Last 32 - Torbjorn BLOMDAHL vs Wan Young CHOI (Sharm El Sheikh World Cup 3-Cushion 2021)

Good morning 3Cushion fans, we are back in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt for the last round of today. And at the completion of this round we will know which 16 players will be in the knockout stage tomorrow. No more second chances then. You lose, you're out. You win, you're in. And our match for this moment is Table 1, Torbjörn Blomdahl against Choi Won-Yong. Not to be confused with the other Choi, the 2014 World Champion, Sung Won Choi. This is Won-Yong Choi, or Choi Won-Yong. And of course, there is no need to introduce Torbjörn Blomdahl, because we have all known him for many, many years. Torbjörn is already certain of his place in the last 16. He has two wins, cannot be 3rd or 4th in the group, he'll always be 1st or 2nd. But then, there is a nice angle to it, a nice, oh, we're looking at that draw, very close. There's a nice angle to it, it's all about which opponent do you get. So it could be that Torbjörn would be better off being 2nd in the group to avoid Jaspers and Zanetti. It could be, I say could be, his opponent. Torbjörn has won the leg, starts the match. Makes the point that he gets the famous kiss between cueball and red. Destroys the position somewhat, very hard to reach this one. Few words about his opponent, Pan Yongchoy. Very unique individual style, his stance and his cueing, especially his arm, his cue arm. Not like any other player, but he can sure make the points. Very thin hit, he needed that. Good shot by the 44-time World Cup winner. That's one of the records in billiards that will never be broken. And we are joined once again by William Oh, the CEO of 5&6, which is the streaming company that brings you these matches. Welcome, William. Hello, Bud. I'm always late. You were running, you're out of breath. No, very, very important match left. I'll leave it to you to say something about Choi Wan-yong. Tell us a little bit about him, how old is he? He was born in 1984. 16, 21, so he's 37. Yes, yes. Relatively young. His opponent is 59. Yeah, like his father. A run of four for Torbjörn. And Wan-yong Choi, actually today his condition was not good. Like hell. They're using the same room. Yeah, maybe a bit tired also. Long journey, maybe not a lot of sleep. I said to them, what happened in your room? He's a good player. Yeah, he is. He will join the World Championship. Because his Korean ranking is very high. He's number three in Korea. I think I first saw him play in New York a couple of years ago. Maybe 2017 was maybe the first time. Or 2018, I don't know, that he played the Verhoeven Open. And he did really well, he made it to the A-final. The last ten. So that's very good if you get that far in New York. Because that's a tough tournament. Torbjörn, we don't need to explain him. No, I said to our listeners, viewers, I said no need to introduce Torbjörn Blomdahl. Because who doesn't know him? He's title holder of the World Championship. Yes, Torbjörn is still the reigning World Champion. There was of course no World Championship in 2020. So his title from Granders in 2019 makes him the current World Champion. He showed a lot of fantastic matches during the World Championship in Landers in Denmark. A few unforgettable matches there in Landers. Yes, with Eddy Merckx. The first match against Czajnet, who missed by a hair. Yes, with Czajnet. He was on 39, Czajnet missed by a hair, Torbjörn escaped. And then he played Eddy Merckx, and that was a draw. And they had a player shootout, and Merckx started with 7 in the shootout, and Torbjörn made 8. Wonderful memories. I think that is a world record, shootout match. People have made more to start with. Some people have made like 9, and then the opponent makes 2 or something. But to make 7 and then lose, that is just incredible. It's a big burden. Before the break shot, I think I can die. I can be shocked. That's incredible. As I know, he played 3 tied matches. With Czajnet, and Eddy, and Nalim. Right? I don't think the match... Didn't he play C-Dom in the semi-final? Yes, yes. So who did Nalim lose to in the final? C-Dom played with Antin. Yeah. You're probably right. So Torbjörn beat Nalim. And the Vietnamese, the little guy, beat Semmy Saikinen in the quarter-finals. Sensational. That double derailleur didn't work. So we have a bit of a lead for Torbjörn. Early lead, 7 points to 2. All the experience, of course, in favor of the Swede. This group already... Antin. Wan-Yong Choi couldn't qualify. Already out. The second... Could be Buri or Antin. Yes. Torbjörn already... Torbjörn is already certain of his place in the last 16. Nice curve. Yeah, wonderful shot by Torbjörn. That kiss was very hard to avoid. Not a lot he could do about it. Not just a single point. Did Nalim, he... He won second match? You remember? Yes. He won? Yes, I think he did. Robins Morales. So if Henkje Kim wins, also if Morales wins to Chokloo, there are 3 players can 2 win. Yes, the flight can end in 4 points, 4 points, 4 points, 0 points. That was an exciting match as well. Nalim, Henkje Kim, we could have had that on the TV table maybe, but... There are so many good matches if you look around you. 8 tables here. It's maybe a bit of a cliche, but they're all interesting. Let's focus on Blomdahl and Wan-Yong Choi. Time is ticking away for Torbjörn. This could be a timeout situation. 