The Cuesports divisions of the 2005 World Games got underway in Bottrop Oberhausen. Carom, 9-ball and Snooker will all be contested at this event.
One half of the Men's US contingent, Rodney Morris, started off slow as Roland Acosta from Aruba free rolled to a 3-0 lead. Then from 4-2 down, the Rocket blasted 9 consecutive games that put Acosta into a coma. On the other side of the charts, The Korean Dragon Williams kept control of the match against Japan's Hoshi 11-7. The big news of the day came from Greece's Evangelos Vettas who won a 11-10 thriller over Souquet. Souquet was a last minute alternate for a player who did not show up, but Vettas's performance kept Souquet's moment in the sun short.
On the womens side Vivian Villarreal is the USA's sole hope and she won an easy first round eliminating South Africa's player. She plays Jennifer Chen in the quarter finals tomorrow. Allison Fisher also won her 1st round easily . The big upset was an unknown Italian player upsetting #1 seed Shin Mei Liu 9-7 in the 1st round. The x factor in the event will be 18 year old Jasmin Ouschan who is expected to come on strong with a pro win at any moment.
On the carom side, Belgium's Cauldron , Sayginer, and Blomdahl all won handily. Blomdahl was concerned that his 3 weeks of no practice due to a knee surgery would prevent him from normal performance. He averaged over a 2.0. He will face Sayginer tomorrow.
In the snooker, #1 seed Tony Drago was upset 3-0 by Singapore. Probably the player who all eyes are on in snooker, is Ding Jun Hui, the 18 year old sensation who won the China Open defeating Ken Doherty 6-0 on TV and then Stephen Hendry in the finals . He advances into the quarter finals tomorrow.
