Hsiao Chi Lin and Thorsten Hohmann – Photo courtesy of www.onthehill.jp
Thorsten Hohmann and Hsiao-Chi Lin are the winners of the 43rd All Japan Championship.
On the men’s side, Hohmann cruised relatively unchallenged through a minefield of top talent that included Mika Immonen, Pin Yi Ko, Ching Shun Yang and just about every top player from the Philippines (Bustamante, Corteza, Deluna, Orcollo, Alcano, etc , etc).
Although the field was packed with top talent, Hohmann was able to avoid most of the landmines on his way to the finals. Hohmann’s trail through the final thirty two players started with an 11-3 win over Yu-Lung Zhang, followed by an 11-4 win over Shintaro Sugaya. Hohmann then had to face Filipino Jeffrey Deluna in the final eight and dispatched him with a lopsided 11-2 scoreline.
Next up for Hohmann was Yukio Akagariyama who was enjoying home field advantage with wins over Orcullo, Jung Lin Chang and Jundel Mazon already. Hohmann eliminated Akagariyama 11-6 to earn his spot in the finals.
Hohmann’s opponent was fifteen year old Ping Chung Ko who was previously known more for his famous brother (Pin Yi Ko) than anything else. This event should make fans take notice of this young players talent as he defeated Hung Hsiang Wang, Ronnie Alcano, Che-Wei Fu and Mika Immonen on his way to the final match with Hohmann.
While a win in the finals might have been a fairy tale ending for Ko, Hohmann had another ending in mind and he delivered with an 11-8 win in the finals.
The win was worth 2,000,000 Japanese Yen (almost $25,000) for Hohmann.
The ladies event saw Taipei’s Hsiao-Chi Lin get stronger as she went through the final sixteen players. Back to back 9-6 wins over Kaneko Sayuri and Pei-Chen Tsai were followed by a 9-3 win over Chihiro Kawahara and then a 9-4 win over Yukawa Keiko in the finals.
Lin, the 2009 Asian 9-Ball Champion, earned 600,000 Japanese Yen (approximately $7,100) for the win.
