 Ya-Ram Cha gave Tommy Kennedy an early scare |
A super talented field of 96 players have converged into one spot at Bankshot Billiards of Jacksonville, Florida to play for the right to be the first ever World 10-Ball Champion. Two thirds of the field are foreign players outside the USA making this the most international World Championship ever held on USA soil. The event is head sponsored by Predator Cues and Seyberts.com and produced by Dragon Promotions.
The event is being played on perfect speed Simonis Cloth and played with Super Aramith TV balls. Simonis and Aramith are the Official Equipment of the 2007 World 10-Ball Championships.
Upsets abounded the first day with US Bar Table Champion Warren Kiamco(PHI) falling to USA's unknown Hunter Lombardo 10-7. Japanese youth sensation Hayato Hijikata fell to Kim Shaw(ENG) of WPBA 10-8 . Shaw was the lone woman to advance out of the six women playing. Manuel Gama(POR) defeated event host Charlie Williams(USA) 10-7, senior tour player Wayne Catledge(USA) whipped 18 year old young gun John Morra(CAN) 10-7, Alessandro Torrenti(ITL) defeated Rob Saez(USA) 10-5.
Big surprises and tough draws included #1 seeded Thomas Engert's 10-8 loss to unheralded Keisuke Hanawa(JPN) and World 14.1 Champion Thorsten Hohmann's loss to Filipino young gun Lee Van Corteza. Former US Open Champion Tommy Kennedy had a small scare when #1 Korean Woman's player Yu Ram Cha made a late charge but lost 10-8.
"This is a stellar field. Dragon Promotions has done an amazing job with making the World 10-Ball Championship a reality." said Allan McCarty, Founder and Owner of Predator Products.
Marquee matches for Day 2 will include newly crowned ESPN BCA Open Champion Dennis Orcullo (PHI) aganist England's top gun Darren Appleton, USA's Mike Davis versus Dutch invitee Huidji Sey, USA's Tony Robles versus Derby City 9-Ball Champion Niels Feijen (NET), legendary Allen Hopkins (USA) against Filipino "Marvelous" Marlon Manalo, and USA's #1 gun Johnny Archer against Cliff Joyner, USA's top African American pool star.
In addition to the pro event, The 2nd Annual US Amateur Open will continue alongside the pros with 9-Ball divisions starting at 7pm on Friday night for Open, Women, and Seniors divisions.
