ANTWERPEN – The opening day had saved its best for the last round. Roland Forthomme ended his match with a run of 16, to beat Michael Kang 40-13 in 16 innings! It was the best match of the day, but behind the large silhouette of the Belgian champion loomed the shadows of two bold Colombian hopefuls.
Huberney Catano, a 23-year old talent wasted no time ending the aspirations of Eddie Leppens, whom he beat in a demonstration of class: 40-16 in 22 (1.818 v. 0.727).
Alexander Salazar, known for his nimble-fingered demonstrations of manual billiards, had set the tone a round earlier. Colombia’s best known player hit Korea’s World Cup star with a devastating blow. Just before the break in their match, he ran a 13, returning from the break, he ran an 8: 21 points in two innings.
As that sensational last round came to a close, the lights in the arena were switched off. The conclusion may be, that Huberney Catano could develop into one of the sensations of this WC, with his beautiful stroke and creative problem-solving.
The Belgian crowd can take comfort in the fact that Roland Forthomme, one of the people’s darlings, is in great form, as he has demonstrated in his matches with Caudron recently.
The first day’s matches:
Eddy Merckx-Peter Ceulemans 40-24 (34)
Riad Nady-Javier Teran 40-32 (38)
Jérôme Barbeillon-Andrea Bitetti 40-23 (39)
Jung Han Heo-Michael Lohse 40-31 (27)
Jef Philipoom-Khaled Salem 40-28 (30)
Kouji Funaki-Arnim Kahofer 40-25 (31)
Dick Jaspers-Jean Paul de Bruijn 40-28 (27)
Christian Rudolph-Pedro Piedrabuena 40-30 (29)
Ryuuji Umeda-Sergio Jimenez 40-32 (28)
Nikos Polychronopoulos-Miguel Canton 40-26 (29)
O Takeshima-William Villanueva 40-25 (32)
Alexander Salazar-Dong Koong Kang 40-34 (21)
Huberney Catano-Eddy Leppens 40-16 (22)
Roland Forthomme-Michael Kang 40-13 (16)
Sameh Sidhom-Mario Aranha 40-35 (36)
Choong-Book Lee-Juan Carlos del Salto 40-34 (30).