Frédéric Caudron Wins Second Straight SLIO Championship

Frederic Caudron

Charts of Preliminaries
Charts of Semi-Finals
Charts of Finals

By Charles Brown, Ira Lee, Min Jae Pak

Once again Carom Café Billiards was abuzz with excitement as the third annual Sang Lee International Open 3-Cushion Tournament unfolded the week of August 13 to 19 in New York . The 2007 tournament held special significance because it commemorated the induction of Sang Lee into the BCA Hall of Fame.

A truly international event, players came from all over the world representing such countries as Belgium, Columbia, Croatia, Ecuador, Germany, Holland, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Peru, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and the USA. The qualification rounds had a total of eighty-four participants divided into twelve groups of seven players. They competed for thirty spots in the semi-finals. Five players were seeded directly into the semifinals; Frédéric Caudron (the defending champion), Torbjörn Blomdahl, Raymond Ceulemans, Daniel Sanchez, and Semih Sayginer. The seeds were joined by the thirty qualifiers plus five wildcards from the qualifications. The semifinals consisted of five groups of eight players and matches were to thirty-five points. Half of the semifinal field then advanced to the finals which were divided into two groups: an “A” final of ten players that competed for prizes one through ten; and a “B” final of ten players that competed for prizes eleven through 20. Both groups played round robin.

Mike Massey

Jeanette Lee

The tournament was fortunate to have two stars from the pocket billiard world competing in the qualifications— the incredible Mike Massey and always spectacular Jeanette Lee. Unfortunately, neither made the finals but both played well and are learning the game very quickly. Mike and Jeanette are strong supporters of 3-cushion and have helped in the promotion and advancement of 3-cushion billiards. Mike Massey recently appeared in ESPN's 3-Cushion Grandmaster competing along with Semih Sayginer. Jeanette Lee was a judge at the ESPN event and recently won her first 3-Cushion title Queen of Carom at a tournament in Korea.

There were a few surprises in the qualifications but most of the strongest players prevailed in their groups and advanced. Peter De Backer, Tayfun Tasdemir, Sung-Won Choi, Roland Forthomme, Luis Aveiga, Luis Avila, and Kyung-Roul Kim all went undefeated in their groups to advance. Two NY players, Hugo Patiño and Min Jae Pak also went undefeated. In an exciting final match, Pak won 25-20 against former European Champion Murat Naci Coklu from Turkey . Other local and USA players to advance were Miguel Torres, Michael Kang, Robert Raiford, Young Gull Lee, Jae-Hyung Cho, and Juan Medina who was also competing in the Junior Championship.

There was much excitement in qualification group “J”. Room owner and tournament host, Michael Kang, finished first in his group but started his first match on shaky ground as Mercedes Gonzales came out firing and was threatening to pull off a victory. She played fantastic but Kang held on to win 25-22. Kang then met Mike Massey in his next match and Massey was putting the pressure on Kang, but again he held on to win 25-21. Kang then faced Raiford and barely squeaked out a 25-23 win. An ominous start for Kang but he would later show that he indeed had plenty of fuel left in the tank. Meanwhile, after losing to Kang, Mercedes plowed through the rest of the field only losing to Raiford. She finished third in the group and got a wild card spot for the semifinals. Raiford, fighting for first or second, was toppled by Jeanette Lee. Also in the group was Byung-Moon Park who defeated Kang and finished a disappointing fourth with a 4-2 record.

The highlight of the qualifications, however, was the upset victory by New York's Lew Hutter over Japan's O Takeshima. Lew shot fantastic winning 25-22 startling Takeshima who recently won the Japan Cup.

With the first hurdle now behind them the players could only settle in a bit for the semifinals and had to fight hard to advance to the finals. The top two from each semifinal group would advance to the “A” finals and the third and fourth place finisher to the “B” finals.

Defending champion Frédéric Caudron had no trouble dominating his group averaging 1.842 with a high run of 14 and a best game of 35 in 13 over Ecuador 's Jorge Rubio. Playing brilliantly again this year, Peter De Backer finished second in the group losing only to Caudron. Third place went to Luis Avila and fourth to Javier Teran, both with 4-3 records.

Semih Sayginer also went undefeated to win his semifinal group unchallenged with Luis Aveiga finishing second, Tsuyoshi Suzuki third, and Peter Ceulemans fourth.

