This was the day that the first bodies would hit the floor in Germany as the one-loss side became fatal for many contestants. Paul Everette of Canada had one of the most brutal days possible as he was eliminated from the tournament on a one-game margin when Christopher Futrell of the USA bested him 9-8. Everette was not the only player to be dusted off by such a slim margin. Joshua Newman of the USA felt the same sting from Kim Hee Sup of Korea and Anja Wagner of Germany got the same cards dealt into her hand when Mary Rakin of the USA outbid her 7-6.
Others taking the longest walk away from the venue today included Dominic Jentsch of Germany who lost to Kim Hee Sup 9-5, Kang Lee (KOR) who fell 9-5 before Kui Ming Lin (TPE), Michael Czarnecki (POL) who dropped his match 9-5 also to Lin of Taipei, Jason Cook of New Zealand who was eliminated 9-4 by Yusuke Shibata of Japan and Daley White (also of New Zealand) who was vanquished 9-7 by Christopher Futrell of America.
Landon Shuffett of the USA bounced back from his loss yesterday to send two players home today. First he knocked over Roman Pruchai of Russia 9-6 and then ended the run of Marc Bucais of Canada by the same margin even after calling a foul on himself that no one else saw, a foul that wound up costing him three games when Bucais caught a gear on him. Aslam Sayed Sharik, a young player who redefines methodical, bested both Yevgen Novosad of the Ukraine (9-7) and Chew Ming Tan of Singapore (9-2) in a match that saw Sharik take more than 25 minutes to clear a single rack. Wehner Nico of Germany likes to keep things close. He beat both Ramazan Dincer of the Germany and Marc Bljsterbosch of the Netherlands 9-7. Mark Mendoza of the Philippines took out Stephen Lammons of Belgium 9-4 but then lost to Petri Makkonen of Finland 9-6.
On the young ladies side Tina Buhnen of Germany rolled over two other contestants 7-1. She ended the runs of both Marina Linguerri of Canada and Amy Claire King of South Africa. Shu Ling Lin of Taipei ended the tournament for Claudia Damiani of Nicaragua 7-2 while Chiaki Komiya of Japan did the same for Nicole Keeney of the USA (7-5) and Jenny Cook of New Zealand (7-3). Finally, our defending champion, Mary Rakin of the USA took down Hui Ching Yap of Singapore 7-2.
Ladies progressing on the winners side included Kristina Schagan of Germany who slid by Denise Wilkinson of New Zealand 7-6, Si Ming Chen of China who dusted Karla Fernandez of Mexico 7-3, Sina Petry of Germany who defeated Briana Miller of the USA 7-4 and Sabrina Naverschnig of Austria 7-3.
Our unscathed young men as of this moment are Yu Lun Wu of Taipei who ran over Albin Ouschan of Austria 9-3, Fabian Breuer of Germany who scraped past Richard Barney of the USA 9-8, Thomas Lufftich of Germany who beat Ikwan Sandjaja of Indonesia 9-3, Rusian Chinahov of Russia who took down Nick Pera of New Zealand 9-2, Tomoya Iima of Japan who bested Rene David of the Philippines 9-5, Attila Bezden of Hungary who got by Diego Gomez of Venezuela 9-7, Mathew Lawrenson of Great Britain who escaped Hoa Xing Han of Hong Kong 9-8 and Pin Yi Ko of Taipei who dominated Xiang Xao of China 9-0.
Play begins again on Thursday at 10Am CET. Please refer to www.wpa-tour.com for up-to-the-minute scoring and live streaming video of the matches on table number one. Also, scroll down the left hand side of that web site to the button labeled ‘sheets' and you will find the entire bracket set.
