World Pool Championship Day 3/4 ~By Kat Day

SVB was Defeated by Dong Quoc Hoang

Day three of the World Pool Championship 2023 turned out to be a day of twists and turns. Watching the game with someone else commenting back and forth on Facebook Messenger is always fun. I had the privilege to watch the matches all morning and messaged a buddy, and we went back and forth during the matches. Let's see where to begin. When I got up and jumped on Matchroom Pool, I caught the end of the match with Tyler Styer and Albin Ouschan. Unfortunately, Styer was having problems with his eyes, and at 10-5, Styer handed the match to Ouschan. Then I jumped over and finished watching the Pagulayan-Filler match. Alex Pagulayan beat Joshua Filler for the third time in the last week. Once at Derby City and twice at the World Pool Championship. The Ko Brothers made it to the last 64 in long games. I wish each table were televised because it would have been nice to watch the matches. Ko Ping Chung’s match in the last 64 was against Shane Wolford, where in a hill-hill thriller, Chung won the match 11-10. Ko Pin Yi played Jan Van Lierop ending in a hill-hill thriller as well, with Pin Yi winning 11-10. Shane Van Boening took to the table like a man on a mission to win against Jani Uski, winning the match 11-2. The tables took a turn in the last 32, with Dong Quoc Hoang starting with a Golden Break against Wojciech Szewczyk. Dong Quoc Hoang ran the table. Keith Shaner stated to me, watching the game, “This is the excitement the sport needs to showcase. Duong Quoc Hoang is dominating Wojciech Szewczyk 6-0” Trying to watch three games simultaneously is not easy! But it helps when you are watching with someone and messaging back and forth! What either of us missed, the other one caught! Dong Quoc Hoang played one great game, with Szewczyk only winning one round. Alex Lely commented that Dong Quoc must play on that cloth at home! With a final score of 11-1, Dong Quoc Hoang plays Shane Van Boening in the final 16. “There are certain players like SVB, Chang, Shaw, Gorst, and Filler, and when they get rolling, they make you feel helpless even when you are playing good. It's like facing a hurricane and trying to fend it off with string and duct tape,” stated Keith Shaner! Watching Shane Van Boening and Aloysius Yapp, I thought Aloysius might just be able to beat the reigning champion. Yapp got ahead of SVB taking his time methodically thinking about each shot. Yapp started out with the first point, then it was 1-1; then Yapp gained another point taking it to 2-1; Yapp made a beautiful 5-9 combo taking the score to 2-3. The score went to 4-2, then 5-2, and then a scratch on the break giving SVB the table back. Karl Royce says scratching against SVB is not recommended! Later Shane scratched on the 2 ball giving Yapp the table back again. The score goes to 6-8. Still in favor of SVB, the score goes to 7-8 after SVB scratched again after trying to deflect and caught the ball first. Now the score is 8-8. Shane is sitting in deep thought, just waiting for his chance back on the table. Yapp played a great game, but Shane defeated Yapp in the end. It was a great match to watch! It makes me wonder what tomorrow will hold for SVB against Dong Quoc Hoang.

The match today was just as grueling as yesterday for SVB with Dong Quoc Hoang, who gave SVB a run for his money. Dong had a lot of amazing jump shots and a jump bank that was amazing. It was a great match to watch!

Lechner won his match against Johann Chua 11-6, and Kun Lin Wu beat Naoyuki Oi 11-4. Mika Immonen put up a good game against Mohammad Soufi, with Soufi winning the hill hill 11-10. Later, the Ko Brothers lost their matches in the final 32, and John Morra beat Jayson Shaw. The Final 16 should be interesting and entertaining. Day four has begun, and Mario He won a grueling match with John Morra. It turned into a hill-hill thriller! Super Mario goes into the last eight! Duong Quoc Hoang beat SVB in a thriller of a match, much like yesterday's match with Yapp, but Duong Quoc Hoang won the match 11-10 to Shane Van Boening. It has been an exciting morning of matches, with Sebastian Batkowski losing to Mohammad Soufi in another hill-hill match 11-10. Jung Lin Chang beat Wiktor Zielinski 11-7. Kun Lin Wu won against Max Lechner 11-9. Albin Ouschan keeps his spot, moving to the final eight after winning against Mateusz Sniegocki. The only two matches left are Francisco Sanchez Ruiz against Denis Grabe which is 8-7 at the moment. Niels Feijen just began his match against Aleksa Pecelj. The Current score is 8-1 so I would say that Niels will be in the Final 8! Ruiz just won his match with Grabe 11-8. Leaving Niels to win 11-4. What a morning. Who will be the next World Pool Champion?