NEWS  November 16, 2006  World Championship 9-Ball – Silver medal won or gold medal lost?




 

For the first time, Matchroom Sports had organized in cooperation with the WPA the 9-Ball World Championships in the so-called home country of pool billiards. Manila, the capital of the Philippines, offered an excellent venue, especially since a huge number of top players come from the many little islands in the South Chinese Sea and the Pacific Ocean. The tournament was played in the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) and fort he first time, the starting round was played in groups of 4 players round robin in races to 8 with alternating break. The two top players of each group were qualified for the final bracket of 64 players.  
I was seeded as number 7 and so one of the 14 qualifiers was drawn in my group. However, in the past, this had not always turned out to be an advantage in this sport. Many top class players from Taiwan, the Philippines, Europe and the USA had to go via the qualification to gain a spot in the main field of the WC. So, this year again, there were 21 players from the Philippines and 16 from Taiwan in the main field, which amounts to not less than 29 % of all competitors.
 

I started in group 7 and my first opponent was Leonardo Andam from the Philippines. I had a head start and after a mistake made by Andam, took a rapid 3-0 and 5-2 lead. At 5-3, I found myself in a rather difficult safety situation and with a little bit of luck, I could pocket a rail shot. So, I broke all hopes of my opponent and finally won without too much trouble 8-4.
 
The next day, I played Chang Jung-Ling from Taiwan. I was very busy to run after the score, was always trailing by 2 or 3 racks. At 4-7 and my own break to come, I could reduce the score to 5-7. Now, I had to hope for a mistake by my opponent and this happened. First, the cue ball fell when the Taiwanese player tried to play the position from the 6 ball to the 7 ball and I could run out the table. My next break was an ace and all of a sudden, the score was 7-7. In the last rack, the cue ball fell again upon my opponent’s break and I could run out the table to finally win 8-7. Considering the other results of my group, I was already qualified for the KO bracket.
 
After a free day, I played my third match against the Swedish Senior European Champion Tony Fransson. This match was important to secure a good position for the final bracket. I played well, won 8-1 and finished the first round on the 11th overall rank.
 

On day 5, the KO bracket with 64 players started. Number one of the first round played number 64, number 2 against number 63, number 3 against number 62 and so forth. With my 11th rank, I had to play number 54, Huidji See from the Netherlands. Now, the matches were played in races to 10, but still with alternating break.
I played very solidly and almost committed no mistakes, which allowed me to win 10-3.
 

In the round of the last 32 players, my opponent was Yang Ching-Shun (TWN), one of the hottest bets for the title. The match was very tight and full of suspense until the end. Both players won their breaks until 5-5. Then, I could „steal“ a rack and secured this tiny advantage until the end, winning 10-8.

 
 
Now, I had entered the round of the last 16 players and had to play against the very strong Russian player Konstantin Stepanov, who had upset two rounds earlier the German Oliver Ortmann 10-6 and then Oliver’s team mate Marco Tschudi (SUI) 10-7. Stepanov started very well and made use of my first mistake to take a 4-2 lead. Then he started making mistakes which I used without mercy. After trailing 2-4, I won 11-4 and had entered fort he sixth time in my career the quarter-finals of a 9-Ball World Championships. And I was the last player in the competition not being from Asia.
 
My opponent in the quarter-finals was Liu Cheng-Chuan from Taiwan. I played my first match on the table 1, the so-called Centre Court. I had a perfect start and took a rapid 6-0 lead. After two mistakes on my end, he came back to 6-4. But I could re-gain my composure and took control of the match again. After 8-4, I finally won 11-8 and had entered fort he fourth time the semi-finals of a WC.

 

My opponent in the semi-finals was another player from Taiwan, Fu Che-Wei. On table 2, the match turned out to be a real thriller, offering everything what billiards can offer. Many safety shots, many rail shots, a few aces and pure drama until the very end. At 9-6, I could already smell the final, but my opponent delivered a great fight and came back to 9-9. We both won our breaks and at 10-10, I had the advantage to break. But the table was very difficult and I had to solve two balls and a very difficult entry shot. I solved the first problem and had the perfect angle to solve the 5 and the 6 ball when potting the 4 ball. But de to a bad contact, the balls could not be pocketed and from here, we played a 20 minute safety battle. When the 5 ball was open for the first time, I decided to play the aggressive option, pocketed the ball and was compensated with a good position on the 6 ball. I pocketed the remaining 3 balls, won 11-10 and had entered the WC final for the third time.
 

The Final:
I had the firm intention to do things different than 5 years ago, when I lost the WC final and I felt much better. But, bad luck, on the final day, I woke up with a sore throat and destiny took its course. I felt bad and tried everything to regain my form until the final. I slept at noon, took vitamin C and aspirin to soothe the pain.

 
At the beginning of the match against the local hero Ronato Alcano (PHI), who was supported by the some 1000 supporters, I played like inhibited and took two bad decisions. I did not feel well and decided to tackle the final with a more defensive strategy. During the match, this tuned out to be a big mistake. This way, I had shown the player from the Philippines that my self-confidence was not at the best level. Alcano only played soft breaks and almost always had a position on the 1 ball. I played a harder break, also pocketed balls, but could not run out the tables. If I had some opportunities at the beginning of the match, I did not make use of them. At 3-9, I shot my first ace, but every time I regained some hope, Alcano had the matching answer for me. I never could reduce the advantage of Alcano and finally had to accept my 11-17 defeat against a clever and cool Alcano. This was the big chance to win my second World title after 1996, but two bad decisions made things turn out in his favour.
 

 

All pictures on this site: copyright by Lawrence Lustig - Matchroom Sport
 

After the final, I was extremely disappointed and just wanted to hide away. Not because I was ashamed of my worst tournament performance, but of the way I lost. Now, a few days later, I am very satisfied with what I have achieved – the silver medal. But right after the final, I could not be happy with the won silver or lost gold medal.

I want to thank my family, friends, supporters all over the world for the many congratulations for this silver medal. The many mails, SMS and comments in various forums made it easy for me to swallow my deception about the final defeat. My intention is to return this “Thank you” by good performances in the future.

Yours sincerely Ralf „The Kaiser“ Souquet