HANAM - The all time greatest billiard talent, 21-year-young Korean Myung-Woo Cho, was rewarded this Sunday evening in Seoul for many years and hours of endless hard training. The always cheerful young man in the high ranks of the three cushion circuit won the final of the prestigious LGU+ Cup in which he defeated the Turkish star Semih Sayginer 40-16 in 17 innings. Myung-Woo Cho earned 65,000 euros, Semih Sayginer as the losing finalist 32,000 euros, the numbers three and four Tayfun Tasdemir and Jae-Ho Cho 16,000 euros. The total prize money for the sixteen players was 124 million Korean won, almost 200,000 euros.
The road to the most valuable victory in his still young career led Myung-Woo Cho in the LGU+ Cup along big champions such as Torbjörn Blomdahl, Eddy Merckx, Marco Zanetti, HaengJik Kim and on the final day along the two Turks Tayfun Tasdemir and Semih Sayginer. The overall winner finished in all his six matches to 40 caroms under 20 innings: 240 in 103, good for 2,330 general average.
The world title among the juniors and high rankings in the World Cups already announced the coming up of a new, big star. His victory in the LGU+ Cup was the first triumph in a tournament with all world class players. The last, winning carom in the final was followed by an ovation. The winner himself thanked the audience in the arena ('thank you, thank you'), waved enthusiastically to his fans, shook the hand of Mr. Farouk Barki, the UMB president and fell into the arms of his father Cho Ji-en. The first comment in front of the cameras: "I am so happy, so happy, and I will do my best to get even better."
The final in the LGU + Cup was a one-way match. Semih had a moderate start (10 in 9) and saw the Korean start his final attack in two innings: 12 in the 9th, 6 in the 10th inning. The miss in his run of 12 was unfortunate: a round about over 8 rails went just around the red ball in the corner. After 33-12 in the 11th, it took six innings more to reach the finish (40-16 in 17). It was the crowning glory for the more than deserved winner in a tournament that was played at the highest level.
Semih Sayginer recognized the mastery of his opponent in the final: ''He played very strong in this tournament. I wanted to do much better, but after all, I have to say, I did not prepare well by not eating in the hours before the final. That's why I didn't feel strong enough. Anyway, it is no excuse, he was very strong and punished me hard."
Dani Sánchez, sponsor and soul mate of the little Myung-Woo, celebrated the success with his close friends and said: ''I have seen it years ago that this boy an incredible, special talent. I am so proud of him."
The winner on stage with Semih Sayginer and Jae-Ho Cho
Right after the winning point, cheered by his father
Myung-Woo Cho, launching his attack in the final with Semih Sayginer
Semih Sayginer, strong performance, only stopped by young Cho in the final
The sensational match start by Jae-Ho Cho and Semih Sayginer, in the first semi-final, was one of the highlights in the recent history of three cushion. The Korean started with 10 from the spots, the Turkish answer in the first inning was phenomenal. Semih ran out smoothly to five, to ten, to fifteen caroms and only stopped at 19, when a short-short-short across the width of the table just went back. The score board after that first inning deserves a special gallery: 10-19!!! The match was almost in balance after eight innings (26-24 in favour of the Korean), but in the last two innings, Cho scored 7 and 2 and Sayginer two times 8: 40-35 in 10 (4.000/3.500).
The other Korean/Turkish clash in the semi-final between Myung-Woo Cho and Tayfun Tasdemir ended in a comfortable victory for the youngest Cho. The score at the break was slightly in Korean's favor (20-10). Cho crossed the finish after runs of 6 and 9 in the last part and seized the win: 40-25 in 17.
The final field was reduced on the early day to two Turks and two Koreans in the first knock-out round. Myung-Woo Cho, the star of the pre-rounds, made an end to the seemingly invincible series of victories by Eddy Merckx. The Belgian summer champion could not show his high-run-weapon and didn't even score higher than a "five" facing young Cho. The Korean ran to 20-13 in 10 at the break and finished it off with 10 and 4 to 40-26 in 19.
The Turkish tandem Sayginer/Tasdemir dealt with the previous winner, Quyet Chien Tran and the first winner Marco Zanetti. The poor start of the Italian (8 in 10) against Tasdemir prevented him from later joining the Turk, who was a model of regularity without outliers. The short attack by Zanetti (6-3-4-4-7) came just too late to threaten. Sayginer led Tran with 23-10 in 10 and dominated until the end. The Vietnamese scored six more six in the final phase, but got stuck at 40-31 in 21. The same score, but in 17 innings, as the two Koreans Jae-Ho Cho and Jung-Han Heo. The winner, Jae-Ho Cho, scored a "ten" before and a "ten" after the stop. That brought the decision to 40-31 in 17.
Myung-Woo Cho, first major victory in his career
Eddy Merckx, an end to a fantastic series of victories
Tayfun Tasdemir: what an excellent tournament
Marco Zanetti, former winner, stuggled in the quarters
Semih Sayginer: super start and amazing win over Jae-Ho Cho
Quyet Chien Tran, the title holder, brought it to the quarters
Jae-Ho Cho, stopped by a phenomenal Sayginer
Jung-Han Heo, one of four Koreans in the final field