6 seconds left. I think he's gonna get in the timeout zone. Yes, he is. It's a difficult shot. Yeah, he wants to get exact thickness. That's why he wants more time. Did a good job there. Yeah, he made it. He doesn't like those. In fact, if you ask him, he says, I hate those. Those open 4 cushion lines. He did a very good job here. That's the sort of shot that if you have played balk line for many years, that would be your first choice. And if your name is Blomdahl, it would be your last choice to play it like that. Oh, what a speed. Now, I was talking to another Scandinavian player yesterday, Jakob Haak Sørensen, and he had a very good story about Blomdahl. Do you remember the 2008 European Championships? No, actually, I cannot remember. Well, the story is this. Blomdahl played that final in 2008 against Dick Jaspers. And he called his father, who is also a very good billiard player. Yeah, Leonard Blomdahl. After the final, Torbjörn called his father and Leonard said, how did you do? And Torbjörn said, well, I played 3 average. Oh, congratulations, said Leonard. So you're a European champion. You must have won. And I said to Torbjörn, I lost 3-0. 3-0. Because this was the famous final where Dick Jaspers made 34 points without a miss. He ended the first set with a run of 13. Then he played the second set in one inning, 15 points. And he started the third set with 6. So 34 points without a miss. And in the end, he had 8 innings for 45 points. Torbjörn had only 6 innings. He made 18. So he had 3 average and he didn't win a set. Fantastic. But he did win a few sets here already in Charlemagne-les-Checs. We don't play sets, we play 40 points. He's won a few matches already. And he'll be a danger again in the knockout stage. Even if he is no longer playing the averages that he used to play. For many years, 2 average. Even in the league. And very few players can say that they have averaged over 2 in league play. Because the extra difficulty is you play on different tables. Every week you play over a 7-8 month period. Totally different than a tournament. And quite a few players have averaged over 2 for an event, for a tournament. But to do it in league play, that is extra difficult. As I know, only Torbjörn, Dick and Brad Pitt. Maybe they recorded over 2 averages. Yes, in league play. In league play, only those. Building up a good lead is Torbjörn. Actually, unbelievable. In Korea, nobody can play like that. Over 50. It's a big difference in Europe and Asia. We think over 50, we are old. But he's almost 60. I don't think so, but normally. Asian people think like that. Especially for the sport, they think we have to retire. But in Europe, still Torbjörn, very strong. And what do you think about that? Is it normal in Europe? I think 55 and 60 year old 3 cushion players will be normal in Korea too. 10 years from now, 15 years from now. The sport is younger in Korea. So players of your generation, 10 years from now, 15 years from now, will still be good players. Yeah, you're right. So this will change in Korea. Did you know that Raymond Keulemans is still playing league? He's still playing league? He's 84. And he's still playing the Belgian and the Dutch league. We played against his team last week in the Netherlands. And he was playing against his grandson, against Bart. The brother of Peter Keulemans. And Raymond won that match. 84 years old. I think he still can make more than 1.3? He's about 1.1, 1.2 now. But he can sometimes still play 1.6. Good matches. Unbelievable. And he still has the fighting spirit. He still wants to win. I think that kind of things can help his health. Oh yeah, absolutely. We feel I'm alive. I want to fight more. I want to enjoy more. Yes, I understand what you're saying. And for him, billiards is his life. That could be most good in motivation. Bank shot for Torbjörn. No luck there. But he already knew. So close. After the first match, he changed. 180 degrees he changed. Is Wanyong Choi unlucky here? He found the corner. 10 point lead for Blomdahl. 15 to 5 in 7 innings. And we're going to see if Blomdahl prefers the bank shot or the rounded table shot. He's going rounded table. Very thin off the yellow to avoid the kiss. No problem there. Nice position still. Could be two-way. He's playing it with the speed of the two-way shot. There was no double chance on the short side. But there was maybe a double chance on the long side. Yes, right. Oh, nice position. This is very good for Blomdahl. Sometimes he can make nice position by strong shot. He understands everything. Yes, I think there are two ways, William, to play position. You can play position from knowledge and you can play position from intuition. Intuition. Blomdahl has very strong intuition about position play. He just knows when the position will be bad. And then he plays extra speed to avoid the bad position. And sometimes the result is good, sometimes not so good. But if you don't do anything, it will be bad. You know it will be bad. Actually, some years ago, I was a little