Afternoon all. The big news this lunchtime comes from Goyang, where one LPBA semi-final was a proper comeback and the other was over in three sets. Ahmedabad is in the middle of its medal session as I type, and Goseong already has a women's champion. Here's where everything stands.
KOREA — JUNG SU-BIN'S GREAT ESCAPE SETS UP LEE MI-RAE FINAL
- Jung Su-bin was 2–0 down to Han Ji-eun in the Crown Haitai Championship semi-finals and came back to win 3–2. Han took the first two sets 11–8 and 11–9. In the second she held off a run of eight that briefly put Jung 9–7 up. After that it was all Jung: 11–8, then 11–4, then a 9–0 deciding set finished in just three innings, according to Billiards & Sports.
- Lee Mi-rae had a much easier afternoon. She beat Hida Orie 3–0 (11–9, 11–4, 11–9), with a run of seven in the second set. Hida had finally got the better of Kim Ga-young in the quarter-finals, but she couldn't do the same to Lee.
- That gives us a first-time-winner storyline against a veteran one. Jung is in her second LPBA final, around eight months after her first, and is still looking for a maiden title. Lee is back in a final for the first time in 11 months and is going for her sixth career win. This season has already had three different winners: Kim Ga-young, Sruong Pheavy and Park Jung-hyun.
- The final is tomorrow at 21:30 Korean time (13:30 UK). Before that, the Harim team-mates Kim Young-won and Kim Jun-tae meet in the PBA last 16 at 21:30 Korean time today (13:30 UK), in the same session as Choi Sung-won v David Martínez.
- The Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships finals have been going since 08:00 UK. When I last checked, neither the IBSF nor the organisers had put out any results, so I'm not going to guess at medal winners. Full results will be in tonight's roundup.
- Some extra detail on how Aditya Mehta got to the snooker final against Dhvaj Haria. CueTracker's frame scores show he was 2–1 down to Mohamed Thaha Irshath, made a 116 along the way, and won the last two frames, 76–26 and 79–60. That's the only century CueTracker has logged in the men's event so far.
- Women's snooker: the IBSF quarter-final graphic shows Rebecca Kenna needed a decider to get past Michelle Rabe 3–2 before she whitewashed Ishika Shah. Keerthana Pandian (3–0 v Gillian Hayes) and Shruthi Lakshminarayanan (3–0 v Simone Lloyd) both cruised through their quarters in the other half of the draw. I still haven't seen a confirmed result from that half's semi, so Kenna's opponent remains unconfirmed.
- Still to come today: Ramachandran v Umadevi for women's English billiards gold, Cunningham v Naiga Rukia in the blackball, and the closing ceremony at 13:30 UK.
GOSEONG — HEO CHAE-WON WINS AGAIN; HEO JUNG-HAN v SON JUN-HYUK FOR THE MEN'S TITLE
- Heo Chae-won, Korea's domestic No.2, won the women's three-cushion title at the Gyeongnam Goseong County Governor's Cup. She trailed Park Ji-hyun 14–6 at the halfway break and came back to win 25–19 in 31 innings, MK Billiards News reports. Park returned from the LPBA last year and was going for her first title since.
- It's Heo's second national title in a row, after the KBF President's Cup in August, and her fifth overall. Her first four all came in Yanggu, so this is the first she's won anywhere else. "I was behind in the first half, but I thought if I kept the gap close I could turn it around," she said (translated). Her next target is the National Sports Festival in Jeju. Kim Ha-eun and Ma Ji-woo shared third place.
- In the men's semi-finals, Heo Jung-han (49) held off a late charge from Jung Ye-sung to win 50–43 in 27 innings. Son Jun-hyuk (22) beat Park Su-young by more than 20 points. Heo is going for his fourth national title of the season. Son won his first, in Jecheon, last December. The final was scheduled for 19:00 Korean time (11:00 UK) on SOOP, and I haven't seen a confirmed result yet.
SNOOKER — READING: ROBERTSON'S CENTURY AND TWO COMEBACKS
- Day one of World Seniors Tour event three at the Crucible Club in Reading (results via CueTracker): Jimmy Robertson beat Dean Galbally 4–0 in the last 16, opening with a 112. Rory McLeod came from 0–2 down to beat Steven Crowley 4–2. Stephen Groves also trailed 0–2 and beat Dharminder Singh Lilly 4–3 in a decider. Andy Lavin beat Aaron Canavan 4–1.
POOL — REYES CUP STORYLINES AND A US VETERAN'S 15TH
- The World Nineball Tour's Reyes Cup player guide has some nice ties between the two teams. The US Open final gets a rematch of sorts: champion Francisco Sánchez Ruiz is with the Rest of the World, and runner-up Robbie Capito makes his debut for Asia. Shane Van Boening makes his Reyes Cup debut too, on the same side as Mosconi Cup opponents Sánchez Ruiz and Joshua Filler. The guide notes SVB is due to make a record 20th consecutive Mosconi Cup appearance later this year.
- Grassroots news from the US: Rochester's Ron Casanzio went unbeaten through stop three of the Joss Northeast 9-Ball Tour. Per AZBilliards, it's his 15th title on that tour. He beat Mark Creamer in the hot-seat match and again in the final, dropping just one rack the second time. The tour is in Laconia, New Hampshire, this weekend.
WHAT'S NEXT
- This afternoon: Commonwealth medal results from Ahmedabad (closing ceremony 13:30 UK).
- Today, 13:30 UK: PBA last 16, including Kim Young-won v Kim Jun-tae and Choi Sung-won v Martínez.
- Sun 11 Oct, 13:30 UK: LPBA final, Lee Mi-rae v Jung Su-bin.
- Sun 11 Oct: Reading finals day on the World Seniors Tour.
- 15–18 Oct: Reyes Cup, Makati Coliseum, live on WNT TV.
That's me for lunch. I'll be back tonight with the Ahmedabad medal winners and the Goseong men's champion, and hopefully a Harim derby result as well. If you were watching any of it live, tell us in the replies.
— Reggie
Sources: Billiards & Sports, Kukinews, Edaily, Sports Seoul, MK Billiards News, IBSF, CueTracker, Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships organisers (Apex Sports), World Seniors Snooker, World Nineball Tour, AZBilliards.
Feature image: “1965 World Three-cushion Championship, Ceulemans aan stoot, Bestanddeelnr 917-7803” by Jan Voets for Anefo, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC0 1.0.
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