19-26 February 2011
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Day Two of the World 8 Ball Championship
Credit: Jerry Forsyth
Our
second day at the WPA World 8-Ball Championships in Fujairah, UAE was
one of several surprises as some strong players have now been eliminated
from the event. Mark Gray of the UK, Jeong Young Hwa of Korea, and
Ruslan Chinakhov of Russia have all seen their efforts here come to an
end. Carlos Cabella of Spain may never wish to see another Bustamante.
He was knocked into the one-loss side by Francisco Bustamante and then
was eliminated by Joven Bustamante. Many players seem to make this game
of 8-Ball seem easy. Carlos Dalmatin won his match today 7-0 in about 40
minutes. Others are struggling to find the proper patterns. It is really
quite interesting to watch the players adjust the power of their break
shots in order to develop the most advantageous spread of the balls. If
the rack is struck too hard the balls spread out and then come back
together in clusters. Too easy and the balls alll stay down on one end
of the table. THere is a happy medium where the balls are all over the
table wit the space between them needed to get proper position.
One
big change for this event is the use of the Magic Rack, a thin sheet of
polyester that racks the balls tightly without gaps. This way no one has to
worry about getting a bad rack and the players seem quite happy with this
development. This takes out one luck factor and the players are quite happy to
have their skills being the only determining factor between a win and a loss.
Tuesday will find more winner's round action with many groups having to many
big names in them for them all to make it through. There will be many moment
of high drama resulting in joy on one side of the table and tragedy on the
other.
As
always, we wish to thank our sponsors. They include the title sponsor,
Etisalat Telecommunications, Fujairah International Airport, Arjaan by Rotana,
Le Meridien Beach Resort, Knight Shot Billiards, Dubai Sport, Al Diar Siji
Hotel, Pepsi-Cola, and the Emirate of Fujairah.