MORRIS EARNS BRONZE AT WORLD GAMES
Rodney Morris found just the salve to ease the sting of Saturday afternoon’s 11-10 loss to Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann at the World Games in Duisburg, Germany. Back at the table in the Saalbau Arena in Bottrop, site of the billiard competitions, just hours after the heartbreaking loss, Morris free-wheeled his way to an 11-2 rout of Greece’s Vangelis Vettas to secure the Bronze Medal in Men’s 9-Ball.
Morris sped off from a 1-1 deadlock with six consecutive rack wins, and coasted comfortably home.
“When I got up a couple of games,” said Morris, “and my break started working better, I knew that he couldn’t catch me. Not with alternating break.
“The key to this match was focus,” he added. “I didn’t think of anything other than the table. I wasn’t leaving here without at least the Bronze.”
Also earning Bronze Saturday evening at the international sports festival was Semih Sayginer of Turkey, who beat countryman Murat Coklu, in Carom. Sayginer bolted off to a 35-22 lead after just 20 innings, before Coklu chipped away at the lead. Coklu pulled to within five at 37-32, before Sayginer closed out the match, 40-32, in 24 innings.
In Snooker, Belgium’s Bjorn Haneever whitewashed 17-year-old Mark Allen of England, 4-0, to capture the Bronze.
Line Kjorsvik of Norway, back at the table after an eight-month layoff, earned Bronze in Women’s 9-Ball with a 9-6 win over Sung-Hyun Jung, Korea’s top-ranked woman player.
“Rocket” Lone US Medal Hope
Rodney Morris overcame an early 4-1 deficit against Germany’s Thomas Engert Friday evening to win 11-8 and advance to the semifinals of the men’s 9-ball division at the 2005 World Games in Duisburg, Germany. With the ousters Friday of Charlie Williams and Vivian Villarreal, Morris is the only U.S. contestant remaining in the four cue sport medal categories.
Morris will face former world 9-ball champion and reigning Billiard Congress of American Open 9-Ball Champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany on Saturday for the right to play in the Gold Medal game. Hohmann squeaked past Sweden’s Tom Storm, 11-10, to earn his semifinal spot. The other Saturday semi in the men’s division will pit China’s Pei-Wei Chang against surprising Vangelis Vettas of Greece. Vettas, who shocked Germany’s Ralf Souquet in the opening round of the 16-player single-elimination field, dumped Williams, 11-7, on Friday. Chang, 2004 World Pool Championship runnerup, beat Holland’s Niels Feijen, 11-7.
In Women’s 9-Ball, Korea’s Sung-Hyun Jung beat Villarreal, 11-8, to earn a spot in the semifinals. She’ll be joined by Jennifer Chen, who upended Allison Fisher, Jasmin Oschan of Austria, and Norway’s Line Kjorsvik.
Two Turks, Semih Sayginer and Murat Coklu, earned semifinal spots in the Men’s Carom discipline, along with Dick Jaspers of Holland and defending champion Danny Sanchez of Spain.
Men’s Snooker saw 18-year-old Jun-Hui Ding post a 138 clearance enroute to a 3-0 win over Germany’s Lasse Munstermann. Ding reached the semis along with Amateur World Champion Mark Allen of England, countryman Gerard Greene and Belgium’s Bjorn Haneveer, who overcame a 2-1 deficit to beat England’s Gavin Pantall, 3 sets to 2.
World Games Quarterfinals Set
Americans Rodney Morris, Charlie Williams and Vivian Villarreal will take U.S. medal hopes into quarterfinal matches today at the World Games in Duisburg, Germany.
In men’s 9-ball, Morris, who routed Aruba’s Roland Acosta, 11-4, on Wednesday, will face Germany’s Thomas Engert, and Williams, an 11-7 winner over Japan’s Massashi Hoshi, will battle Vangelis Vettas of Greece. Vettas shocked Germany’s Ralf Souquet, 11-10, in the opening round of the 16-player single-elimination event.
Villiarreal, the lone U.S. competitor in the women’s 9-ball division, faces Korea’s Sung-Hyun Jung. Defending champion Jeanette Lee pulled out of the competition at the last minute because of impending back surgery.
Sweden’s Tom Storm, Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann, Holland’s Neils Feijen and Chinese star Pei-Wei Chang round out the final eight in the men’s division.
Top-ranked Allison Fisher, Taiwan’s Jennifer Chen, Italy’s Tiziana Cacciamani, Austria’s Jasmine Ouschan, Japan’s Yukiko Hamanishi and former WPBA regular Line Kjorsvik of Norway make up the remaining women competitors.
Men’s carom billiards and men’s snooker is also being contested at the international sports festival, which is seen as an important stepping stone for the cue sports’ Olympic Games hopes. Two high-ranking officials, Kelly Fairweather, Sports Director of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Ron Froelich, President of the International World Games Association (IWGA), were on hand at the Saalbau arena in Bottrop for the opening matches of the billiard competition.
Morris, Williams and Villarreal Cue Up at World Games
DUISBURG, Germany, July 20 — The billiard portion of the 2005 World Games kicks off today with men competing in three disciplines (carom, snooker and 9-ball) and women in 9-ball only. Rodney Morris and Charlie Williams will represent the U.S. in 9-ball on the men’s side, and Vivian Villarreal will cue up for the American women.