disappointed about... I couldn't see many young players in Europe. Just a few players. Yes, it's true. But now, I can see more. A little more. I think we, also players and federations and all the people, need to develop young players. Some countries in Europe do it better than others. You can say this is the situation in Europe, but of course, one country in Europe is maybe totally different from another. And I think Spain is doing really well. Yes, Spain is doing well. And our countries, Belgium and the Netherlands, are not doing so well. We don't have a lot of talent, but we can develop. We have talent, but we need to promote. Like religion, we need to promote. This is good religion. And in the meanwhile, Blonda is just scoring away, and he looks very relaxed. Wow, what a position. And look what a nice shot he's playing here. Wonderful. Now he understands the table very well. That was a super shot. It's Torbjörn time. That's a good one. It's Torbjörn time. We'll keep that as a motto. Twice a round. Actually, I'm very appreciative to Torbjörn, because I made many events in Korea, and also some other places in Vietnam. And he tried to give motivation to young players, and he shared his time without any guarantee sometimes. Very good. One thing I like about these top players is that they share their knowledge. They're never going to say, I'm not going to tell you. You're not going to hear a player say that. When you ask a question, how did you solve this problem, why did you play it like this, you always get a good answer. I want to tell, but nobody listens. Well, they're listening now, William. You have the people's ears. Not enough. I'm still growing up. I'm still that course, as I think. Is that a bit of a fluke by Torbjörn? Yes, it is. He puts up his hand, he played the four cushion, of course, like everybody does. Actually, there is magic. Three cushions. So that's a fluke. Sorry. Wow, Torbjörn. Maybe he wanted to finish without break time. Twice around extra long. I think he's loose as a goose. He has no fear. Wow, he reduced English. Very nice. Minus English from cushion first. Yes. And big, big ball. Is there a hole? Maybe. Really? A great run by Torbjörn Blomdahl and a massive, massive lead. 27 points to 5 in 7 innings. This was unlucky. He was lucky a couple of points ago. This was unlucky. Michael Nilsson, his teammate, is watching. He's also a very good player. He passed the camera, in front of camera. I want to introduce Ji Eun Han. You know her? Of course. I enjoyed watching her play in this tournament very much. Hello, everyone. Hello, Ji Eun Han. I'm Ji Eun Han. Yeah. One wins. But I go... I am... PPQ. And second... Best second. Oh, best second. And your average... 9. Almost 1. Very good. Every time she... I watched your match against the guy from Austria, Nikola Skoglbauer. I saw that one. Good match. Very interesting. And I think the way you play is very promising. You can grow to a better average. You can certainly cross one average. And maybe even more... Yeah. Well, maybe my friend Therese Klompenhauer has a few words to say about that. But she really respects your game. She told me... You are a super dangerous opponent. So that's a great compliment from the world champion, Therese. Please ask her who is her teacher. Yeah. Do I know him, William? No. Good player, but... Okay. Very good. Hong Yong Kim. Well, you can see from the way you play that you learn the basics really well. How to stand, how to cue, how to stroke. And if you have good basics, you can grow. If you have bad basics, you go to here and then it's over. You stop growing. But your basics are so good, you can keep improving, keep getting better. William Oh. Okay. Herself. Now it's time to develop by herself. Good. And a couple of years from now, you're beating William Oh. Already. Already? Good. See, he's proud that you're beating him. That's a good thing. So, without handicap, we played 40-40 and four matches. I lost two. Good. Okay, anyway. So, we're back at the table with the Blomdal. Choi match. Massive lead for Blomdal. What do you think? Can one young Choi fight back in this one or is the gap too big? Yeah. Maybe the World Championship is even more important for him than this World Cup. Yes. But then, of course, Choi Jae-ho was very unlucky to lose to Nellin because that was 40-40 in 11 innings. Unbelievable match. We'll go back to Blomdal with his problem here. This is not easy. Hard to reach. He wants to play cross table. That's what he's playing. Perfect. And you can see that long, long, long was better here than long, long, short because the third rail at the yellow ball was too small. So, this was the right solution. Tiki is going to make this. We can say Tiki. By Korean. One cushion. Short angle shot. Short angle shot inside of the yellow. Long rail, short rail, long rail to the red. Not a problem for Blomdal. I think Torbjörn always want more than 3 average. Yeah. Because he has a bad memory by 3 average losing. 3 average is not good enough. Lost. Not enough. He was the first person to lose with 3 average. That was in the Crystal Kelly tournament in Monaco where Colemans beat him 50-39 in 13 innings. That was the first time in history that somebody lost. With 3 average. And then RGP Masters. We saw some match. 