Team Asia is complete, and their last pick is 17
Evening all. We'll start with pool tonight. The World Nineball Tour has named Albert Januarta as the final Captain's Pick for Team Asia at the Roobet Reyes Cup, which runs at Makati Coliseum from 15 to 18 October. The Indonesian is 17, and per WNT he'll be the youngest player ever to represent Team Asia.
Captain Francisco "Django" Bustamante obviously rates him. "He's young, but he's fearless, and that's exactly what you want in a Reyes Cup debutant," he said. "I believe he can come in and surprise a lot of people in Manila." Matchroom's Emily Frazer pointed out that he's a two-time junior champion on the tour, and he's gone from junior champion to Reyes Cup debutant in about a year. Januarta said that playing on a stage this big "has always been one of my dreams". That completes both sides:
- Team Asia (captain Bustamante): Duong Quoc Hoang, Carlo Biado, AJ Manas, Robbie Capito, Albert Januarta
- Rest of the World (captain Ralf Souquet): Francisco Sánchez Ruiz, Shane Van Boening, Joshua Filler, Fedor Gorst, Aleksa Pecelj
Asia have won both editions so far, 11–6 against Europe in 2024 and 11–3 against the Rest of the World last year. With all that firepower coming the other way, picking a teenager is a bold call, and I like it.
Goyang: the LPBA last 16 is set
First, the promise I made at lunchtime. I still can't give you a confirmed result for Daniel Sánchez against wildcard Ko Jun-seo. As of 19:00 BST, neither Billiards & Sports nor MK Billiards had reported the second day of the PBA last 128, and the PBA's own site wasn't loading for me. I won't guess. You'll have it as soon as there's a source I trust.
The women's side is clearer. The rest of the LPBA last 32 finished late on Wednesday in Korea, and these were the ones that stood out:
- Han Ji-eun, a world championship runner-up, beat Kim Se-yeon 3–0 (11–10, 11–7, 11–7). The averages were 1.737 to 1.333, so it was closer than the score looks, and she won the first set with a five-point run to finish.
- Park Jung-hyun, who won the last tour event, beat Song Min-ji 3–0 with an average of 1.375. She was behind in every set and got back in front with bank shots each time. Next is a rematch with former women's world three-cushion champion Lee Shin-young, who she beat 3–1 at the season opener.
- Lee Seung-hee, born in 2009 and in her first LPBA season, beat Baek Min-ju in a shootout. She'd already knocked out Lim Jung-sook earlier in the week, and this is her first last 16. Lee Mi-rae is next.
The full last 16, per MK Billiards: Kim Ga-young v Kang Yu-jin, Hida Orie v Kim Jin-a, Lee Mi-rae v Lee Seung-hee, Lim Kyung-jin v Park Da-som, Jeong Su-bin v Lee Hwa-yeon, Lee Shin-young v Park Jung-hyun, Kang Ji-eun v Kim Sang-a and Han Ji-eun v Yong Hyun-ji.
Goseong: Cho Myung-woo wins the doubles at the first attempt
We've already got a winner at the Goseong County Cup. MK Billiards reports that Cho Myung-woo and Park Hyung-bin won the three-cushion doubles on day one, beating Ryu Hun-sang and Kang Ja-in 30–13 in 22 innings in the final. It was the first time they'd played as a pair. They went to the same school four years apart: Maetan High, which MK calls a "billiards academy".
They had to work for it. In the quarter-finals they beat Kim Haeng-jik and Choi Ho-ta 30–24 in 14 innings (an average of 2.143), then beat Hong Jin-pyo and Jeong Min-gyo 30–17 in the semis. It's Cho's second doubles title in three months, after he won the Incheon Mayor's Cup with his father in July. Park, back from military service, has his first. Cho's defence of the singles title is still to come.
One name to add from lunchtime: the new Korea Billiards Federation president is Kang Jin-mo, chairman of ITCEN Group. He won 122 of the 135 votes cast on 1 October.
Snooker: who skips the qualifiers in Changsha, and who opens in Edinburgh
The Snooker 900 breakthrough rounds in Changsha started today, but I haven't seen any results yet. A NetEase preview does tell us who skips them. Eight invited players go straight into the last 64: Xiao Guodong, Chang Bingyu, Fan Zhengyi, Lyu Haotian and women's world No.1 Bai Yulu, plus three of the top Chinese eight-ball players, Zheng Yubo, Chu Bingjie and Zhang Kunpeng. Sina's schedule has the breakthrough field playing best-of-seven matches until Friday, with the last-64 draw on Friday evening and the knockout from 10 to 13 October. The final is the best of 21.
Back on the main tour, WST has published the first-round draw for the BetVictor Scottish Open at the Meadowbank Centre in Edinburgh (14–20 December). Chris Wakelin starts his defence against Chatchapong Nasa in the opening session, and world champion Wu Yize plays Liu Hongyu. Zhao Xintong opens against Robbie Williams and John Higgins meets Iulian Boiko. Shaun Murphy has drawn Lyu Haotian, one of this week's Changsha invitees.
India: Chawla wins in Delhi as Ahmedabad gets going
The Times of India reports that former world champion Kamal Chawla has won the NSCI Cup All-India 8-Ball Pool Championship in Delhi. He beat Digvijay of Income Tax 9–3 in the final, after an 8–6 semi-final against Shahbaz Khan of Bharat Petroleum. Uzair Khan, his protégé and also from Bhopal, finished third.
In Ahmedabad, the Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships had their opening ceremony today, and play starts tomorrow with the last 16.
Where to watch / What's next
- Sydney (tonight): the Q Tour Asia-Pacific Australian Open at Mounties starts at 23:00 BST, with scores on WPBSA SnookerScores.
- Goyang (Thursday): the LPBA last 16 starts at 07:00 BST (15:00 in Korea) with Lee Mi-rae v Lee Seung-hee, on BilliardsTV.
- Ahmedabad (Thu–Sat): the last 16 tomorrow, quarters and semis on Friday, finals on Saturday.
- Riyadh (to Sat): the Kingdom Snooker Championship groups finish tonight. Per CueScore, the last 16 is on Thursday from 15:00 BST and the final on Saturday at 16:00 BST. Saudi Cup winner Omar Al-Ajlani won his opening match 3–1.
- Bristol, Tennessee (to Sun): the WPBA Borderline Brunswick/Pechauer Invitational ($20,000 added) started today.
- Goseong (to Sun): the singles continue, on SOOP and IB Sports.
- Manila (15–18 Oct): the Reyes Cup, live on WNT TV.
Would you pick a 17-year-old for a Reyes Cup, or would you have gone for experience? Let us know below.
— Reggie Rutherford
Sources: World Nineball Tour, Billiards & Sports (Korea), MK Billiards, NetEase, Sina Sports, World Snooker Tour, The Times of India, PTI, WCBS, CueScore, WPBSA SnookerScores, WPBA / AzBilliards.
Feature image: “Billiard hall” by Dmitry G, via Wikimedia Commons, released into the public domain.
