Goseong: the world number one goes out in the last 32
Good morning. I didn't expect to be leading with this one. Cho Myung-woo is the world number one and the defending champion at the Gyeongnam Goseong County Cup, and he won the doubles there earlier in the week. He lost in the men's last 32 on Friday morning, Korean time, to Park Jun-young of Chungnam, 40–37 in 25 innings.
Billiards & Sports has the details. Cho made a high run of ten in the 17th inning to lead 29–22, and four more in the 18th put him 33–23 ahead. Then it went quiet. He scored nothing from the 19th to the 21st, and by the end of the 23rd he was on 37, three points from the last 16.
He never got them. Cho missed in the 24th, and Park made a run of nine to go 38–37 in front. Cho couldn't finish in the 25th either, and Park made the last two points. MK Billiards' headline sums it up: Cho was 13 points ahead at one stage and still lost.
- Through to the last 16: Kim Haeng-jik beat Hwang Jung-seok 40–29 in 22 innings, and Heo Jung-han beat Cho Soo-hyun 40–27 in 25. Lee Bum-yeol is through as well.
- End of the teenage run: Kim Do-hyun, Kim Hyun-woo and Kim Dae-hyun, the three teenagers I wrote about last night, all lost in the last 32.
The last 16 and quarter-finals were due at 04:00 and 06:00 BST, but I haven't seen any of those results reported yet. The main matches are on SOOP TV.
Goyang: three title favourites out on the same day
It wasn't only Goseong. In the PBA last 64 at the Crown Haitai Championship, three title favourites all went out, per Billiards & Sports, Edaily and Dailian.
- Cho Jae-ho won the first set 15–5 against Lee Young-hoon, then lost the next two. He took the fourth 15–7 in nine innings to level it and force a shootout. Lee went first and scored three. Cho made two with a bank shot, and that was the end of his tournament.
- Kang Dong-koong was 2–2 with Shin Dae-kwon and went first in the shootout. He didn't score. Shin needed one point and got it.
- Daniel Sánchez escaped against Ko Jun-seo in the previous round, but not this time. He won the first set 15–2 in six innings and then lost the next three to Jung Kyung-seop, 9–15, 13–15 and 9–15.
Crown Haitai captain Kim Jae-geun also went out, beaten 3–0 by the Vietnamese newcomer Ton Viet Hoang Minh. Kim Kwan-woo, who came up through the Dream Tour, beat Shin Nam-ho 3–1 and is in his first top-tour last 32.
Some big names did get through. Kim Young-won and Choi Sung-won both won 3–0, and David Martínez made a run of 11 in his shootout against Iván Mayor. Today's last 32 includes Jung v Burak Haşhaş, Martínez v Eddy Leppens and Choi v Ton Viet Hoang Minh.
LPBA quarter-finals: Kim Ga-young v Hida Orie, the match everyone's been waiting for, started at 07:00 BST alongside Jung Su-bin v Park Jung-hyun. It was still being played as I wrote this. The second session, Lee Mi-rae v Park Da-som and Kang Ji-eun v Han Ji-eun, is at noon BST. Dailian also had the set scores from Lee Mi-rae's 3–1 win over 16-year-old Lee Seung-hee: 11–5, 11–9, 9–11, 11–1.
Ahmedabad: four Indians in the women's snooker last eight
IBSF has posted the overnight results cards from the Commonwealth Cue Sports Championships, and they're good news for India in the women's snooker. Ishika Shah beat Wales' Sarah Rowden 3–0, and Keerthana Pandian beat South Africa's Ann Mari Kruger 3–0. That gives India four of the eight quarter-finalists. Snenthra Babu plays Ishika Shah, so India is sure of at least one semi-finalist. The other ties are Gillian Hayes v Keerthana Pandian, Shruthi Lakshminarayanan v Simone Lloyd, and Rebecca Kenna v Michelle Rabe, who beat Laura Griffiths 3–1.
In the men's snooker, Darren Morgan, Michael Curphey and Sri Lanka's Mohamed Thaha Irshath all won 3–1, Irshath's win coming against Malta's Alex Borg. Ross Vallance edged Regan Low Chew Tung 3–2.
A note on Mehta: IBSF's results card has Jason Williams beating Aditya Mehta 3–2, but its later quarter-final card has Mehta playing Vallance. Both can't be right, and the organisers' schedule page was showing no fixtures when I checked, so I'll confirm when I can. The other quarter-finals are Curphey v Irshath, Morgan v Dhvaj Haria and Laxman Rawat v Craig MacGillivray.
English billiards semi-finals: Rayaan Razmi v Darren Clark and Siddharth Parikh v Michael Pearson in the men's, and Julie Watson v Revanna Umadevi and Anupama Ramchandran v Mhairi Mackay in the women's.
Snooker away from the tables
- Sheffield: The Star reports that Sheffield City Council won't say how much it pays World Snooker in a "staging fee" to keep the World Championship at the Crucible. It told a Freedom of Information request that the figures are in "exempt appendices". The deal runs from 2030 to at least 2045, and £35m of the £45m expansion is public money. WST declined to comment.
- Riyadh: CueScore shows Saudi Cup winner Omar Al-Ajlani beat Osama Abbas Ammar in Thursday's late session, so he's in the Kingdom Snooker Championship quarter-finals at 15:00 BST today.
- Ramsey, Isle of Man: St Olave's Snooker Club is 100 years old this year. Isle of Man Today reports that the club raised £50,000 for a refurbishment. The snooker room is now the Willie Kennish Lounge, after a player who once went 80 matches unbeaten over three seasons.
A bit of good news from carom
Frédéric Caudron has become a dad. Billiards & Sports reports that the Belgian and his wife Amal Nazari have adopted a son, Yassine. On social media he called it "the most beautiful chapter of our lives". Congratulations from all of us here.
What's next (all times BST)
- Ahmedabad: the quarter-finals and semi-finals today, then the medal matches on Saturday. The organisers stream on YouTube.
- Goyang: the PBA last 32 runs all day. The LPBA quarter-finals finish at noon.
- Riyadh: the quarter-finals at 15:00 and the semi-finals at 18:30.
- Reading: World Seniors Tour event three starts today, with scores on WPBSA SnookerScores.
- Hangzhou: Wu Yize's CBL singles at 12:35.
Here's this morning's question. Cho was three points from the last 16 and lost. Is that the worst collapse you've seen in three-cushion this year? Let me know below.
— Reggie Rutherford
Sources: Billiards & Sports, MK Billiards, Edaily, Dailian, IBSF, CueScore, The Star (Sheffield), Isle of Man Today.
Feature image: “2016 World Championship 3-Cushion Juniors-Cho Myung-woo 1” by Carambol, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
