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World Straight Pool Championship Shaping Up as European Affair
Jul 9, 2007, 10:34 AM

The 64-player field at the Predator World 14.1 Straight Pool Championship is entering its third day of round-robin competition. Thus far, many of the 25 international players in the event — held at the Hilton Hotel in East Brunswick, N.J., from July 9-14 — have found the top of the group rankings.

Nine players remained undefeated; eight of them call Europe home. The only other unbeaten is Dennis Orcollo of the Philippines, with a record of 5-0.

Thorsten Hohmann, winner of last year's World Straight Pool Championship, looks all but unbeatable. Not only has he posted a 5-0 record, but the German marksman also owns the two top runs of the tournament so far, putting up awkward numbers of 100 and 97.

The three female players in the field are more than holding their own. Jasmin Ouschan, who finished fifth at last year's event, is poised to advance with a 4-1 record. Korean superstars Yu-Ram Cha and Bo Ram Cha are sitting at 1-2 and 1-1, respectively.

Round-robin play will conclude on Wednesday, July 11, with with four players from each of the eight groups advancing to knock-out play. The top 32 players will enter into a double-elimination, race-to-150 tournament. When the field is further narrowed to 16, it will become single-elimination.

By July 14, after five days of toiling at the tables, the final four will be set. The semifinal and final matches will be races to 200.