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NEWS - 07-15-05 World Championships 9-Ball – A nightmare has come true... |
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This
year’s WC in Kaohsiung / Taiwan was to bring a better result than last
year in Taipei. I had opted for a different preparation and had travelled 14
days earlier to the Challenge Matches in Japan. With an average game time of
9 hours per day and more than 100 played sets in races to 5 up to 11,
I felt well when I took the plane to Kaohsiung, Japan. A cold and an
infected ligament in the right shoulder were the only handicaps during my
preparation for the most important event of the season. Finally, after a
press conference, the event started. 128 players from more than 45 countries
competed during 9 days for the crown and to become the world’s best player
for a year. My
first round group 16 was not considered to be too strong, but this is why I
paid particular attention. When playing matches in races to 5 with
alternating break you’d better not under-estimate anybody, but on the
other hand, this format is not really adequate for a WC. And so it happened
– I did not stand a chance during my first four matches. In the first
match against Luong Chi Dung from Vietnam, I committed two heavy mistakes in
one rack, but still could win this one. But Dung played very well and
finally won 5-3. On day two, I played my second match against David Reljic
from Australia. I missed a long ball which I had to play aggressively and
since my opponent did not commit any mistakes, the final score was 2-5.
Right after this match, I played Gilliano Smit (NED), who also did not
commit any mistakes. Again I could not really defend myself and could only
chose between a push-out or a safety upon the break. In such cases, when
your opponent attacks and pots everything via rail shots, you don’t stand
a chance. After another 2-5 defeat, my score was pretty bad after day two -
0-3 matches. On day three, I started better and should have won against
Ivica Putnik from Croatia. But I was unlucky and the man from Croatia won,
even if he missed many more balls than I did, but he was lucky and these
balls finally ended up in any pocket. After my 3-5 defeat, I was so
frustrated that I threw a PET water bottle against a wall. This was one of
my very few eruptions of anger and I could not control myself in this very
moment. And this gesture did not have the desired effect, since my next
match was by far the worse at this WC, even if I managed to win 5-4 against
Phyllip Wilkinson from New Zealand. On day four, only a miracle could have
saved me and I did depend on the results of the other players in my group.
My first match against Tan Tiong Boon from Singapore was my best match and I
won 5-0. A little bit of hope, but just for a short time. Even by winning my
last match against last year’s semi-finalist Po-cheng Kuo (TWN), I could
only reach rank 5 in this group. The first three racks, the „Little
Monster“ played great and took a rapid 3-0 lead. A foul by my opponent
brought me back into the match and I came back to 2-3. In rack six, I was on
my way to equal at 3-3, but after potting a ball, I touched another ball
with my shirt and my opponent had ball in hand. The nightmare was perfect,
since I lost 2-5 and finished only 6th in my group. This was my worst result
in a WC since 1990 and I finished between ranks 81 and 96. I
was not surprised to see only 16 years old Chia-ching Wu from Taiwan become
World Champion. He won the final 17-16 against his so far undefeated country
fellowman Po-cheng Kuo, having trailed already 12-16. In the semi-finals, US
player Rodney Morris and Marlon Manalo from the Philippines had lost their
matches. Best European players were Thorsten Hohmann (GER), Nick van den
Berg (NED) and Mika Immonen from Finland, who all lost their quarter-final
matches. |
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