3-Cushion
SCHILTIGHEIM - The thunderous applause sounded for minutes through the arena and some moments later through the restaurant of the Agipi complex. Torbjörn Blomdahl, who just had played a blistering match in the semifinals, in which he defeated the reigning champion Sung-Won Choi 50-21, reacted silently, but in a quiet corner of the billiard room he told the people around him a few remarkable things.
,,I didn't play that good in ten years'' he said. ,,It's really amazing what happens to me these days, actually it's unbelievable, but I have this feeling for a few weeks. I put a new cloth on my billiard table last week, I invited Haeng Jik Kim (the junior world champion) for four days of practicing and in those training matches I had the same feeling. I felt like I was reborn. I play billiards as in my best days and I do not even realize it, that will come later, I think.''
The Swede has showed himself the champion of the kickstart in two recent days: on Friday against Filipos Kasidokostas he led 31-0 in six innings, today against Sung-Won Choi 24-6 in only three innings.
He started with two, then scored an amazing run of twenty (!), another two in the third and so gathered 24 caroms in three innings. It was not the only highlight from the eagerly looking Blomdahl. He made another big run of nine in the eleventh and thirteen in the thirteenth inning.
Flashy, fast in his stroke, fast in his movements around the table, with a lot of confidence, with the most delicate solutions, it was a stunning performance of his extraordinary class. The master was brutal and brilliant on all fronts. ,,And when I am in this form'', he said, ,,I don't think about tactics or position play. I just want to score and play fast, then I'll see how it turns out. In that run of twenty, for instance, I didn't even one moment think of the position. I felt like I could do anything I wanted. That I really did it, is incredibly after all those years.''
The Swede puts himself in this form in title picture again. He must be seen as the most important contender now, three years after his win in the first Agipi Masters. But he didn't want to look forward to the final, he just enjoyed the moment of glory. With the applause of the crowd, the applause in the restaurant and the champagne toast with his wife Beate and other friends.
And the Koreans? Sung-Won Choi was almost speechless aftert the magisterial demonstration of his opponent. The dethroned winner had one little revival in the last inning, when he made seven and came to 21. The pain of the loss was no less.
But... they still have Kyung-Roul Kim, later in the evening session in the other semifinal against Martin Horn.