After missing last years tournament and a poor showing in 2005, Spain's Daniel Sanchez looked like he came prepared this year winning all his matches in the semifinals averaging 1.828. Several of his 35 point matches were under 20 innings including games of: 35 in 12, 35 in 13, 35 in 16, and 35 in 18. Two of the other matches were in 24 innings and his worst was 27 innings. Tayfun Tasdemir finished second losing to Sanchez and Ramon Rodriguez who went a disappointing 3-4 but still had an outside chance until he lost his sixth round match with Jae-Hyung Cho. Cho finished fourth in the group behind third place finisher Hugo Patiño.

Undaunted, Mercedes Gonzales came out firing again in her first semifinal match but this time her opponent was thirty-five time World Champion Raymond Ceulemans! Ceulemans calmly fended off the threat in his usual admirable style winning 35-30. Gonzales was fearless in her match with the master averaging .909 as a large crowd had gathered around to cheer. Ceulemans gathered momentum winning his next 4 matches bringing his record to 5-0. He won against O Takeshima in the fifth round handing Takeshima his first defeat. In the same flight, Michael Kang and Kyung-Roul Kim were both 4-0 before their meeting in the fifth round. Kang trounced the unsuspecting Kim 35-10 in 19 innings. The next round Kim faced Ceulemans while Kang squared off against Takeshima for the last round on Thursday evening. Kim finished off Ceulemans 35-19 in 16 innings and Takeshima struggled against Kang but managed a 35-30 win in 30 and 29 innings. All four players were now 5-1. Ceulemans would meet Kang, Takeshima would have Kim. The winner of each match would advance to the “A” final, the loser the “B” final. But first they would have all night to think about it!

A similar situation developed in Torbjörn Blomdahl's semifinal group. Coming into the tournament having won four of the last five world cup tournaments, Blomdahl glided through his first 5 matches averaging 2.160 with a high run of 15 and the tournament best game to that point of 35 in 10 innings. In the fifth round Blomdahl defeated Murat Naci Coklu giving Coklu his first loss while undefeated Sung-Won Choi handed Roland Forthomme his first loss. Coklu then won against Choi and Blomdahl faced Forthomme. Blomdahl was leading against Forthomme when suddenly a run of ten was dealt to him. This run made the game very close with Forthomme edging out Blomdahl by 3 in 20 innings. Blomdahl, Forthomme, Choi, Coklu, were all 5-1 with one match remaining.

There was tension and excitement Friday morning and this was only the semifinals! Kim had no problem winning his match against Takeshima to secure a place in the “A” final. Ceulemans and Kang fought to the wire. Kang edged out Ceulemans by a point 35-34. WOW! Kang advanced to the “A” final. Forthomme played inspired billiards against Coklu scoring 35 in 17 holding Coklu to 21 in 16. The final match pitted Blomdahl against Choi. Once again Blomdahl took an early lead and was ahead by a dozen. Sung-won Choi ran a ten late in the match to make the game neck and neck. Blomdahl faltered in the end and lost by five sending himself to the “B” finals. Incredible! Blomdahl had scored the best of any player in the tournament and now he was sent to the “B” finals. After the tournament, Blomdahl said that, usually, when he loses to someone in their first confrontation, which rarely happens, he often takes a loss on their second meeting. He lost to Choi last year at the 2006 SLIO. Admittedly, he said, that perhaps he lost because he was thinking of this when he was playing against Choi in the determining game.

The 20 Finalists

And so began the finals. Each finalist played two matches on Friday. Kim, Caudron and Sanchez won both of their first matches. The fiesty Kang upset Sayginer in the first round. Always a dangerous player, Kang is very capable of beating the top players and has won against Sayginer before in a grueling five set match in world cup play. Sayginer rebounded and won against De Backer in the second round. After four rounds, Caudron and Sanchez were still undefeated. Sanchez played both games of 40 points in 15 innings in his first two rounds on Saturday, one of them against Kang by a one point margin 40-39 in 15 and 14 innings. Kim had dropped two games and Sayginer lost another to Forthomme. Forthomme, Kim, and Choi were at 2-4 and Aveiga had only one win.

On the “B” side, Blomdahl seemed lost at sea as he went down in his first two matches unsure how to navigate his way in the “B” finals. He then quickly recovered to win two scoring 35 in 18 and 16 respectively. Only Patiño was 4-0 and looked strong. Peter Ceulemans had one loss to Blomdahl.

