Action Underway In Taipei City

Action Underway In Taipei City With 8 of the 16 groups complete for the first day’s play, the 2004 Taiwan World Pool Championship is off to a flying start with upwards of 1,400 local pool fans passing through the gate at the World Trade Center.Following a superb opening ceremony, defending champion Thorsten Hohmann kicked off proceedings with a perfunctory 5 – 3 win over Filipino hope Ramil Gallego.The most successful player to date is English qualifier Kevin Uzzell of Wolverhampton, who has a perfect record, having won his first two matches 5 – 0. That does not tell the full story as Uzzell’s victims were 2000 finalist Ismael Paez of Mexico and 1994 champion Takeshi Okumura of Japan.
That puts Uzzell in prime position to make it through to the last 64, following last year’s near miss. In the same group, Earl Strickland also has a two-for-two record, but his 2004 debut was not without some controversy.Strickland’s much talked about ‘finger extensions’ that he used at last year’s championship have since been banned by the WPA, and the North Carolinian was not amused when referee Michaela Tabb informed him of this at the start of the match.It was not enough to disturb ‘the Pearl’ though as he ran out an easy 5 -1 winner over Malaysia’s Patrick Ooi.Other 100 per cent players include Johnny Archer is Group 5 and Francisco Bustamante and European Champion Thomas Engert in Group 7.In Group 9, Scotland’s Pat Holtz caused a stir with the local fans as he entered the arena for his TV table match against Steve Davis wearing a kilt and sporran, the traditional Scottish dress.The tournament rules state that all players must wear trousers, but proud Scotsman Pat was determined to enter the fray in national dress. He went on to lose 5 – 2. Leading Group 9 is classy Filipino qualifier Rodolfo Luat with two wins from two starts.Two WPC veterans, Ernesto Dominguez and Akikumo Toshikawa head up Group 11 with two wins apiece and local hope Ying-chieh Chen has a similar record in Group 13.In Group 15, lucky Luc Salvas (Canada) had Germany’s Sascha Trautmann to thank for his elevated position. Trautmann, who won through in a European qualifying event, was bounced off his KLM flight on Wednesday and only arrived in Taipei at midday today (Saturday).Despite rushing from the airport to the venue, he could not get to the table in time and Salvas was consequently awarded the match 5 – 0. Play continues this evening with the other eight groups completing their schedules. Day 1 Hohmann bt Gallego 5 – 3 Manalo bt Hall 5 – 1 Rolon bt Tschudi 5 – 4 Orozco bt Hall 5 – 3 Manalo bt Rolon 5 – 3 Hohmann bt Orozco 5 – 1 Weiselius bt Gallego 5 – 3 Day 1Strickland bt Ooi 5 – 1 Uzell bt Paez 5 – 0Okumura bt De Falco 5 – 2 Paez bt Reljic 5 – 2 Uzzell bt Okumura 5 – 0 Strickland bt Reljic 5 – 3 Babica bt Ooi 5 – 1 Day 1Archer bt Al-Howri 5 – 2Archer bt Ryu 5 – 0 Lining bt Logan 5 – 4 Govender bt Storm 5 – 1 Al-Howri bt Logan 5 – 4 Storm bt Lining 5 – 3 Majid bt Ryu 5 – 1 Day 1Bustamante bt Wilkinson 5 – 1Alcaide bt Chang 5 - 2 Gabica v Lillis 5 – 0 Engert v Barcarcic 5 – 2 Bustamante bt Chang 5 – 0 Wilkinson bt Lillis 5 – 1 Engert bt Gabica 5 – 3 Day 1Luat bt S Davis 5 – 2 Souquet bt Yudharman 5 – 3Foldes bt Tan 5 – 1 Luat v M Davis 5 – 3 S Davis bt P Holtz 5 – 2 Tan bt Souquet 5 – 2 M Davis bt Yudharman 5 – 2 Day 1Hsia bt Wieto 5 – 2 Lely bt Klasovic 5 – 3Toshikawa bt M Holtz 5 – 4Dominguez bt Hundal 5 – 4 Hundal bt Lely 5 – 4 Toshikawa bt Hsia 5 – 0 Dominguez bt Wieto 5 – 4 Day 1 Feijen bt McInnes 5 – 1Hauge bt Yamamoto 5 - 4 Chen v Valle 5 – 3 Park v Carral 5 – 0 Valle bt McInnes 5 – 1 Yamamoto bt Feijen 5 – 2 Chen bt Park 5 – 1 Day 1Jeong bt Reilly 5 - 2Salvas bt Trautmann 5 - 0 (W/O)Stepanov bt Takahashi 5 – 3Wu bt Bergendorff 5 – 2 Wu bt Jeong 5 – 0 Salvas bt Reilly 5 – 1 Takahashi bt Trautmann 5 – 1

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