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NEWS November 24, 2006 All Japan Championships – Again a Philippine triumph |
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The
All Japan Championships were played fort he 39th time and are the tournament
with the longest history in the Pool Billiards history. The event was held
in the city of Amagasaki and 128 men and more than 70 women competed for
world ranking points. The
field was divided in four brackets of 32 players and these brackets were
played in double KO in races to 9, until the final 32 bracket in races to
11. In
my first match, my opponent was 2003 runner-up Tasuku Nichio from Japan. Starting
well into the tournament, I scored an undisputed 9-2. In
my next match against Chinese player Wang Ming, I started as well and was
leading 3-1. But then I made a mistake and did not come back to the table
until 3-5. Even if I scored the next rack, I had to watch the Chinese player
win rack after rack to finish 4-9. In
the losers bracket, I now faced Naoya Hisakawa from Japan and was in full
control of the match – 9-3. My next opponent was Kenji Takada (JPN), and
even if my performance was average, I finally won 9-6. The stake of the next
match was a spot in the final round and my opponent was Lee Haiao-Hsuan from
Taiwan. I played better and won 9-5 and was qualified for the final round. The
next day, each of the 32 players draw a number and I had to play against
Chan Keng-Kwan from Singapore. I was halfway asleep when the match started,
because I had hardly slept the night before. My opponent had not much more
to offer, but was a bit more lucky in the decisive situations. After
trailing 1-3 and 3-6, I could turn the match and took an 8-6 lead. Then I
missed an easy 1 ball and at 9-9, also an easy 3 ball. Finally, I lost 10-11
and was eliminated, finishing on the 17th rank. There was much more to
achieve, but I missed a few easy balls and should and could have won a few
matches more. In
the final, Lee Van Corteza from the Philippines was opposed to the 2004 WC
runner-up and winner of the 2005 World Games, Chang Pei-Wei from Taiwan. I a
rather single-sided match, the player from the Philippines confirmed his
good form displayed throughout the tournament and fully deserved to win
11-3. Chang had eliminated three of his fellow countrymen Chao Fong-Pang, Wu
Chia-Chin and Kuo Po-Cheng and so deserved his spot in the final. However,
his performance in the final was not up to what we had seem during this
tournament, but finally, Lee Van Corteza did not allow for more. |
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