IZMIR
The young Korean billiard star Myung-Woo Cho (20) is for the second time in his career the best in the world in the juniors three cushion. The eleventh World championship in history, played in Turkish Izmir, ended in a Korean final: Myung-Woo Cho beat his 20-year old countryman Daehyeon Jang, 35-18 in 18 innings. The new champion, successor to the Spaniard Carlos Anguita, may defend his title in Valencia next year. The Italian Alessio d'Agata was the fourth player on the World's podium. The overall average of the champion was the best ever played at a World championship for juniors: 2.002.
The junior world championship was held for the first time in 2008. In these eleven years, Korean players were seven times on top with the gold medal: four times HaengJik Kim, two times Myung Woo Cho and one time Tae Kwan Kim, HaengJik's younger brother. The hegemony of young Koreans is getting more impressive every year. Myung-Woo Cho's unbeaten status and the average of 2.002 over six matches is a new highlight at the World championships.
In the final, Myung Woo's start was under his level: 10-1 down against Jang, but with small runs, including two times, Cho gradually took the initiative. He led 18-10 at the break after 9 innings and then couldn't be stopped anymore on his way to the championship.
Myung-Woo Cho's comment after the ceremony: ,,It's really fantastic and I am so happy to win the gold medal for the second time. I couldn't win it last year, but after that, I practiced very hard to get a gold medal for the next and here in Izmir, I finally reached my goal.'' Hes opinion about the Korean hegemony? ,,I don't think we, Korean players, have got more talents in billiards. We have lots of junior players, plenty of clubs for the players to practice and we have good coaches for the sport as well. That's why we have more chances to win the world tournaments than the players of other countries.''
,,i think, speaking about my highlights in this tournament, it should be the matches I won in 5 and 7 innings in the qualification.'' And to his fans, Myung-Woo Cho wants to say: ,,I really appreciate their support. I will keep on doing my best in the future to win more championships. So I wish they keep supporting me. I want to say thank you again and I love my fans.''
The tournament in the Turkish coastal city was, like in the women's event, not visited by a lot of spectators in the stands. Therese Klompenhouwer said after her victory: ,,The venue was far from the center, so unfortunately, we saw not so many billiard fans.'' That was, in the commentary afterwards, a bit disappointing for a billiard country like Turkey. The juniors final started with 98 people in the stands.
The junior World championship, started with sixteen, was in the summary the tournament of both Korean final players and mainly of the three world records. Carlos Anguita made a run of sixteen and improved the 15 of HaengJik Kim atn the World championship in 2012. Myung-Woo Cho played a 25-point match in five innings, 5.000 average. The Korean improved his own 25 in 6 last year. The general average Myung-Woo Cho recorded (2.002) was the best ever played at a Junior world championship.
Carlos Anguita was good, but not at his best and unable to win another world title. The Colombians surprised with two players in the quarters, the French disappointed: Gwendal Maréchal could not make the knock-outs, Maxime Panaia was among the last eight, but was eliminated in a moderate match by Jang. The two Turkish players were out before the knock-outs, for the Netherlands, Joey de Kok played one high-level match. That was, after his bad last group match not good enough to survive the quarter finals. The Belgian Stef van Hees started with two victories, but struggled over his last group match.
The youngest of the four finalists, Alessio d'Agata, was the revelation of the tournament. He felt as a lucky man afterwards. ,,I didn't expect this success'', he started his comment. ,,I was told to participate here only two weeks before the start. And now, I managed to win a medal, incredible. I am so happy for myself and for the people who love me.''
The emotions, he said, were hard to deal with, because it was his first big championship. ,,I was able to handle it well, although the pressure was very high in the semi-finals. Maybe this is a new boost for Italy as a billiard country! I have one week left to train on my way to that other, wonderful adventure: the World championship in Cairo.''
The semi-finals
Myung-Woo Cho-Alessio d'Agata 35-12 in 17
The Korean is again very strong from the break with 8, two innings later with 14-1, but he faces a backlash from the fifth inning with six misses in a row. Alessio d'Agata, only 18 and another three junior years to go, is not able to start his counter attack. The middle part is ideal for that, but Myung-Woo Cho recovers from his six misses with runs of four and eight, moves up to 22-9 and finally to a comfortable finish with 35-12 in 17. The result: over two average again for the first finalist this Sunday. Alessio d'Agata can confidently prepare for his next big tournament: the three cushion World championship in Cairo in ten days.
Daehyeon Jang-Carlos Anguita 35-25 in 20
The start and finish of the Korean are overwhelming: Daehyeon Jang, debutant at this World championship, runs six from the break and ends the match with a run of 8. That final run comes at a good moment. Carlos Anguita has just closed the gap after 19-12 and is back at 22-22. It was the Spaniard's last revival at a World Junior championship. Two innings later, Jang can not be stopped anymore on his way to victory, 35-25. The Korean reaction is cool and unmoved: not even a smile after his last point. Carlos Anguita loses his title and says farewell to his junior years. He will surely look back on it later: one world title, one time second in a European championship.
The final ranking at the Junior World championship in Izmir:
1 Myung-Woo Cho (Korea) 12-2.022-9
2 Deahyeon Jang (Korea) 8-1.300-8
3 Carlos Anguita (Spain) 8-1.163-16
3 Alessio d'Agata (Italy) 6-1.180-9
5 Julian Vasquez (Colombia) 4-1,917-7
6 Joey de Kok (Netherlands) 4-0.906-6
7 Maxime Panaia (France) 4-0.895-6
8 Santiago Ocampo (Colombia) 4-0,800-5
9 Stef van Hees (Belgium) 4-0.830-8
10 Shota Funaki 2-0.837-4
11 Björn Mikkel Jensen 2-0.764-4
12 Gwendal Maréchal (France) 2-0.741-6
13 Arda Güngor (Turkey) 2-0.654-8
14 Mahmoud Ayman (Egypt) 0-0.733-4
15 Alperen Cebeoglu (Turkey) 0-0.733-3
16 Mario Mercader (Spain) 0-0.625-3.
