Final CSI Invitation Update

SVB & Ko Pin Chung Photo by Michael Brown

By: Erik Hjorleifson

All good things must come to an end and such is the case with the 2014 BCAPL National Championships from the Rio hotel in Las Vegas. Saturday will be the final day of competition in the team events and Friday saw the last day of play in the CSI Invitational 8 Ball Championship.

In the 16 player invitational tournament going into the final day, two players had guaranteed their place in the final groups. Thorsten Hohmann (Germany) and Ko Pin Chung (Taiwan) finished their groups with undefeated records. In both of the other two groups all four players were tied with 1 win and 1 loss. Which would mean that in both groups two players would finish with a 2 and 1 record, and two players would finish with 1 win 2 loss record. The first tiebreaker in determining who advance was based on  head to head match-ups.

In group "C" Shane Van Boening won his match and to have the head to head edge in the tiebreakers he would need Ralf Soquet to lose to Dennis Orcollo. Soquet won his match in a very close contest 9-8, however in an odd twist of fate Soquet, due to his participation in the World Team Championships starting very soon in Beijing, China, was forced to forfeit his spot in the semi finals to Van Boening who came second in his group. He attempted to change his flight plan but was unable to find an alternate flight. In group "D" Darren Appelton and Ko pin Yi tied with 2 and 1 records but Yi advanced with a better head to head record.

This set up a clash of the titans semi final match-up between Ko Pin Yi and Shane Van Boening. I think this is a rivalry you will see repeat itself many times in the next 10 years. Ko has been Van Boening's nemesis this week, defeating him in the group stages of the 10 ball tournament and with a score of 21-17 in the Kamui challenge event. Shane would finally get his revenge in this match, moving forward into the final with a 9-6 win after being given a second life after Soquet's forfeit.

In semi-final #2 Ko Pin Chung, the younger brother of Ko Pin Yi, faced off against Thorsten Hohmann. Chung has been a pleasant surprise this week, finishing in the final of the 10 ball invitational and he continued his fine form in the semi-finals of the 8 Ball Invitational with a 9-6 win over Hohmann.

The final was now set between Shane Van Boening (USA) and Ko Pin Chung (Taiwan). Chung took the early lead with 6-2 in the now extended race to 11 final set. He then held on for his first major victory in his young career winning the match 11-7.  At only 18 years old this is the first major victory by a player under the age of 21 since Chia Ching Wu won the World 8 ball and World 9 ball Championships in the mid to late 2000's.

Congrats on a well deserved win, pool can be a fickle game sometimes. I watched him lose a match 3 weeks ago in Qatar 9-1 against Chang Jun Lin, making a few errors in the process and I remember thinking to myself that he wasn't quite ready to break into the upper echelon of players yet. But after his first major victory this week and a second place finish in the other event I am reminded that everyone has their ups and downs in this game.