SEOUL - The tournament, named after the suddenly deceased Korean billiard player Kyung-Roul Kim, is in the final stages today (Tuesday) and tomorrow. The eight remaining players meet at the J. Billiard Club in the knockout stage, playing a 'best of nine' for the podium places. Many of the Korean top guns, like Sung-Won Choi, Jae-Ho Cho, Dong-Koong Kang, HaengJik Kim and Jung-Han Heo are eliminated for the main prizes.
The Open tournament started with 250 players in three billiard halls. The finals is at the J. Billiard Club in Seoul. Only Koreans have qualified for the last eight. Choong-Bok Lee is the most known of them.
There is also a tournament for teams going on with men and women. The qualifications in the individual event were played to best of five, from the last eight to best or 9. The teams of four play to 25 points for men, 17 points for women.
The winner will be rewarded by 4.000.000 Korean Won, approximately 3.000 euros. The team winner receives the double prize money, 8.000.000 Korean Won.
The tournament is sponsored amongst others by the Korean Olympic Committee, Hanbat, Simonis and Aramith.
The final eight in the knock out:
Hyun-Min Seo-Jae-Dong Choi
Choong-Bok Lee-Hong-Sik Park
Hyun-Suk Kim-Jung-Ik Lee
Hae-Chang Jung-Seung-Wook