NEWS - World Championship 9-Ball – Hohmann takes the crown




128 participants from more than 40 countries competed at the 9-Ball World Championship in Cardiff, Wales. 16 groups with 8 players were played in Round Robin format and half of the competitors could qualify for the KO bracket.

The first day, I had to play two group matches. In my match against M. Eberle (USA), I was already trailing 0-3 and 2-4, but I managed to book a 5-4 win. Against F. Petroni (ITA), I was also trailing 3-4, before finally winning the match 5-4. Considering that I could have lost both matches, this start was very important. On day two, I had to play another two matches. My opponents were E. Riera (AUS - 5-2) and A. Lely (NED - 5-2). The match against the Dutchman was played on the centre court, where I played very well, and qualified already mathematically for the final round. Another two wins on day three against A. Wiggens (USA) 5-1 and S. Wieto (INA) 5-4 assured the spot in the KO bracket. On day four, the last day of the qualification round, I played just one more match against I. Majid (GB).
I won once more 5-4 and so belonged to the four undefeated players of the qualification round.

In the KO bracket in races to 9, the number 1 played number 64, number 2 played number 63 from the qualification round and so forth. Being number 3 from the qualification round, I played the number 62 from Canada, R. Cruz. I was trailing for a long time, but after the score of 3-6, I managed to win 9-6. In the round of the last 32 players, I faced Taiwan’s number 1, C. S. Yang. The gold medallist of the Akita World Games 2001 showed a world class performance and after my early 3-0 lead, he didn’t leave me the slightest chance. After an unsuccessful break, I only returned four times to the table. Twice, I had to play from a safety position, leaving both times an open table to my opponent. The other two times, I played a safety myself, but Yang played twice successful jump shots and ran out the tables and scored more racks. The final score was 3-9 and I finished on rank 17. I had played a good tournament and could be generally satisfied. Of course, I wasn’t satisfied with the result, since I came here to win the title. With a composed and quiet game, benefiting from his opponents mistakes, another German managed to win the title.

T. Hohmann from Fulda, Germany, defeated in the quarter-finals the runner-up of the last World Championships F. Bustamante (PHI) 11-10, after already trailing 6-10. With this victory, he entered the semi-finals against defending champion E. Strickland from the USA. The defending champion never showed his capabilities and deserved losing 4-11. Hohmann had reached the final. His opponent was A. Pagulayan from Canada, the runner-up of the U.S. Open 9-Ball in 2002. Hohmann controlled the match and after an equal score at 2-2, was always leading with at least two racks. Too many mistakes of the ‚Lion’ made the dream of the young German come true.
At 17-10, Thorsten ‚The Hitman’ Hohmann scored his first World title and entered the scene of the real great players.

2003 World Pool Champion with World Fan Champion 1999/2000/2001/2002/2003