Darren Appleton
July 14, 2012 Indonesia: The British invasion continues in Day two of the 2012 Guinness World Series of Pool: Speed Challenge at the Ciputra World Mall in Surabaya, Indonesia as the newly crowned World 9ball Champion Darren Appleton, 2010 World 8ball Champion Karl Boyes and 2011 China Open Champion Chris Melling trumped their round of 32 opponents to emerge unscathed and march onwards to the top 16.
As with all great champions, Appleton, who earlier could not find his rhythm in the preliminary rounds was able to recompose himself and shake the cobwebs in time for his huge head-to-head matchup with 2007 WPA 9ball championships finalist from the Philippines, Roberto Gomez.
Although he trailed early with his opening rack time of 1:12 mins versus Gomez' 49 seconds, a consistent stroke kept Appleton within striking distance all throughout the five-rack knockout contest. In the third, with pressure mounting, it was the Filipino who blinked first, notching two consecutive missed ball errors on the black 8ball and the 2ball for a costly 20-second penalty to have the clock show times of 3:05 versus 2:43 in favor of the Englishman. From there, Appleton never looked back, arriving first at the finish line with 4:44 mins to his name while the Filipino's best efforts only giving him a time of 5:03 mins.
Other preliminary round top performers Chris Melling and Karl Boyes continued their relentless romp through the competition and remain the favorites to reach the finals. Boyes, who ranked first after the qualifying rounds, took care of business in his encounter with local veteran Rudy Susanto with an impressive five-rack total of 4:25 mins.
His compatriot Melling also cruised to victory in his pairing with another local Muhammad Junarto. Another flawless effort complimented with multiple errors from his Indonesian counterpart gave Melling probably the easiest route towards the top 16. In fact, he did not even need five racks to prove himself worthy as the Indonesian conceded midway through the third rack.
Tomorrow's action pits the British contingent against tougher competition with Appleton facing USA's top shooter Shane Van Boening, Boyes with Indonesian player Ferdi and Melling taking on American George Breedlove.
Please refer to the complete list for the top 16 head-to-head matchups:
Thorsten Hohmann (GER) vs Irsal Nasution (INA)
Ricky Yang (INA) vs Jeffrey De Luna (PHI)
Mika Immonen (FIN) vs Muhammad Andre (INA)
Dennis Orcollo (PHI) vs Adolof Leunupun (INA)
Iwan Saga (INA) vs Cherry Suliawan (INA)
Darren Appleton (GBR) vs Shane Van Boening (USA)
Chris Melling (GBR) vs George Breedlove (USA)
Karl Boyes (GBR) vs Ferdi (INA)
The first round of the GWSOP: Speed Pool challenge sees the 40 players battling the clock as they play two sessions of five racks each with the top 32 times advancing to the next round. From there it will be a single knockout format all the way to the semifinals with each match having the players face-off in five racks, whoever has the total best-time wins. The finals will be a 7- rack shootout to determine the championship.
The broadcast of the 2012 Guinness World Series of Pool – SpeedBall challenge will be LIVE on ESPN and STAR Sports (Please check local listings), with fifteen hours of exhilarating competition from July 13 - 15, 2012. Broadcast times are as follows:
Sun, July 15, 2012 from 12.00 – 16.30 (HKT) Top 16, Quarterfinals, Semifinals & Finals
The 2012 Guinness World Series of Pool – Speed Pool Tournament is sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU) and organized by ESPN STAR Sports' Event Management Group (EMG). Guinness is the title sponsor for the Event. Fisherman's Friend is the official sponsor. The local sanctioning body is the All Indonesian Billiards Association (POBSI). Iwan Simonis and Aramith supply the official tablecloth and official pool balls respectively. Murrey provides the official pool table while Predator is the official cue. ESPN is the official broadcaster.
Please visit www.facebook.com/guinnessindonesia for more information.
