|
For
the third time, the 8-bal World Championships were played in Fujairah, one
of the seven Emirates of the UAE. The field was limited to 64 players, but
since all of the US players declined to play, some additional German players
earned a spot in the field. Altogether, 9 German players started the
tournament.
We
played in 8 groups of 8 players in double KO format in races to 8 with
changing break until the round of the last 32 players, where the event
continued in the KO bracket in races to 10 and 11.
In
the newly built Al Bustan hall, I started badly. To start with, I had to
play against Darren Appleton (GBR) who had survived the qualifications and
who had already reached a final in the Eurotour. I made some mistakes and
had a bad break, so that I lost 5-8 to the English IPT member. On the
loser’s side, I then faced Jobert Panga (PHI), who had lost his opening
match against German Olaf Köster (Hamburg) 7-8. I played better and could
score an undisputed 8-2. Now, the qualification fort he KO round was at
stake and my opponent was Saleem Al Juneebi from the hosting country UAE.
I
could further improve my performance and won 8-1, while my opponent had
trouble to benefit from his break.
Only
five German players made their way to the final round of 32 players in KO
format. A big surprise: the elimination of European Champion Oliver Ortmann.
The players Olaf Köster, Thomas Damm and Günter Geisen all have enough
experience for such an event, but the competition has grown tougher over the
last 10 years, so that their elimination was not too much of a surprise.
In the first KO round, I had to play once more
against Darren Appleton (ENG), but this time, I won 10-4. My much better
break was the key element for this match. Thomas Engert (GER) upset one of
the top seeded players, Francisco Bustamante (PHI), like before at the
9-ball WC, winning 10-9. Thorsten Hohmann (GER) did not have his best day
and lost to 9-ball World Champion Ronato Alcano (PHI) 3-10. The same applied
to Kevin Becker (GER), who lost fort he second time in this tournament to
Hui-Kai Hsia (Taiwan) 2-10. However, Alexander Dremsizis (GER) scored a
surprising win over defending 8-Ball World Champion Chia-Ching Wu (TWN)
10-8.
|
|
Spielort Al Bustan Hall
|
In
the round of the last 16 players, 3 Germans were left, but out of
these, two more were eliminated in this round. First, I lost
to Dennis Orcollo (PHI) 8-10. Upon
my break, the cue ball fell three times, once I could not pocket a
ball and one missed ball was already too much against this world
class player. However, I ought to win the match, sonce Orcollo
missed more balls. Alexander Dremsizis played Dutchman Niels Feijen
and played well at the beginning. But during the match, he started
making mistakes and finally, he lost 6-10 and also finished on rank
9. Thomas Engert was the only German player to reach the
quarter-finals winning against the Japanese player Hisashi Kusano
10-4.
Here,
he was opposed to Joven Bustamante (PHI), who lives in the UAE and
who had eliminated Oliver Ortmann previously. According to Thomas
Engert, he played his best match in this tournament, but strange
enough, he lost 4-10 and finished 5th.
The semi-finals:
Joven Bustamante – Dennis Orcollo 5-10
Niels Feijen – Ronato Alcano 4-10
In a Philippine final, the current 9-ball World
Champion took control of the match and was leading right from the
start. At 7-2, it looked like a disaster for Orcollo, but he
benefited from a break foul by Alcano to come back. He reduced the
score to 7-8 with his own break to come. But no ball fell and Alcano
cleared two more racks to lead 10-7. Orcollo won the next rack
and had to hope for mistakes by his fellow countryman in rack 19.
But Alcano did not do him this favour and within four months, he won
his second World Champion title. So, for the second time in a row,
one player holds both WC titles. Originally, this WC was scheduled
for end of 2006, but due to schedule conflicts with the IPT Tour,
the event had been postponed.
|
|
