Izmir, september 19th.
The Tuesday and the Wednesday belonged to Orie Hida, the Thursday belonged to Therese Klompenhouwer. In a tense and difficult final, the Dutch woman overcame her strongest rival to win the world title for the third time. It must be said: Hida played the better tournament. But Klompenhouwer showed mental strength, did not get distracted by her less than fluent wins in the group stage and kept her eye on the big prize. It was a character win, and her emotions reflected that.
On the final day, the four ladies most likely to become world champion were all in the semifinals: Upcoming talent Sruong Pheavy from Cambodia, seasoned Ladies Cup winner Gülsen Degener from Turkey, four-time world champion Orie Hida from Japan and double world champion Therese Klompenhouwer from the Netherlands. Other than these four, 19-year old Bo Mi Kim from Korea also showed promise: she averaged 0,813 for the event.
Hida played both fortunate and very well against Pheavy in the first semi. A few flukes helped her, but she capitalized with great skill and scored an impressive win: 30–10 in only 17 innings. Hida had narrowly (25-24) lost to Pheavy in the group stage, but this time she was truly dominant. A 1,764 average in a ladies event, how impressive is that?
Klompenhouwer looked to run all over Degener in the other semi, when she built up a 20-6 lead after 14 innings. Then the rhythm was gone and Gülsen took over. Amazingly, 20-6 became 22-22. In the home stretch, both ladies nervous and playing defensive shots, Klompenhouwer had the steadier hand: 30-22 in 38.
The final went neck-and-neck to 14-14, but in the second half Therese was the more productive player. She left her opponent with a big task: to equalize from 30-22. Hida made two, then conceded her title: 30-24 in 30. It was the third crown for Klompenhouwer, who was world champion in 2014 and 2016. Hida will have to wait until 2019 (Valencia, Spain) to see if she can add a fifth title to her resume.
Final standing of Izmir:
1) Klompenhouwer 0,887 - 7
2) Hida 1,082 - 7
3) Pheavy 0,885 - 5
4) Degener 0,730 - 5
5) Bo Mi Kim 0,813 - 7
6) Karakasli 0,739 - 8
7) Fendi 0,450 - 4
8) Lalinde 0,615 - 4
Izmir, September 18th.
Izmir, Turkey’s third city, will be the center of the billiard world for a week. Two tournaments, both lasting three days, will be held back to back on the Anatolia coast. First, the Ladies World Championship, with Orie Hida from Japan as the defending champion, will be played on 18, 19 and 20 September. Immediately following it on 21, 22 and 23 September will be the Junior World Championship with Carlos Anguita from Spain defending his title.
In the Ladies event, most eyes will be on the title holder (Hida), the winner of the 2018 Ladies Cup (Degener), former world champion Klompenhouwer and the debutante from Cambodia: Sruong Pheavy. The ACC has not yet used its right to send a player. The CPB has four ladies in the field, one from Peru, three from Colombia. The ACBC sends a Cambodian, a Japanese and a Korean player. The CEB has representatives from the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Turkey (3), Austria and Belgium.
In four groups of four, play will be to 25 points with equalizing inning, a 40 second shot clock and two of the four players advancing to the K.O. stage, where matches will be to 30 points.
Group A: Hida, Jensen, Daske, Pheavy
Group B: Degener, Sandoval, Lalinde, Sakai
Group C: Klompenhouwer, Mitterböck, Castillo, Karakasli
Group D: Perez, Buelens, Kim, Fendi
The Junior championship will be played in the same format, only the matches in the K.O. stage will be to 35 points. The ACC has sent Mahmoud Ayman (Egypt), ACBC sends two Korean players and a Japanese. From America, the CPB has two Colombians in the field. The remaining eight spots are taken by players from Europe’s CEB. Given his phenomenal play in the World Cups, Myung Woo Cho from Korea has to be the tournament favorite. Title holder Anguita (Spain) and France’s young guns Gwendal Marechal and Maxime Panaia may have other ideas about that. Can Belgium's Stef van Hees and Holland's Joey de Kok follow in the footsteps of Caudron, Merckx and Jaspers? We'll find out next week.
Group A: Anguita, Ayman, Panaia, Jensen
Group B: Marechal, Cho, Ocampo, Cebeoglu
Group C: D’Agata, Mercader, van Hees, Jang
Group D: Funaki, Vasquez, de Kok, Gungor.