Dragon Promotions and Brunswick billiards have done it again. This years Korea International Championships has finally finished and it went out with a bang. Mika "The Iceman" Immonen slammed home the 9-ball off the break and capped off another Iceman like performance. His opponent for the finals was none other than The Korean Dragon himself, Charlie Williams. A rematch from last years finals, Mika sought out revenge and slayed the dragon with a quick draw of his sword. Ending any hopes of a sequel to Williams' dreams.
Immonen jumped out to an early 2-0 lead but with alternating breaks, Williams was able to break and run out to make it 2-1. Not making a ball off the next break, Immonen left a fairly easy table for Williams. Or so we thought... Williams missed a seemingly simple nine-ball giving Immonen a 2 game lead. Soon after, the Korean Dragon pulled himself together making a spectacular masse shot around the 7-ball and pocketing the 4 to give him perfect position for his next shot. The score was tied at 4 and it was Mika's break. Just as Charlie felt he was in control, the Iceman showed Danza who was really boss. The 9-ball caromed off the 3 and then headed straight into the corner pocket for a 5-4 lead. On the next rack, Charlie was unable to pocket a ball and Immonen ran out to make it 6-4. Just when Williams thought it couldn't get any worse, Mika blasted into the diamond and the 9-ball clipped the 8 which shot it off the rail and it banked right into the pocket for the victory.
Dragon Promotions had two of it's members represented in the finals. Both Charlie and Mika had an easy time during their semi-final matches. First it was Mika who took advantage of Goh Takami's lack to make a ball of the break and handed him his first loss of the day. Craig Riley seemed to have the same problem of not making balls off the break and Charlie also took advantage of that, beating him handily. The matches were all played on Brunswick Metro tables and televised by Korea's number one sports channel, MBC ESPN.
Both Williams and Immonen gave the crowd exactly what they were looking for. An exciting game of offense with amazing masse shots, sledge-hammer breaks, brilliant jumps and even more brilliant rail shots. After the match the two friends smiled and hugged as the audience roared with celebration.
Photo courtesy of Takao Takayama - Onthehill.jp
