Koreans were still in the top eight with three, for the rest there were five players from other countries. Dick Jaspers was also the best of those 8 winners, partly due to his great starting run of 17 against Vietnamese Le. On the line for the next leg was the Jaspers-Zanetti match, a magnificent poster in international three-cushiont. Five players from the top 10 were ranked 8 in the round, Jaspers being the highest ranked. Jung Han Heo, Bong Joo Hwang and Haeng Jik Kim competed for South Korea for the podium places. Otherwise, only loners: Dick Jaspers from the Netherlands, Marco Zanetti from Italy, Sergio Jimenez from Spain, Quyet Chien Tran from Vietnam and Sameh Sidhom from Egypt.
The Vietnamese were faded from the stage after the impressive start. Dao, Nguyen, Le and Le were four losers in the round of 16. For the Belgians, Roland Forthomme was still in the arena. His match against Zanetti had a strong start, but at the end the Italian struck the small gap for a win: 50-43 in 28 innings. Sergio Jimenez still continued to impress in the World Cup of which he himself said, “'I have never played so strong in a World Cup before.”' The new Spanish phenom excelled in high averages and was now also too strong for Tayfun Tasdemir with 50-27 in 23 innings. Jung Han Heo knocked Jeffrey Jorissen out of the World Cup, so the Netherlands lost its second player.
Sameh Sidhom settled with Ruben Legazpi (50-47 in 36), Haeng Jik Kim played himself into the spotlight once again, as did Quyet Chien Tran, who bowled a compatriot out of the tournament and was now the only remaining hero of the home crowd.
Quyet Chien Tran, the only home player left
Jung Han Heo, one of the two Koreans, the one with a palmares
Bong Joo Hwang, on his way to the podium