John Schmidt
Queens, New York- John Schmidt is the only survivor of the seven Americans that were left in the final 16 of the World Tournament. To do so, he had to face the biggest challenge of the event: defeat the reigning World Tournament of 14.1 Champion Thorsten Hohmann.
The match was full of nerves and drama. Neither player was able to score any big runs, though there were moments of great shotmaking in crucial situations.
At the start, both players tied at 62 to 62 a piece. Later they again tied at 102 each. And again tied at 142. Schmidt and Hohmann traded leads back and forth.
"The conditions in the tournament started to slow down the balls so it wasn't easy to open the balls up easily", said Hohmann.
"You have to fire the balls a little harder because it's toward the end of the tournament and the balls are not sliding in and the humidity has changed in New York City. It's definitely to the advantage of the more powerful strokers and shotmakers", said Schmidt.
At the end of the match, Hohmann gave John one more opening with Schmidt needing a 35 ball run. But it was one of the toughest and trickiest 2 rack runs ever in the World 14.1. Schmidt had to shoot five difficult shots which included a length table power stun shot off the back rail; an awkward off angle combination he slow rolled, a length of table cut on the 4ball down the rail, a backwards cut on the 14-ball, and finally a 6ball in the final rack when he looked stuck. The 6ball was super thin cut as it lay inside the rack with only half a pocket as other balls were covering up the pathway. Schmidt fired it in and leaped up in the air right after to sweat the object ball path, which it went cleanly in. The final score 200 to 164.
"That was one of the toughest most pressure filled runs I have ever faced", said Schmidt afterwards.
Thorsten congratulated Schmidt with a warm handshake. Fans consoled Thorsten with nice words and commented you cant always win them all which he smiled and simply replied, "But I would like to."
Hohmann still retains the high run of the event with a 141. He also maintained the high run last year.
John Schmidt will enter the semi-finals as America's final man as he faces Germany's Ralph Eckert who earlier defeated Johnny Archer 200 to 95.
Darren Appleton will face Efren Reyes in the other semi-finals.
A new World 14.1 Champion will be crowned today.
The 2012 Predator World Tournament takes place July 29th - August 3rd. The event is produced by Dragon Promotions & Dr.Michael Fedak and proudly co-sponsored by Championship Cloth, Olhausen Tables, Amsterdam Billiards, Aramith Balls, Pool & Billiard Magazine, Championship Tour Edition Chalk, and straight pool aficionados Dr.Louis Pannullo of NYC, Stu Mattana of NYC, Ralph Rubin of MD, and Tom Gleich of NC. Co-contributors Dr.James Heller, Drew Thomas, and Charles Eames.
Brackets can be found at www.worldstraightpool.com
Collectors can purchase the main TV table where the finals and all streamed matches will be played on. The beautiful new Olhausen Grand Champion Pro II is valued at $6500 but will have an incredible $5000 price tag which includes souvenir Aramith Balls used in the event, Championship Tour Edition Cloth, and free installation! The table will also be signed by the champion along with an autographed poster of all the World Tournament players. For more information on buying the table, player registration, sponsorship, or if you would like to submit a comment, please email worldstraightpoolchampionships@gmail.com or contact Dragon Promotions at 1-407-782-4978.
Full schedule and event info is now at www.Worldstraightpool.com and more info on www.dragonpromotions.com
August 3rd Day 6 remaining TV stream schedule will feature : Schmidt vs Eckert at 11am. Reyes vs Appleton at 2pm. Finals at 5pm.
Get the latest news by following http://www.facebook.com/Worldstraightpool and www.twitter.com/Dragonpromoter
Reserve your tickets for the main events and the exhibitions at: caromcafe.qrickets.com
Pay per view streaming available (14.1 and 3c): www.worldstraightpool.com
