NEWS May 2, 2008 World Championships 8-Ball – A dream comes true

Alcano-Souquet-Orcollo-Chamat

The World Championships in 8-Ball were only played for the fourth time, again in Fujairah, one of the seven United Arab Emirates. The 64 competitors were divided in 8 groups with 8 players, playing in double KO format in races to 8 with alternating break. From the round of the last 32 players, the format changed to a KO bracket in races to 10.

I was seeded in group F and had once more the pleasure to draw a player coming from the qualifications. As suspected, my opponent Jeff De Luna was all but an easy client.

For several weeks, I am suffering from an infection in my right shoulder which causes heavy pain and which makes the fine tuning of my game very difficult. Even if I managed to keep the match rather balanced in the beginning, I then had no luck upon my break and the cue ball dropped three times. Add a missed shot and I could not win the match anymore. Like in the previous year, I started with a 5-8 defeat and was already under ultimate pressure. My next match against the Maroccean player Amine Ouahbi was already much better, mainly because my break was more successful now. In spite of my handicap, I was fully focused and sometimes, I even did not feel the pain anymore. With an undisputed 8-1, I entered the next round. My opponent was Ibrahim Bin Amir from Malaysia, who had defeated the Philippine player Alan Cuartero 8-4 in round one, before losing against the Taiwanese number one Hung-Hsiang Wang 7-8.

The match was very balanced, since both players won their breaks or could steal their opponent’s break. The match went along like this and just one mistake made by the player from Malaysia made the difference. By winning 8-6, I was qualified fort he KO bracket of the last 32 players.

Ralf

Now, the players qualified in the winner’s bracket were seeded from 1 to 16, according to the number of racks lost in the qualification stage. The players from the loser’s bracket were then drawn by the two female umpires at the occasion of the banquet night. When the draw was announced, the crowd was surprised, since some of the players sure had hoped for different opponents.

I was drawn to play the Philippine player Elvis Calasang, whom I never played before. After a bad start, I was trailing 0-3. But then, I entered the match and could come back step by step. I finally deserved to win 10-7, because my break was better and I almost committed any mistakes.

In the round of the last 16 players, I was opposed to one of the top players of the tournament, Dutchman Niels Feijen. This time, I had a good start and could benefit from a mistake and a black break by my opponent to lead 5-1. But then, I missed a shot and the cue ball fell upon my break, so that Feijen could come back and even take the lead. All of a sudden, the playing features of the table changed, because the temperature in the hall fell and the air became humid. The rails behaved like a pinball machine, so that I had to change plans for a few balls and play different ways. The fight became dense and sometimes, easy positions turned out to be very difficult. At 7-8, Feijen missed a difficult combination and I could equal the score. The next two tables were run out from the break and the score evolved to 9-9 and Feijen had a major advantage. Since he had won the break shot, he now had the break in the decisive rack. Now, I had to hope for him to make a mistake, otherwise, the WC would have been terminated for me. Feijen played his break and no ball fell. I came to the table and entered the quarter-finals by winning 10-9 after more than 3 hours playing time.

Here, I was opposed to the British player Chris Melling, who had previously eliminated the number one of the Eurotour ranking Mark Gray (10-5) and the German player Marcus Westen Before the quarter-finals started, tournament director Thomas Overbeck called all 8 players in a separate room to inform them about the upcoming doping control. All winners of the quarter-final matches had to report to the two doping commissioners right after the matches for the control.

Then, the matches started and compared to the previous day, I could substantially improve my game. I played almost mistake-free and Melling played three black breaks in a row, so I could rapidly gain the lead and momentum. After only 80 minutes, I scored the first match point, won 10-3 and had gained a spot in the semi-finals. I wanted to benefit from the 2 ½ hours break before my next match and my plan was to relax and to have something to eat. But finally, I had to spend 1 ½ hours in the doctor’s cabinet and drank three bottles of water, since I simply could not satisfy the doping control. But finally, I managed to do so…

