 Yu Ram Cha Looking Primed to Defend Her Title |
Incheon, Korea- The best marquee matches were on as all players would be eliminated today with the exception of the final four men and final four women. The day started out with winners side matches and Joven Bustamante of the Philippines dominating Korean American Charlie Williams 9-3. At the same time Junior Champion and top 10 JPBA Pro Hayato Hijikata (JPN) crushed #1 KPT Young Hwa Jeong(KOR) 9-2 and Jundal Mazon took down Hiroshi Takenaka (JPN). Rodney Morris trailed 7-4 to Korea's giant killer Hee Chul Kim, who in the past has eliminated players such as Mika Immonen and Charlie Williams. Morris took advantage of a dry break from Kim, made a length of the table reverse thin cut on the one ball and proceeded to run the set out not letting Kim back to the table for a 9-7 win. These results guaranteed the four winners a spot in the quarter finals with the format changing to single elimination race to 10.
On the ladies side Korea's #2 Yun Mi Lim eliminated current #1 ranked Eun Ji Park 7-6 while Miyuki Sakai (JPN) eliminated Bo Ram Cha (KOR). This would set the semi-finals tomorrow with Sakai facing defending champion Yu Ram Cha and Lim facing European #1 Jasmin Ouschan.
The Men's Doubles finals finished with USA Duo Morris and Williams taking on underdogs Hijikata (JPN) and Hee Chul Kim (KOR). Morris/Williams controlled the entire match until 7-4 when Kim hooked his partner on the 2 ball. Hijikata made a clean contact with the 2 ball and luckily caromed into the 9 ball making it. They proceeded to run the next 3 racks taking an 8-7 lead. A scratch ball in hand to USA Team gave Morris/Williams one more chance but Morris faced a tricky 6 ball and missed leaving an easy out and the Korean/Japanese duo claimed the 1st place win.
The elimination rounds of the men's side saw Williams bounce back with a 9-6 win over Korea International Championships runner-up Goh Takami (JPN). Filipino unknown Ricky Zerna eliminated Hee Chul Kim 9-6 to claim his stake in the quarters. Jeong easily handled KPT veteran Jung Ho Jung 9-3 while Takenaka defeated KPT #4 Won Sik Ham.
In the quarter finals Joven Bustamante controlled Jeong 10-5. Morris took out Takenaka 10-6 while his USA compadre Williams eliminated Hijikata 10-5. The final match of the day had Ricky Zerna ending the event for his Filipino roomie Mazon 10-8.
Tomorrow's men's semi finals will be Rodney Morris vs Charlie Williams and Bustamente vs Zerna. The Mixed Doubles Finals will feature Korean Team of Williams (Hyun Ho Kim) and Yu Ram Cha versus Japanese duet of Sakai and Takenaka. All the matches will be televised on MBC ESPN.
