|
For
the first time, an open 9-ball tournament was played on the Philippines.
During the first day, app.64 players competed in double KO brackets for
the remaining spots on the final 32 field which was then played in single
KO format. Among the 16 invited players counted two players from the US
Mosconi Cup team (R. Morris & E. Strickland) and 4 players from Team
Europe (M. Chamat, M. Immonen, T. Hohmann & R. Souquet).
All „seeded“ players faced a player issued from the qualification in
the first round, but this did not mean necessarily that the task was easy.
The biggest surprise was on my level, since I lost my opening match
against R. Cruz from the Philippines without standing a real chance and in
spite of the changing break 3-9. It was not so much a great performance by
my opponent, who certainly played well, but the main reason was my total
counter-performance. I shot two black breaks and at least two balls were
stuck in the pocket without falling. Twice, the cue ball was pushed by a
coloured ball into a pocket. Three times my opponent missed his shot and
left me with impossible positions, and to top all this, the table wasn’t
even so that I missed twice a sure and easy ball. To compensate all these
elements in a race to nine match was simply not possible this day and so I
had to accept my 17th rank after just a few shots.
Further “victims” in round 1 were A. Pagulayan (CAN) who lost to A.
Gabica (PHI) who is well known in Germany , M. Chamat (SWE) against a
player from Taiwan who is only 14 years old, R. Morris against A. Lining (PHI)
who is also well known in Germany and Chao F.-P. who lost to his student
Yang C.-S., both from Taiwan.
In the round of the last 16 players, World Champion T. Hohmann was also
eliminated (5-9 against Jeong from Korea). From a European point of view,
only Immonen could defend the colours. After an almost lucky first round
win 9-3 against Chang P.-W. from Taiwan, he was already almost lost in
round two when trailing 4-8 against Yang. But a few mistakes committed by
the Taiwan # 1 allowed the player from Finland to win 9-8 and to gain a
spot in the quarter-finals. Here, he played very well and his opponent
from Japan, S. Kawabata, didn’t stand the slightest chance - 9-2. In the
semi-finals, we assisted to the clashes between Immonen and F. Bustamante
(PHI) and E. Reyes (PHI) against L. Andam (PHI). Reyes was trailing almost
all of the match and had to count on bad luck or mistakes by his opponent.
And this is exactly what happened – after trailing 3-6, he managed to
win 11-7. I acted as a co-commentator for ABS-CBN for the second
semi-final. At the beginning, both players did not commit any mistake and
the match went back and forth until 3-3. Then, both players started to
make mistakes, especially „Django“ made very many and very easy
mistakes. So, the „Iceman“ won the match and entered the final - 11-7.
|
|
|
In the final, everything
looked like a victory for „Bata“ Reyes. He played well and fully
deserved his 9-4 lead. But the great fighter Immonen, who enjoys playing
under pressure, made use of the slightest chance and could equal at 10-10.
Now, the match went back and forth. Then, Immonen missed a few chances,
but he remained lucky, and always left difficult positions for his
opponent. The Magician made one or two rail shots, but the third time, the
rail at the middle pocket was in the way. He managed to take a 12-11 lead,
and at 12-12 had the break, but the balls didn’t roll for him. Still, he
had another opportunity in the decisive rack, but he played a too straight
position on the 3 ball and then wanted to play with a lot of pressure a
good position for the 5 ball and the 9 ball. He missed and left Immonen
with the 3 ball at the long rail. Immonen made use of this opportunity and
won his third title this year in his new home town Manila, where is is
co-owner of a bar.
|
