NEWS - August 20, 2003 – The Big Apple 9-Ball Challenge – The Korean Dragon beats the Magician

At the first edition of this event in New York, the promoter was all but lucky. The black-out which had paralysed several cities in the USA and Canada, caused the tournament to start later than planned. The fact that the organizers, due to the great numbers of registrations,   increased the number of competitors from initially 64 to 92, completely exploded the time schedule. The first two days, the competitors had to play until 0430 a.m..

In round one, I played against L. Favata from New York and won 11-5. The second match against I. Majid from England was almost similar and I scored another 11-6 win. On day two, I was opposed to N. Varner (USA). The „Hall of Famer“ played a solid match and made benefit from every slight opportunity. A few mistakes on my end ended finally in a 6-11 defeat. In the loser’s bracket, Dutchman A. Lely was waiting for me. I rapidly took control of the match and assured a quick 8-2 lead. An easily missed 8 ball in the next rack and another missed 6 ball in the rack after brought the Dutchman back into the match. From now on, he succeeded in everything and he managed to take the lead at 9-8.
I could then equal the match and take the lead back at 10-9. In rack 20, I had ball in hand and had to play a difficult 3 ball along the rail, past the middle pocket. The ball did everything but fall and I had to watch my opponent take the rack. In the last rack, I had once more an opportunity to win, but could not pot a thin, long 1 ball and finally lost the match 10-11. I was not satisfied with rank 17.

The title went to UPA President C. Williams, in spite of the fact that he had lost his cue. He had to fight his way trought the tournament with four different and borrowed cues. The airport staff managed to lose his cues at his and until now, they haven’t been found yet. On his way to the title with two wins over the Magician E. Reyes (PHI - 11-9 and 13-8 in the final), he gave an impressive evidence that one can win such a high level tournament also this way. Third place went to R. Morris (USA), fourth to J. Parica (PHI).