ANTWERP - The Antwerp billiard arena, where the World championship three cushion is played, witnessed an absolute world class match at the end of the second day. 33-year old Korean player Dong Koong Kang raged unstoppable to a win against Lütfi Cenet from Turkey and finished very close (one inning) to Frédéric Caudron’s world record match average.
The Korean, who lost his first group match against Alexander Salazar, took a bloody revenge against Cenet with a breathtaking match: 40-14 in seven innings.
It looked like the World Cup winner from Korea, three weeks ago, played the entire match in a rare trance. Robert Monissen, who was on the table as the referee for the last part, said later: ,,He was standing at the table, as if he did not know where he was, due to his incredible concentration.’’
'King Kang' knew he was fighting for his last chance to survive, after his loss in the first round against a fantastic Alexander Salazar. The Colombian starred in two innings on a row with runs of 13 and 8.
Dong Koong Kang had both a super start and a super sprint against Cenet. He started with 4, 4, 6 and 12, and closed the match with 2, 8 and 4.
Immediately after the match he asked: ,,Is it a new world record?’’ No, it was not! Frédéric Caudron did two times better in his career, with 40 points in six instead of seven innings. But it was definitely a historic match, which will make a deep impression on the global stage and in the crazy Korean billiards world.
Dong Koong Kang, more than three years ago married to the famous female billiards star Suah Park, son of a father who had a billiard room, grown up with two brothers, was seen as a greatness in his country when he won the World Cup.
After the match, tonight, he said (with Michael Kang as interpreter): ,,I could not practice for six days, because there were so many appointments with people of the press, fans and friends. I was recognized almost everywhere.’’
Kang has recently started his own billiard room near his home and has become an ambassador for his city, which is paying him a more than decent salary.
Maybe he is the player with one of the best matches ever (5.714 average) and 2.642 over two matches, who must leave the World’s after one round.
He couldn’t do much better. Dong Koon Kang, in any case, will enjoy for a long time the world class match he offered the Belgian audience and all people in the world who watched the match on Kozoom.