By the end of the evening on Saturday, Caudron was still undefeated (6-0) averaging 1.818. Choi shocked Sanchez with a ten-and-out to win 40-37. Sanchez was now 5-1 and Sayginer was 4-2. Next in line were Kang and Tasdemir at 3-3 each. Both players would have to establish strong games on Sunday if they were still to have a chance. Kang went 2-2 on Saturday averaging 1.559 for the day and 1.390 for the finals so far. Tasdemir was averaging 1.672. In the “B” final, Blomdahl continued to win as did Peter Ceulemans who was leading the group with only one loss. Patiño slipped back losing two straight and Jae-Hyung Cho was coming-on bringing his record to 4-2. Teran, Coklu, and Raymond Ceulemans were at 3-3. Avila and Takeshima were struggling.

Three rounds were left on Sunday with Caudron getting off to a blistering start against Kim 40-14 in 19 innings. Kang lost to Choi and Tasdemir won against Aveiga. Sayginer won handily against Sanchez 40-23 in 16 innings greatly improving his chances. Sanchez and Sayginer both had 5-2 records and were ranked number 2 & 3 respectively in the “A” final at that point. Caudron was still undefeated. Sayginer would face Caudron next in a must-win match for he and Sanchez to still have a chance at the title, otherwise Caudron would secure the championship.

Peter Ceulemans, Blomdahl, Cho and Teran continued on their winning route in the “B” group for the first round on Sunday but then Cho and Teran each lost in the second round. The final round of the “B” still left much to be determined as far as final placement was concerned. Teran beat Cho which catapulted him to third place. Peter Ceulemans, who needed to win to secure the “B” championship lost to Patiño. Blomdahl played Raymond Ceulemans, as the two have done many times in the final match of a tournament. Undeterred, Blomdahl won it all. Not only did he win the match and subsequently the “B” Championship in impressive style 35-15, he did it in 11 innings for the tournament best game and with a high run of 15 to tie the tournament high run. The prize for high run was $1500 ($100/point) which would be split between Blomdahl and Sayginer, Sayginer had just run 15 in the previous round against Sanchez. For best game the prize was $1591 (the scoring average, 35 in 11 = 3.182 multiplied by $500). Again, Blomdahl edged out Sanchez for best game who had a 3.007 game also just scored in the previous round. Blomdahl finally had charted out a course for himself if only to pirate the holds of Sayginer and Sanchez.

Tjorborn Blomdahl

Raymond Ceulemans

Back on the Show table, Caudron would now meet Sayginer. Sayginer played brilliantly and looked like he would prevail only needing one point with Caudron behind. However, five consecutive innings Sayginer missed match point, although from difficult positions, to allow Caudron to secure his second straight Sang Lee International Open victory 40-39 in 28 and 27 innings. Caudron played impeccable billiards all week and deservedly won the title. Sanchez managed to win over Caudron in the final and finished second with Sayginer third.

Frederic Caudron holds the Sang Lee Trophy for the 2nd straight year

After the finals, the crowd was dazzled as artistic grandmaster Semih Sayginer thrilled everyone with a stupendous exhibition. Seemingly impossible shots were executed one-after-another with effortless precision and flair that only Semih can provide.

Semih Sayginer

HighRock Productions

For the third consecutive year, HighRock Productions co-organized the event and filmed matches on the main featured table for international television distribution. This year, an unprecedented 20 shows were captured in HighRock's highest quality production to date and will air a total of at least 57 hours of 3-cushion billiards on the Xports channel on the CJ Media network in South Korea . Dragon Promotions president, Cindy Lee, was instrumental in arranging this opportunity. All of the exciting episodes leading up to and including the final match, will be available on DVD early next year. HighRock Productions also produced the ESPN special “3-Cushion Grandmaster” featuring Semih Sayginer, Mike Massey and Eric Yow which will re-air on ESPN1 on October 14th , 2007 at 5:30pm EST.

The 2007 Sang Lee International Open was sponsored by Carom Café, HighRock Inc., CaromTV.com, Iwan Simonis cloth, CFR Productions, USBA, Schuler Cues, Dieckman Cues, Adam Cue Company, Aramith, and CueTable.com. The event is made possible by the generous support of the following patrons: Michael D. Bray, Dr. Michael Fedak, Martin Isserlis, Bob Jewett, Allen C. Meier, Douglas P. Warwick.