Carom
BOSTON - The clean sweep to the finish was good for a superb win. Pedro Piedrabuena was by far the best in the USBA tournament in Boston, where he defeated all his opponents in the final phase. Sonny Cho finished with two defeats in seven matches and was second, before Hugo Patino with five wins and two losses as well.
The tournament counted for the USBA Tour, in which all the best American billiard players take part. Mazin Shooni, usually one of the contenders, this time finished on sixth place with only two victories in the final group. The top five after the final phase: Piedrabuena, Cho, Patino, Luis Avila and Miguel Torres.
In the last qualification for the final round, eighteen players were divided in three groups of six. The first two players advanced to the final together with one player appointed by drawing.
Mazin Shooni and Luis Avila were the leaders in Group A. Avila won the mutual match 25-15 after having trailed 11-2 in the starting innings. Avila made his comeback in the match with runs of 9 and 7.
Group B was seen as the group of death with Pedro Piedrabuena, Miguel Torres and Sonny Cho, together with Jim Shovak and two strong local players: Norman Zulaga and Camillo Medina. Piedrabuena and Cho qualified as numbers one and two. Cho made a run of twelve in his last game, Piedrabuena a run of thirteen against Torres.
Roberto Rojas couldn't reach the final rounds in Group C with Hugo Patino and Michael Kang as the winners. Jim Shovak went to the finals by the draw.
Some brief highlights: Luis Avila who won his match against Shooni in 15 innings (2.000). Sonny Cho played the best match: 30 points in 12 innings.
Pedro Piedrabuena remained unbeaten in the final round, beating all his opponents with high scores. He defeated Sonny Cho 30-23, Hugo Patino 30-16 in only 13 innings.
Luis Avila started the tournament with a great match against Hugo Patino, with a lot of excitement at the end. Patino won 30-29. Sonny Cho, the number two, lost against Piedrabuena and Patino, Patino lost against Piedrabuena and Miguel Torres.
Piedrabuena averaged 1.391, Luis Avila, with three defeats, did even better with 1.492.
The tournament average was 1.096.
The final ranking:1 Pedro Piedrabuena, 2 Sonny Cho, Hugo Patino 3, 4 Luis Miguel Avila, 5 Miguel Torres, 6 Mazin Shooni, 7 Michael Kang, 8 Jim Shovak.