The finals in all four groups will be played on Sunday, July 24. Billiards Digest staff will have regular updates here on Headstring News from the competition.
From July 14-24 at the World Games, Duisburg and partner cities Bottrop, Oberhausen and Mülheim an der Ruhr are expected to welcome 500,000 spectators in 27 venues, plus host the over 3,500 athletes from 100 nations who will compete in 40 sports and 177 disciplines.
Korea International Championships, Day One
The Dragon Promotions event being held in Korea has finished a day of competition. Of the top pros in attendance, only American Mike Davis has been eliminated, defeated by Japanese player Goh Takami and then ousted by German Thorsten Hohmann.
Noteworthy players who have made it to the final 16 include Rodney Morris, Max Eberle, John Schmidt (who ran six consecutive racks against one opponent in an earlier round), young Korean player Seung-woo Ryu, Mika Immonen, Johnny Archer, and Charlie Bryant.
Many top pros who don’t often travel to Asia took this event as an opportunity to extend their trip to this area of the globe following the World Pool Championships in Taiwan last week.
‘Little Genius’ vs. ‘Little Monster’ in all-Taiwan final
Taiwan’s Chia-Ching Wu
Taiwan’s Po-Cheng Kuo and Chia-Ching Wu will lag for the $75,000 grand prize at 8 p.m. (8 a.m. EST) at the Kaohsiung Business Exhibition Centre.
Kuo, nicknamed “The Little Monster” for his baby-faced features, trailed American Rodney Morris in the semifinal, 7-5, and then won five straight games to hit the hill. Morris fought back to 10-8, but missed a long cut shot that handed victory to 27-year-old Kuo.
Wu, who at 16 is the youngest finalist in WPC history, steamrolled heavy favorite Marlon Manalo in their semifinal match, 11-5. Nicknamed “Little Genius,” Wu took full advantage of his powerhouse break and several fortunate rolls to keep Manalo in his seat for much of the match.
“I’m very surprised I made it this far,” said the beefy Wu, who looks like the quintessential school bully, about to steal the reedy Kuo’s lunch money. “I was just in the bathroom, and I said to myself, ‘Is this really happening? Is this true'”
“[To win Sunday] I just have to treat it like a normal match. I just have to keep calm and keep myself together.”
Both players have strong breaks, excellent cue ball control and implacable demeanor. The older Kuo, who is undefeated in both the round-robin and single-elimination stages, would seem to have the advantage of experience, but Manalo was thought to be superior to Wu for the same reason.
No matter the outcome, this Sunday?s final will mark the first time a Taiwanese player has won the world championship in his own country. Taiwan’s Fong-Pang Chao won the title in 2000 in Cardiff, Wales.
The winner will take home $75,000, and the runner-up will pocket $35,000.
Deuel wins UPA Championship
Corey Deuel completed an undefeated run to win the UPA Pro Tour Championship at the Bicycle Club in Bellflower California this weekend.
Deuel, known as the master of the soft break, was working that break to perfection all weekend and had wins over Charlie Williams, Mika Immonen and Efren Reyes before a 7-5 win over Danny Basavich for the hot-seat.
On the one-loss side, Basavich eliminated US Open Champion Gabe Owen 7-3 and forced Owen to settle for third place.
The finals were one race to seven on the ESPN table, and it went all the way to hill-hill before Corey put it away.
Deuel earned $10,000 for first place, while Basavich settled for $5000 in second place prize money. Owen and Efren Reyes filled out the top four places.
Complete Results:
1st Corey Deuel $10,000
2nd Danny Basavich $5,000
3rd Gabe Owen $4,000
4th Efren Reyes $3,000
5th/6th Rodney Morris, Mika Immonen $2,400
7th/8th Ralf Souquet, Santos Sambajon $1,850
9th/12th Frankie Hernandez, Mike Davis, Paul Potier, Troy Frank $1,350
13th/16th Francisco Bustamante, Johnny Archer, Tony Robles, Rodolfo Luat $900
17th/24th Charlie Williams, Neil Fujiwara, Bill Ferguson, Danny Kuykendall, Dave Hemmah, Max Eberle, Robb Saez, Charlie Bryant $400
Far From Over
Once again it looked as if the Americans were poised to shut the door on the 2004 Mosconi Cup, and once again Team Europe wedged its collective foot in the way.
As was the case Saturday night in the ballroom of the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee, Holland, Team USA posted a critical win in the opening match of the session to extend their advantage, then watched the Euros storm back with consecutive match wins. In what was then viewed as the most important match of the tournament, Rodney Morris continued his MVP play for the Americans, topping Euro ace Mika Immonen, 5-3, to give Team USA a 10-6 lead in the race-to-12 team tournament.
But Dutch national treasure Niels Feijen revived Team Europe’s hopes with a 5-2 win over mistake-prone Johnny Archer. And in a repeat of his Saturday night heroics, pint-sized Swede Marcus Chamat came through in the clutch, beating Tony Robles, 5-3, to pull the Euros to within two points at 10-8.
The Americans still have Earl Strickland, Gabe Owen and Charlie Williams for Sunday night’s session, with the Euros banking on Steve Davis, Thomas Engert and Oliver Ortmann. If the match reaches a 22nd and/or 23rd match, the teams will be allowed “Captain’s Choice” selections.