Torbjorn Blomdahl and Pedro Piedrabeuana continued on their collision course dring the second day of play at the USBA Open Tournament at Carom Café in New York. Through all eight rounds of the qualifying brackets, each stood at 8-0 after facing their toughest competition in the last round. Miguel Torres, was 7-1, after challenging the Swedish World Champion, while Hugo Patino, having suffered only one other loss ended up 6-2, being unable to unseat Piedrabuena at the end.
The remaining four spots for the finals were up for grabs, till the very end with no player in either group emerging as a favorite to nab a place. Sonny Cho, a former USBA national champ, was 3-4 in the Black Group, as was Michael Kang. Close behind were Brian Yi and Sang Jin Lee. In the red group, Sang Bin Lee and John Christiano have a slight edge, each with a 4-3 record, but Jim Shovak and Ellis Lawrence, each 3-4, were still in the running. The last games were hard fought... and the finals are now set.
In the end it was Brian Yi at 5-3 and Sang Jin Lee at 4-4 who move on in the black group, and Sang Bin Lee at 5-3 and John Christiano at 4-4 in the red.
The groups and records throught the preliminaries.
Black:
Pedro Piedrabuena 8-0 1st
Sonny Cho 4-4
Brian Yi 5-3 3rd
John Kim 1-7
Michael Kang 3-5
Auturo Herrara 2-6
Young Gull Lee 3-5
Sang Jin Lee 4-4 4th
Hugo Patino 6-2 2nd
Red:
Torbjorn Blomdahl 8-0 1st
Jim Shovak 4-4
Jun Park 2-6
Sang Bin Lee 5-3 3rd
Migeul Torres 7-1 2nd
John Christiano 4-4 4th
Ellis Lawrence 3-5
Andrew Janquitto 0-8
Hyuk Yoon 3-5
The finals will be conducted on Sunday, November 18.
