SANTA CRUZ - The world championship three-cushion in the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz has made the opening bell, allbeit it with a short delay.Two hours later than the planned opening, Farouk Barki, on behalf of the UMB (World Confederation), could launch the tournament by saying ,,I hereby declare for opened'', after three veterans of South American and Bolivian billiards had welcomed the world's top players in the authentic playing room.
The race against the clock by Thierry Gabriels and Marc Verhoeven, the billiard builders and also the hard, nightly workers from the organization and Kozoom team deserve the main prize. In the ultra-short run-up to the start, the arena was built in record time. There, from this Wednesday until Sunday the battle for the world title will take place.
The seventh world championship is played on South American soil after two consecutive years in the Palais des Sport in Bordeaux. Raymond Ceulemans, the world's renowned record holder, deserved his hero status in earlier years in places like Buenos Aires, La Paz, Lima and Las Vegas. Six years after Lima (winner Dick Jaspers), the world top circus is back on South American soil. With a tough preparation, especially due to delays at the airport and a sudden change of playing venue, but in a typical South American atmosphere.
The opening sessions, with four matches in a round at four tables, separated by pillars, showed the usual warm-ups. Haeng-Jik Kim first broke the moderate level in the opening rounds. The Korean had a slow start (8-6 in 12 innings) and then broke away from his fellow countryman Jin Pyo Hong with a brilliant attack: 4, 17, 5 and 6 for a second last score 39-14 in 17 and one inning later 40-15 (2.222 average).
Christian Rudolph took the first European battle against Tonny Carlsen (40-36 in 38), in the group in which Dani Sánchez is the head honcho, Erick Tellez defeated Nobuyasu Sakai (40-30 in 36), Dionisis Tsokantas bested Jose Luis Bleichner (40- 21 in 41) and Guido Sacco was the more or less surprising better of Huberney Cataño on one carom, 40-39 in 34.
Javier Teran had a poor and disappointing start against Fernando Diaz, won by the Colombian 40-26 in 27. David Martinez needed a long warm-up, but was way too strong for Jan Hudak (40-20 in 37) and Vietnamese Dinh Nai Ngo beat Korean Hyun-Min Seo (40-32 in 23).
Christian Rudolph won the first European battle against Tonny Carlsen
Mr. Farouk Barki and Mr. Fernando Requena (left) with the South-American organizers during the national anthem