11-24-03 All Japan Championships – Bad luck, no luck or simply my fault?

The 36th edition of the All Japan Championships in Amagasaki was once more a top event. Many top players were already qualified for the main field of 128 players, but some still had to qualify via the qualification round. So, already in round 1, there were some real clashes and some of the top players had to go the long way through the losers bracket.

My first opponent, W.-W. Su from Taiwan, had made his way through the qualification. I had a wonderful start and booked a never jeopardized 9-0. In my second match against T. Narumi from Japan, I played as well and turned a 0-1 into a 9-1. Then, all winners had a free day and we only had to resume by Sunday morning 10h00. I must have been still sleeping when the match started, at least, my match against L. Andam from the Philippines looked this way. Right at the beginning, the cue ball fell when playing the 2 ball. At 0-2, my opponent missed the 7 ball and I played a bad position on the 9 ball. It was still possible to make this 9 ball, but I scratched. At 0-5, I scored the first point, because the man from the Philippines left the 9 ball in the pocket. But in the following rack, I couldn’t make use of my break. At 1-6, I lost position from the 1 ball to the 2 ball, still made the 2 ball, but then the cue ball was so close to the 6 ball, that I couldn’t play the 3 ball which was located just in front of the pocket. At 3-7, I had an open table after the break, but already missed the first easy ball and finally lost 3-9. All in all, this was a match which I had to forget quickly and which belongs to the category “it can’t come worse“.

In the losers bracket, my next opponent was A. Toshikawa from Japan. I continued where I had stopped in my last match, with many mistakes. At 0-4, I had another opportunity, which I could use to come back into the match (3-4). Since the match was on for quite some time, a 45 seconds shot limit without time extension was decided. From now on, it worked better and I finally found my rhythm. Finally, I entered the round of the final 32 players with a 9-5.

Now, each player had to draw two numbers. First the winners to determine the order of the draw, then to determine the number of the match. Then, the players issued from the losers bracket, had to undergo the same procedure. A bit confusing, isn’t it? But this is the Japanese way to organize a draw – the more action the better.

My first opponent in the KO bracket was T. Toda from Japan. After an average start, I found my composure and could book a 11-5 win. In the round of the last 16 players, my opponent was R. Alcano (PHI). The player from the Philippines had the better start and took a 2-0 lead. But during the course of the match, I could impose my game and entered the quarter-finals against young T. Nishio from Japan thanks to a 11-7 success. To open the match, he shot an ace. In the second rack, I had a bad contact with the 7 ball, so that I only came back to the table when already trailing 0-4. After an intermediate score of 1-5, I could equal the score at 5-5 and had an open table to take the lead for the first time in this match. But the second bad contact in this match threw me back to 5-8. But again, I could come back and even take a 10-8 lead. After the break, I had the possibility to win the match. But then, I missed an easy 8 ball. At 10-10, my opponent lost twice his position and could save twice this situation. The third missed position was on the 7 ball and I had another opportunity. But the position on the 8 ball had absolutely no angle and I wanted to pot the 9 ball, which was located in the middle of the table, from the short rail into a middle pocket. Just when I took my last swing, the referee gave me a time limit warning and I had to stop my movement and ask for a time extension. I aimed again, missed my second match ball and lost 10-11. This was more than frustrating and I had to stay in my seat for a couple of minutes to calm down.

Sometimes, a bit of sensitivity would be appropriate for the spectators, but I don’t ant to blame others for my defeat. I had my chances and didn’t make use of them.

In the semi-finals, E. Reyes (PHI) played T. Hohmann (GER) and Y.-H. Jeong (KOR) faced T. Nishio (JPN). The current World Champion from Germany made 4 easy mistakes and lost 8-11 to the Magician. In the other semi-final, Nishio booked his third consecutive 11-10 and so entered the final against Reyes. In the final, “Bata” only had to produce an average performance to book a 11-7 win, the title and a cheque for 2.000.000 Yen (16,000 US$).