SEOUL - Three Korean girls dominated the final of the World 3-cushion Survival in Seoul. 20-year-old Sejeong Hyeon Park, who is also playing the Women's World Cup in three weeks' time in France, was the winner with a score of 90 points ahead of Chae won Heo with 62, Hee ju Yeom with 54 and Therese Klompenhouwer, the multiple world champion and only European participant, who came fourth in that final with 34 points. The winner got 5 million Korean won, 3500 euros, Therese earned 350 euros with her fourth place. The three Korean ladies remained from the preliminary rounds, with games of 1 vs 1, and the semi-finals, which were played in Survival format. Sejeong Hyun Park showed great skill in this with a final average above 1.100. For Therese Klompenhouwer, who had been in Korea for just over a week, it was a disappointment. ‘’It has been a long time since I scored so little in a match and achieved such a low average.‘
The reason can be sought in the fact that the young Korean ladies are getting stronger every year and pose a threat to the Dutch, who certainly cherishes a long-standing champion status in Europe. Outside Europe - and thus especially in Asia - many more young talents are announcing themselves. Last year's world champion, for instance, was Shin Young Lee, who transferred to the PBA immediately after that win. Another young Korean, Jieun Han, has also made great strides.
''The players appearing at tournaments can all play good billiards,‘’ Klompenhouwer confessed. ,,I definitely rate Sejeong Hyeon Park as one of my big competitors in three weeks at the Women's World Cup in Blois. But of course I will train as much as possible. I have done nothing but train and play in Korea for a week now. That's why the result disappoints me so much.‘’
The format, the Survival, is one reason for Therese's failure in this tournament. ‘’It does not compare to matches of 1 vs 1, so I am not worried for the upcoming European Grand Prix and World Championships. And yes, of course I do feel that a new generation is coming. That's good too. There have to be great champions just like in the men.‘’
The women's tournament at Hotel Lotte, started with 16 ladies, concluded with the finals. Tomorrow, Thursday, the tournament starts with .... Men's World Cup. There are much bigger prizes to be won in that tournament. A grand prize of 50,000 euros awaits the winner, for example. Nikos Polychronopoulos was the previous winner of the tournament.
The players and pools starting tomorrow, Thursday (to be seen live on AfreecaTV):
Group A:
Quyet Chien Tran, Tayfun Tasdemir, Tolgahan Kiraz, Ja In Kang
Group B:
Jung Han Heo, Jérémy Bury, Jin Woo Heo, Jun Tae Kim
Group C:
Dick Jaspers, Haeng Jik Kim, Ruben Legazpi, Jung Hee Lee
Group D:
Phuong Vinh Bao, Jun hyu Son, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Marco Zanetti
Group E:
Myung Woo Cho, Eddy Merckx, Berkay Karakurt, Hong Chiem Thai
Group F:
Sameh Sidhom, Torbjörn Blomdahl Myeong Jong Cha, Glenn Hofman.
