 |  Korea Dominates: Williams & Lim win Korea Pro Tour Championships
IThe Korean Dragon Charlie Williams and KPT #2 Women's Yun Mi Lim made it in all Korean Champions, the first time ever in Korean pool history that both men and women's divisions were won by Korea. The event was produced by Dragon Promotions and matches were televised on MBC ESPN and sponsored by Lotte Department Store, Ra Beauty Salons, Predator Cues, Poison Cues, and Min Tables.
Lim set the tone for the day with her match against WPBA top pro and World Games Gold Medalist Jasmin Ouschan. Ouschan was thus far undefeated in the event but the event had now changed to single elimination. Lim had lady luck on her side as she made a 9 ball on the break and later lucked a missed shot and ran out. She backed it up with two break and runs. Jasmin got a few opportunities but was not able to make balls on her break and left open tables for Lim. Lim was able to keep control of the match with a 6-2 win to advance to the finals.
"She had a few rolls in the match and then backed it up with good play. I had dry breaks and then pretty soon it was over. What can you do." said Ouschan about the match.
Next the Men's semi finals #1 featured new Filipino sensation Joven Bustamante against unheralded Ricky Zerna. Bustamente, managed by Bugsy Promotions, has had a tremendous rookie year in international play with a 3rd place finish at The World 8-Ball, 3rd place at the World 9-Ball, 1st at Korea International Championships, and now a minimum finish guaranteed. Ricky Zerna, an unknown player but member of Negros Billiard Stable owned by Jonathan Sy, already took out countryman Jundal Mazon and was now looking for his first international win. Errors by Bustamante proved to be costly in the race to 7 TV matches. Joven's powerful break also failed him giving Zerna the opportunities he needed to take the lead and never look back with a 7-3 victory
Women's semi finals #2 featured Yu Ram Cha against WPBA Top 20 from Japan Miyuki Sakai. Cha had defeated Sakai earlier in the year in the Showdown in Seoul playing 3Cushion, 8-Ball and 9-Ball sweeping Sakai in all three games. This day would be no different as she crushed Sakai 6-2 to advance to the finals.
In the Mens Semi Finals #2 good friends and former teammates Rodney Morris and Charlie Williams faced each other. A dry break from Morris and then a missed shot in next rack gave Williams a chance to go up 2-0. Morris returned with back to back games of his own at 2-2. A miscue on a jump shot gave Williams another out and a break and run on his break gave him back 4-2 lead. A dry break from Morris gave Williams another out and another break and run to make it 6-2 and Morris was too far behind in the alternate break format with one more game before Williams won at 7-3 in a flawless performance.
"I tried to play a few shots to cheat the pocket when I should have played more towards the center of the pocket instead. Just got too cute on some of the shots. But now that it's over I'll be rooting for Charlie in the finals." commented Morris after the match.
"Rodney played awesome to get to the semi and he made a few errors in the match. In a race to 7 it doesn't take much to get behind." said Williams.
The Mixed Doubles Finals were on next with Japan's Takenaka/Sakai versus Korea's Williams/Cha. Japan got an early lead with a break and run and then a botched up jump attempt by Cha made it 2-0 Japan. Williams missed position for Cha which lead to another oppotunity for Japan and later a missed 5 ball by Cha sealed Korea's team fate as Japan rolled to 5-0 win.
The Women's Finals was expected to have Yu Ram Cha against the powerful Austrian Ouschan. Yun Mi Lim had other plans in mind as she took Ouschan's place and was going to make her own fate. The odds looked against Lim still with her being the brides maid finishing 2nd place in two of the Korea International Championships and two 3rds with never a win. Cha had also earlier gave Lim her only loss in a 7-0 whitewash. Cha took an early lead at 3-1 and on Lim's break she ran out to the 8-ball but missed sending the 8-Ball 3 rails and freezing it luckily to the cueball leaving Cha no shot. Cha tried a safe but left Lim the out. The next game Lim missed the 4ball but left Cha hooked and after Cha made contact on the 4ball Lim ran out for 3-3 tie. Then Lim backed up her good fortune with a break and run. A dry break from Cha gave Lim another out and then Lim broke and ran the last rack to win her first major title at 6-3. The win also enabled her to overtake KPT #1 Eun Ji Park for Player of the Year honors.
