Day 2 of the Korea International Championships was a day of reckoning. Big names dropping off like flies as we narrowed it down to the final four. Charlie Williams, Mika Immonen, Craig Riley and Goh Takami all stood proud after some hard fought battles to earn themselves a television match on South Korea's top sports network, MBC ESPN.
The first to go in the single elimination sweet-16 round was The Scorpion Johnny Archer. Young sensation Nico Otterman who chalked up his first loss of the tournament to Archer earlier that day, came back strong in the 1-loss bracket but found himself taking on Archer once again due to the randomized drawing for the final 16. Apparently he is a quick learner because he came into this match with the confidence of a veteran, smoking Archer 9-2 with his thunderous breaks and his keen eyesight.
Rocket Rodney Morris seemed like he owned the tournament, blanking Japanese star Niwa 9-0. But his next challenger who happened to be his roomate on this trip to Korea was none other than The Iceman Mika Immonen who jumped out to an early 7-2 lead only to see it slip away. Rocket drew within one game before Immonen finally shut the door to advance to T.V. day.
Englishman Craig Riley had his fair share of knock-outs after being placed into the 1-loss side in a heart-breaking 9-8 defeat against the reigning champion Charlie Williams. Being a fearless competitor he battled back to make it to the final 16 and drew Charlie "Hillbilly" Bryant. Again going to double-hill Riley was able to claw his way to a victory after a crucial scratch by the Hillbilly. Surprisingly quiet after the loss, he admitted he made more mistakes in this one match than in the entire tournament. Riley, riding on confidence then delivered the one-two punch knocking out Korea's last hope, Young-hwa Jeong. With the score being tied 7-7 in the race to 9, Jeong unfortunately left the seven-ball hanging in the corner pocket. Riley, quickly pounced on the opportunity by running the last 3 balls out and breaking and clearing the final rack to earn his first ever televised appearance.
Goh Takami from Japan earned his first International television appearance by taking down Mad Max Eberle and John Schmidt, respectively. The balls were definitely rolling his way as well as in the pockets off his monstrous breaks. Takami firmly believes that it is a simple game when you can break and leave yourself with only 5 or 6 balls on the table. He used that advantage to it's fullest and was able to slip into the final four. Charlie Williams devoured his opponents with the greatest of ease during the single elimination round winning 9-1 against Nico Otterman and 9-0 against Korea's Kim Woong-dae.
The semi-finals tomorrow post Mika Immonen(Finland) vs. Goh Takami(Japan) and Charlie Williams(USA) vs. Craig Riley(England). The televised matches will be alternate breaks, races to 7 with a 30 second shot clock. They will be officiated by the Korean Pro-Pool Tour(KPT) Head Referee Justin Acker.
