NEWS - 06.14.04  IBC Japan Cup - First title on Asian soil

Not less than 83 participants competed at The IBC Japan Cup, a WPA world ranking tournament. The promoters had found the ideal venue in the Westin Hotel and the neighbouring convention hall in the city of Hyogo on the island Awaji.

I had a walk-through in round 1 and had then to play Y. Ohashi from Japan whom I could beat 9-7. In round three, I won against Y. Govender from South Africa 9-6, but I still committed too many mistakes, bringing myself into trouble during the match. I showed my first satisfactory performance in my next match against S. Nagata (JPN). In spite of the changing break, I won the match in a composed way 9-5 and was qualified for the final round of 16 players which was played in a single KO bracket.

The draw made me play R. Gallego from the Philippines, who had lost in the winners bracket to T. Hohmann. I could reproduce my good performance and entered the quarter-finals with a never disputed 11-5. Now, I assisted to an unknown way of drawing. The remaining 8 players draw a ball numbered between 1 and 8 and could then seed themselves for the quarter-finals, in the order of their draw. Since I draw the number 1, I could only select my position in the 8 player grid. I choose the first match. F. Bustamante (PHI) had the number 2 and choose the second match. These were the quarter-finals:

(1) R. Souquet (GER)      - (8) K. Suzuki (JPN)      11-5
(2) F. Bustamante (PHI)  -  (7) T. Hohmann (GER)  11-6
(3) S. Nagata (JPN)        - (4) C. Williams (USA)   11-8
(5) E. Reyes (PHI)          - (6) Y.H. Jeong (KOR)   11-3

After a good match in the quarter-finals, it came to the clash against F. Bustamante in the semi-finals. In the beginning, it seemed to turn out as so often in our matches. I made unbelievable mistakes and „Django“ played just like in a training session. But in the course of the match, I found my normal level of game and I started to make the leader of the World Ranking commit mistakes. The suspense remained until the end of the match, but this time, I managed to win 11-8. In the second semi-final, E. Reyes from the Philippines won also 11-8 against S. Nagata from Japan.

  So it came to the repetition of the final of the Derby City Classic in January this year between E. Reyes and R. Souquet. At the beginning, both players made use of their break advantage and the score remained equal until 2-2. I made use from the first mistake by my opponent and took a 4-2 lead. During the match, I had an excellent run and increased my lead to 9-4. Reyes could only win one more rack and missed an opportunity at 5-10, when he missed a long 7 ball. The remaining 3 balls were all but difficult and after a long frustrating period, I could book a major title winning 11-5. And, after many losses in finals, it was my first title in Japan and Asia.

In the wheelchair competition, D. Luton from Great Britain could turn a 5-8 into a 9-8 win against a player from Japan and a Chinese player won the women’s competition 8-2 against S. Mori from Japan.