Thorsten Hohmann, the 24 year-old from Fulda, Germany, tonight stepped out of the shadow of his more illustrious countrymen, as he shocked the pool world to lift the 2003 empirepoker.com World Pool Championship trophy, beating Canada's Alex Pagulayan 17 - 10.
Thorsten, who nine days ago was one of the emerging talents of European pool, can now stand proud as Champion of the World following a succession of stunning performances over the past nine days in Cardiff.
After disposing of last year's two finalists in yesterday's quarter and semi-final matches, Hohmann looked lean and focused as he entered the arena which was packed to the rafters with a capacity 650 fans.
Throughout the match he was always one step ahead of Pagulayan, who could never mount a sustained attack against the composed German. Two-all was the only time the Canadian was on level terms as Hohmann's powerful break worked for him time and again.
In contrast, whenever Pagulayan had the opportunity to make some headway into Thorsten's lead his break shot let him down and throughout the match he missed too many balls.
Thorsten was watched by his beautiful girlfriend Isabelle who flew into Cardiff on Friday night and as the match closed in, she could barely contain her emotion. He boyfriend, though was a picture of Teutonic calmness as he potted the balls and shifted the white around the table with a surgeon's precision.
When he deposited the final 9-ball into the corner pocket, Hohmann looked to the heavens in disbelief before shaking his fist to the skies in sheer joy.
Hohmann becomes the third German player after Oliver Ortmann in 1995 and Ralf Souquet in 1996 to lift world pool's most prestigious trophy.
After the match, he could barely contain his delight; 'I'm so happy! I have dreamed about this moment since I first starting playing twelve years ago. It is going to take a few days for this to sink in. I am 24 years old and the World Champion of this fantastic sport. This title is so important to me."