Then, the semi-finals against the Swedish player Marcus Chamat was about to start and it happened as I had feared it – after so much water, I had the feeling that I had to go to the restroom every five minutes. After a short discussion with the tournament direction, we were granted two additional toilet breaks. In rack 1, the cue ball fell upon my break and in rack 3, no balls were pocketed and I was trailing 0-3. Then, I felt „liberated“ and found my pace. I came back and could even take the lead at 5-3. In rack 9, I could have scored the 6-3, but I missed an easy ball, because the playing conditions were once again altered. Like the previous day when I played Feijen, the match turned out to be a battle against the material, but the Swedish player had the same problems than I had. We partly played so bad that one could think that both players just had learned the game and nobody would have suspected this being the semi-final of a WC. I could increase my lead to 9-7, own break to come and the final was at hand. But I shot a black break and had to watch Chamat brilliantly run out the table, while I thought at least twice that he was about to commit a mistake. Now, the score was 9-8 and Chamat was to break. Now, he dropped the cue ball and I had ball in hand in the head field. Bad enough, the table was difficult, because I needed two very precise positions and had to solve one difficult ball perfectly. When trying to solve this ball, I made a mistake and had to continue with a defensive shot. Since Chamat also played a defense shot, I had to attack again and was a bit unlucky when trying to solve this ball again. I found myself with a difficult rail shot, made even more difficult by the unpredictable behavior of the rails. After giving it a thought, I opted for the difficult shot and was rewarded by perfection. After more than 3 hours playing time, I finished this disputed match winning 10-8 and had entered for the first time the final of a World Championships in 8-Ball.

My opponent was defending champion Ronnie Alcano from the Philippines. Many journalists, but also the players regarded this match as a revenge match. Back in November 2006, this match was a highlight. By then, this match was the final of the WC in 9-Ball in Manila. Personally, I did not consider this match being a revenge, my main topic being that by winning this title, I could make a dream come true. A year and a half earlier, I ran out 27 tables when preparing fort he IPT Tour and I knew that my day would come also in 8-Ball.

Alcano

And this day had come. I was in the final of the 8-Ball WC and had a restless night. Many things crossed my mind, although I tried not to think about these things. But my sub-consciousness was stronger and did not leave me rest.

I lost the break shot and could benefit from two black breaks of my opponent to gain a quick 3-0 lead. Then, I shot a black break and Alcano came back to 2-3. I won the next three racks and increase my lead to 6-2. Alcano scored the 3-6, before I won two more racks to lead 8-3. Then, I shot my second black break and Alcano reduced the score to 5-8. I won rack 14 and Alcano rack 15 and the score evolved to 9-6. Again, I shot a black break and the many Philippino spectators cheered. Alcano won the next two racks and reduced the score further to 8-9. For the forth time, I shot a black break and the Philippino crowd was delighted. However, Alcano had a difficult table to clear. He lost his position already in the beginning and had to play the third last ball over one rail. But he missed the shot and I came back to the table to score the 10-8. Alcano ran out the next table - 9-10. Then, something strange happened,. I checked the rack-up and asked for a re-rack, since some balls were not press and after all, I already had shot four black breaks. When I sat down on my chair, the chair collapsed and I found myself back half a meter below in the middle of the wooden structure. My feet were aiming towards the sky and I struggled to get out of this uncomfortable situation. Bad enough – I had crashed with my bad back into the wood frame. While I was only shocked in the first place, the back pain set in at once. I tried to collect myself and to re-gain concentration. It took me a minute or two, but after all, the show must go on. I ran out the next table and fight my way through this unusual situation, now leading 11-9. Rack 21 was a difficult one, since Alcano made several position mistakes. But he always managed to save his position, so that he could stay at the table. When he played the 8 ball, he missed and I could not believe what I saw. Three times in this rack I thought that I was taking over the table, but this 8 ball was too easy for Alcano to miss. But he missed. I pocketed my half balls and for one ball, I had to make use of the entire width of the pocket which stunned the crowd. I guess I was the only one in the hall not to sweat when I played this ball. I ran out the table and the score was now 12-9, with my own break to come. I pocketed a ball, but the table was not fully open. After giving it a long thought, I decided to take the full balls and solved the first problem at once. When I came to the last three balls, I had a bad contact between the cue ball and the object ball, so I asked the referee to clean the cue ball. The next positions were just perfect and I was so close to my dream. I made the match ball and a heavy burden seemed to fall off my chest. I screamed out loud about an almost perfect final, in which I just had had four black break shots.

The winner’s ceremony was organized right after the final and as the new 8-Ball World Champion, I had to give interviews for some two hours.

Please let me extend my thanks fort he many congratulation emails and SMS.