CAJICÁ – Colombian billiard player Mauricio Gutièrrez is the winner of the Masters Cup, a strongly-contested tournament featuring the best Colombian players. He beat Julio Ayala in the final. Two very known Colombians, Huberney Cataño and Henry Diaz, were on the podium with the final players. The reward for Mauricio Gutiérrez is an all-expense paid ticket to the World Cup in Porto from 26 June to 2 July.
About 30 kilometres from Bogotá, the top 16 players in the Colombian rankings were in action for the Masters Cup this weekend. The most impressive game was the final of Mauricio Gutierrez against Ayala, in which Gutierrez scored a run of 16. The score was almost tied at that point (20-21), but Gutierrez brought it to 36-21 with his run. ''My maximum run in a tournament so far was 15, and in training 21,'' the winner said afterwards.
Julio Ayala did not give up after that blow and fought his way back into the match with a strategy of attack and defence. ''I did not feel comfortable anymore, the pressure was terrible,'' Gutierrez said later. After the winning carom, Gutierrez raised his arms, made a cross and thanked heaven for a victory that will take him to Europe in a few months. The match ended 50-47 in 47 innings.
In the first round of the group stage, the World championship cracks Pedro González and Jose Juan Garcia did not survive. González had a day to quickly forget. He lost all his games and finished in fourth place in the group with 0.946. González lost to Fredy Prieto 26-30 in 31, to Diego López 25-30 in 26 and finally he could not keep his head up against Henry Díaz 30-19 in 17.
José Juan García withdrew from the competition after his first game against Cesar Garzón with 21-30 in 25, apparently physical exhaustion forced him to stop. ''I was shivering, trembling and sweating more than usual, my cue was heavy and I was unable to stay at the table.''
The quarter-finals were played to 40 points. The first to set a good score was Huberney Cataño with 40-25 in 26 against Cesar Garzón. Gutierrez, the later winner, finished 40-19 in 34 innings against Diego Lopez. National champion Daniel Morales could not take advantage of Julio Ayala's mistakes in the final sprint of the match, missing out on qualification: 40-38 in 28.
Henry Diaz and Luis Martinez played the most exciting match of the tournament, Diaz led 20-4 in six innings, but endured two strong attacks from Martinez with a run of 10 one inning before the end. The match ended 40-39 in 24 (1,666) in Diaz's favour.
In the semi-final, Cataño had a better start than Julio Ayala, but Ayala was able to keep his concentration. He started scoring better and ended the match with runs of three and seven. Mauricio Gutiérrez needed 36 innings to reach 40 against Henri Diaz, the victory that took him to the final.
