3-Cushion
ISTANBUL - The Turkish billiard arena, where the first World Cup of the year comes to an end on the final day, is the stage for the two best Koreans in the tournament. The closing gala is a Cho-Choi final after the Belgian Eddy Merckx and another Korean, Kyung-Roul Kim, have been defeated in the semis.
The little virtuoso Jae Ho Cho, best player in the entire field so far, outplayed his renowned compatriot Kyung- Roul Kim (40-29 in 15) and Sung-Won Choi dealt in a thrilling battle with the only foreign rival in the field. Eddy Merckx still fiercely resisted, showed his feared fighting spirit, but was defeated at the finish line by cold-as-ice Choi (40-38 in 24).
Two Koreans in the final: that never happened before in a World Cup, despite the overwhelming supremacy of the Asians in the most popular discipline of carom billiards.
The late American Sang Chun Lee once was the first player who was able to battle with the Belgians Raymond Ceulemans and Ludo Dielis and later the coming-man Torbjörn Blomdahl. He was the forerunner of the generation which now shines in the circuit.
The rise of the Koreans has already resulted in World Cup victories Kyung-Roul Kim (2010, Antalya), Sung-Won Choi (2012, Antalya) and Dong Koong Kang (2013, Guri) and is up to get a glorious sequel now.
For the third time in a Turkish World Cup, a Korean winner will be will be honored. Jae Ho Cho seems to be the favorite with his brilliant race to the final. As a player outside outside the top twelve (14th), he was obliged to qualify for the main tournament. He managed barely by a 40-39 victory against his countryman Hyung Bum Hwang.
From then, his triumph series was impressive: against Dick Jaspers 40-38 in 14, vs Carlos Campino 40-22 in 26, against Dani Sánchez 40-40-26 in 13 and in the semis against Kyung-Roul Kim 40-29 in 15 (average 2.352 over four matches).
His win against Kyung-Roul Kim in the semifinals came in view after six innings, when Cho responded with ten to a six of Kim and took the lead 19-10. With another six in the fourteenth inning, the score was lifted to 38-25, which allowed him to finish easily.
Sung-Won Choi had to deliver two tough fights against the two best Belgians, after he had outplayed his countryman Jung Han Heo with four in the equalizer and he struck him in the penalty shootouts.
He lit up the sky again in the fight with Frédéric Caudron, also with penalties (4-3) and then in the semis in a knife-edge encounter against Eddy Merckx.
The Belgian returned from a 39-27 backlog with eight (39-35), got some more chances, but first missed a pretty good shot and then was penalized for 'an unlucky kiss' at 39-36.
Sung-Won Choi finished, Merckx had to score four times in the equalizer, but missed at two points (40-38).