The Men's Finals was Korea versus Phillipines as Hyun Ho Kim(Williams under banner of Korea) took on Ricky Zerna. In a one sided match, Williams was absolutely dominant breaking and running the rack on his break 4 times and taking advantage of a dry break and two missed shots by Zerna. Playing fast and loose, Williams played another near perfect match not missing one shot in the semi or the finals and he defeated Zerna 7-1 in less than 30 minutes. The victory gave Williams his 3rd international title in Korea and $15,000 for 1st place.
"It feels good to win here again in Korea. I really had luck on my side yesterday in my wins against the two Japanese champs, but today I pulled through with a good performance. You really need both luck and skill to win a tournament." said Williams.
At the KPT 2007 Awards Banquet all the players were invited for a fabulous authentic Korean array of dishes. A slideshow movie of the past year and awards were given to players.
Man of the Year - Myung Jin Kim -DP Korea General Manager
Sportswoman of the Year- Jasmin Ouschan (AUT)
Sportsman of the Year - Hayato Hijikata (JPN)
Player of the Year(Men) - Young Hwa Jeong (KOR)
Player of the Year(Women)- Yun Mi Lim (KOR)
Fan Favorite - Daerin Lee
Best Dressed- Pil Hyun Cho
Rookie of the Year (Men) - Min Wuk Ha
Rookie of the Year (Women) - Minyung Lee
International Showdown: Korea Pro Tour Championships Day 3
Incheon, Korea- The best marquee matches were on as all players would be eliminated today with the exception of the final four men and final four women. The day started out with winners side matches Joven Bustamante of Phillippines dominating Korean American Charlie Williams 9-3. At the same time Junior Champion and top 10 JPBA Pro Hayato Hijikata(JPN) crushed #1 KPT Young Hwa Jeong(KOR) 9-2 and Jundal Mazon took down Hiroshi Takenaka(JPN). Rodney Morris trailed 7-4 to Korea's giant killer Hee Chul Kim, who in the past has eliminated players such as Mika Immonen and Charlie Williams. Morris took advantage of a dry break from Kim, made a length of the table reverse thin cut on the one ball and proceeded to run the set out not letting Kim back to the table for a 9-7 win. These results guaranteed the four winners a spot in the quarter finals with the format changing to single elimination race to 10.
On the ladies side Korea's #2 Yun Mi Lim eliminated current #1 ranked Eun Ji Park 7-6 while Miyuki Sakai(JPN) eliminated Bo Ram Cha(KOR). This would set the semi-finals tomorrow with Sakai facing defending champion Yu Ram Cha and Lim facing European #1 Jasmin Ouschan.
The Men's Doubles finals finished with USA Duo Morris and Williams taking on underdogs Hijikata(JPN) and Hee Chul Kim(KOR). Morris/Williams controlled the entire match until 7-4 when Kim hooked his partner on the 2 ball. Hijikata made a clean contact with the 2 ball and luckily caromed into the 9 ball making it. They proceeded to run the next 3 racks until 8-7 their lead. A scratch ball in hand to USA Team gave Morris/Williams one more chance but Morris faced a tricky 6 ball and missed leaving an easy out and the Korean/Japanese duo claimed the 1st place win.
The elimination rounds of the men's side saw Williams bounce back with a 9-6 win over Korea International Championships runner-up Goh Takami(JPN). Filipino unknown Ricky Zerna eliminated Hee Chul Kim 9-6 to claim his stake in the quarters. Jeong easily handled KPT veteran Jung Ho Jung 9-3 while Takenaka defeated KPT #4 Won Sik Ham.
In the quarter finals Joven Bustamante controlled Jeong 10-5. Morris took out Takenaka 10-6 while his USA compadre Williams eliminated Hijikata 10-5. The final match of the day had Ricky Zerna ending his Filipino roomie Mazon 10-8
Tomorrow's men's semi finals will be Rodney Morris vs Charlie Williams and Bustamente vs Zerna. The Mixed Doubles Finals will feature Korean Team of Williams(Hyun Ho Kim) and Yu Ram Cha versus Japanese duest of Sakai and Takenaka. All the matches will be televised on MBC ESPN.
