NEWS  November 17, 2005   WC 8-Ball – Chia-Ching Wu wins the double title



Finalarena
 

64 players competed at the second edition of the 8-Ball world Championships in the Emirate Fujairah, amongst which 7 German participants. The fomat were 8 groups with 8 players who played in double KO brackets to determine the 4 players of each group qualified for the final round of 32 players in a single KO bracket. The 16 undefeated players from the qualifying round were seeded in the final round – the player with the least racks lost as no. 1 and the one with the most racks lost as 16. In the qualifying stage, the matches were played in races to 8.

I played my first match in my group against Kamran Shawla from Iran. After trailing 0-2, I gained control and won without too much trouble 8-2. The next match against Cheng-Chuan Liu from Taiwan was much tighter. But I managed to win 8-6 and was already qualified for the final round. Here, the draw made me play against the second from three players from Taiwan, Chang-Jung Lin. At the beginning he could keep the match balanced, but after two bad positions, he was eliminated from the competition - 5-10. In the next round, I had to play Daryl Peach from Great Britain. After the 0-1, I won 4 consecutive racks and played very well. But a black break was the starting signal for the come-back of the English player, and I did my best to support his efforts. After two more mistakes, Peach could equal the score. I regained the lead at 5-4, but in the 10th rack, the cue ball fell in a middle pocket. Now, the match went back and forth until 7-7 and then I made the next mistake. I played two bad positions and was under extreme pressure. At 7-9, Peach had two opportunities to win the match, but missed twice the position on the last coloured ball. I came back to 9-9 and had a good opportunity to win in the decisive 19th rack. Upon the break, I potted two balls perfectly and just had to pocket a long entry ball. I managed to do so and the remaining 5 balls were standard. But I did not count with the particular properties of the material. From an impossible angle, the cue ball swirled behind one of my object balls and I was snookered. After 3 or 4 minutes of analysis, I tried a rail shot, but this shot was totally missed and I had to bury my dream of the 8-Ball world Championship. With the 9th rank, I had equalled my result of the previous year and was very disappointed

 

8 Ball and 9 Ball World Champion Chia Ching Wu
 

The other German players had not much more success. Thorsten Hohmann had the biggest opportunity, but at 9-9 against 9-Ball World Champion Wu (TWN), he missed an easy 8 ball to win the match. Christian Reimering had shown a good performance, but in the round of the last 16 players, he did not stand a chance when he lost 4-10 to Dutchman Nick van den Berg. Michael Schmidt had been eliminated in the first KO round by Reimering. Andreas Roschkowsky had a terrible tournament and had to travel home after two defeats in my qualifying round. Kevin Becker, who also played in my group, could book one won match, but in the qualifying match, he lost 7-8. The 7th German player was Jörn Kaplan. In his opening match, he won against 9-Ball World Champion Wu and after another win, managed to enter the final round. Here, he had to face the Swiss player Marco Tschudi. He played well and was leading 6-1. But then, he had physical problems and missed ball after ball. He probably had a physical condition, and fought hard to stay in the match, but he did not succeed. After a bitter 9-10 defeat, he finished 17th at his first World Championships.

The Dutchmen were more successful and brought two players in the medal ranks, Feijen and van den Berg. However, Feijen played a mediocre semi-final and did not stand a chance when losing 5-10 to Chia-Ching Wu from Taiwan. In the second semi-final, Nick van den Berg won 10-8 against Francesco Bustamante from the Philippines and Europe had the chance to book another title. Once again, Bustamante could not make his dream come true, because he shot not less than 5 black breaks. The final was only balanced until 3-3. The Dutchman missed three opportunities to take an early lead and could not make use from the mistakes made by the 16 years old player from Taiwan. Adter the 7th rack, the player from Taiwan dominated the match and only 4 months after winning the 9-Ball crown, he won the world 8-Ball title winning 11-3. And once more, he wrote a chapter for billiards history, since he is the first player having won a World Championship in two disciplines and at just 16 years of age. 

All I can say is – respect!


 


 Fujairah