USA Shows Heart:Korea Pro Tour Championships Day 2
Incheon, Korea- The USA duo of Rodney Morris and Charlie Williams showed to never give up as they trailed Korean Team of Young Hwa Jeong(KPT #1) and Geun Jae Lee(KPT#5) 0-3 before making a comeback to win 9-7. But in their next match they showed even more heart as they were tested by the Filipino Team of Joven Bustamente and Jundal Mazon. Morris & Williams were down 6-0 before they even had an opportunity to win a game. The Rocket and The Korean Dragon were laughing and joking despite being in dire straits and stayed upbeat. The attitude paid off as they got their first open chance in Rack 7 and proceeded to display perfect pool and synchronization of play and team strategy and won the next 9 games straight for a 9-6 victory.
"After the match was over I just turned to Rocket and laughed saying, how did we win that match?" said Charlie Williams. "And Rocket says, "Positive thinking."
Both players are seasoned veterans when it comes to team play with Morris a 4 time Mosconi Cup veteran and Williams a 5x Mosconi Cup player as well as numerous MVP records for playing for Team Korea and USA in Asia.
The Japan/Korea pairing of Hayato Hijikata and Hee Chul Kim continued their fine play with a 9-7 upset of Japanese Champs Goh Takami and Hiroshi Takenaka. Interestingly Kim and Hijikata cannot communicate through language so they use hand gestures.
Jasmin Ouschan lost a close 9-8 match to men's Filipino Jundel Mazon but then overcame a 6-3 deficit to win 7-6 against Japan's Miyuki Sakai in the Womens Division. Yu Ram Cha continued her rampage on the ladies side defeating KPT #2 Yun Mi Lim 7-0. Cha has shut out all her opponents thus far without dropping a game since her return from Germany working with Coach Michael Wahl, who also trains Thorsten Hohmann.
The Filipino trio lead by Joven Bustamente with Ricky Zerna and Jundal Mazon continued their undefeated run thus far in the event. Japan's Takenaka and Hijikata also remains undefeated as well as Korea's Young Hwa Jeong. Charlie Williams pulled another come back from behind victory over KPT #6 Jinhyuk Jung trailing 6-2 and then eventually winning 9-6. Morris crushed KPT #4 Ham Won Shik 9-2.
Play continues tomorrow with marquee matches Bustamente vs Williams, Jeong vs Hijikata, and Mens Doubles Finals with Morris/Williams vs Hijikata/Kim .
Korea Pro Pool Tour Championships
Incheon, Korea- Dragon Promotions presents the 3rd Annual KPT Championships at Lotte Department Store in Incheon, Korea. Players from around Asia, Europe, and USA are in attendance for the $15,000 1st place Open event. Defending Champion Yu Ram Cha is looking for a title defense as she and European Woman's #1 Jasmin Ouschan are also playing in the Men's Division. Joven Bustamente, recent Korea International Championship Champ, is looking to make back to back Korea wins for himself. Other top favorites in the field include Rodney Morris of USA, Charlie Williams of USA, Hong Kong's rising star Lee Chenman and Korea's #1 ranked Young Hwa Jeong. Japan's Miyuki Sakai , who recently defeated Karen Corr last week in a WPBA event, is also a contender in the womens division.
The event this year has new twists as new events were added which include Men's Doubles and Mixed Doubles events. A pro mini-tournament was added also with World Junior 10-Ball Champion Hayato Hijikata taking down JBC Japan #1 Hiroshi Takenaka, Korea International Champion runner-up Goh Takami and Korea #1 Young Hwa Jeong back to back to win.
The Mixed Doubles Championship saw Japan's Takenaka and Sakai crush married couples champions Jeong and Lim 8-2 while Korea born team of Williams and Cha easily defeated Pil Hyun Cho and Mi Kwang Lee 8-1.
Day 1 of the singles held few surprises with most of the top seeds advancing except for Jamsin Ouschan defeating KPT top 20 mens ranked player and then upsetting #4 seed Goh Takami 9-5. Rodney Morris almost suffered a scare with a Korean qualifier player breaking and running the first 5 racks to gain 5-0 lead and later held Morris down 7-3 but The Rocket came back with strong safeties and near flawless play to win 9-8.
On the ladies side Yu Ram Cha destroyed new comer Mi Kwang Lee 7-0 while Jasmin Ouschan thrashed current #1 KPT Womans ranked Eun Ji Park 7-1. Sakai escaped 7-5 from Korea's Amateur Woman's Champion Gui Young Lee.
Play continues for next 3 days with the final day being aired on MBC ESPN. The event is sponsored by Lotte Department Store and Ra Beauty Core Salons. KPT Championships Official Table is Min Table and also supported by billiard industry sponsors Brunswick Billiards and Predator Cues.
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