50 points. Look at this. What a nice. What a great shot. Replay, please. What a great shot. That is just perfect feel. He is on fire, Blomdal. Needs to pass the yellow. Only just pass it. Finds that line also. No problem. He can do anything today. Looks like he is playing. I mean playing means when I was kid. We playing on the ground and just enjoy. Some players are very serious. I want to win. I must win. They worry something. But Torbjörn, he doesn't worry anything. And they are working. What you are describing. He is playing. He is not working. He is playing. That is what I want to say. He is having fun at the table. That is very important. Do you understand? Yes. Enjoying himself. Very good. Her nickname is ice girl. When she is playing. She looks very cool. Even lucky shot or even bad situation. Ice cone. Ice cone? Ice queen. That is better. You are too young to be a queen. You are a princess. Torbjörn. Nothing is a problem for Torbjörn today. Now 4 points left. Wow. What a record. Oh. 2020. 2011. That is crazy. For our Korean fans. I want to tell you something. I am doing YouTube broadcast with Burt Van Menen all over the world. And I am here with Han Ji-yoon for a short break. I said some Korean to Korean fans. Of course you are watching also the Kim Hang-jik match for your Korean viewers and listeners. I think people want to watch Torbjörn Bromdal. He needs 4 more but he has a problem here. This is very difficult. But I think he can. He knows the way. Wow. Super thin head. What is this? With speed found. By thin way? Wow. He found that way. That's fantastic. I didn't found. But bad luck. Look where the yellow ended up. In the worst place of all. I think he want to make it. There is a way. Long, short, long. Round table and long, short, long, long. Well, good luck with that William because I think that's a horrible shot. So difficult. Too long. That's too long. So that's the end of this round. But he is on 39 in 8 innings. Torbjörn. Phenomenal play by Torbjörn Bromdal. He wanted more. Yeah, he wanted to finish the match. He think not enough. Juntae. Where is Juntae? Juntae reading. Martin Horn. Can we take a quick look at the scoreboard for the other tables? You have better eyes than I have, William. Yeah. Theo Jeonghan with Danny 20-16. And Juntae Kim 23, Martin Horn 13. And Torbjörn making his difficult bank shot. Only two points left for him. I want to replay. OK. It was just possible he had to stay out of the corner. If he is totally deep in the corner, he is too long. Yeah, he hit it exact. Exactly right. Rear first. Unbelievable. He cannot miss. Nobody can stop. Nobody can stop him. Wow. He is still king. One more point and it's another difficult one. Actually, age is not important. But oldest player in this building is showing everything. Super thin. Can he make it? I think so. He's made it too long. He missed it long. We were thinking, can he get there? Actually, it was successful for thickness. Oh, Hengjik running nine. And poor one young Choi on seven points only. He's been totally steamrolled, hit by a freight train. Difficult shot for Choi. He's going up and down the table now. He wanted to play long, short, short. This is not what he played at all. He wanted complex up and down. Cross the table. Short and short. First long rail, then short, short. We're saying complex cross shot. Okay. That's a very good way to say it. Right? I think it's reasonable. There goes the extension again. Doesn't like the shot. The four rail. He can try by left hand. Left hand shot. He doesn't need English. He can just hit. Thickness. I think he has it. Wow. Fantastic match. 40 and 10. Let's hope that one young Choi can make a few in the equalizing inning to give himself some confidence. You always feel better if you make five or six. Doesn't make a difference, but you feel better. Have you noticed that nobody misses the break shot, William? They all make it. Not always perfect position, but it's not being missed very often. Wow. Mg14. Now. Running. High run. Mg15. Actually, this match is finished. I'm interested in another match. We understand. Sorry for one young. But at least he has one average. He's made two, so he has one average. And that will be long. So that's the end of it. Congratulations, Torbjörn Blomdahl on another wonderful performance. 40 and 10. He's the group winner. Three plates, six points. And he is into the knockout stage tomorrow. He could be number one in the whole group. Three wins and best average, I think. It's possible. So now we are looking at Kim Hang-jik, who's on a run of 16. Wow. 17. Playing for three. Actually, Nellin made 17 first match. Can he run out with 20? That would be something. Unbelievable. I think he can. I think, Ji-eun, you gave something to Hang-jik. Good motivation. 18, playing for two. Wow. We cannot stop. Sorry. Some super billiards being played here. OK, two results. Four average, 10 in it. Torbjörn Blomdahl, one young Choi, one average. And Torbjörn Blomdahl qualified by the leader of his group. Two more points for Hang-jik. OK, people can watch another table number two by YouTube. Hang-jik, 19. 19, playing for one. Wow. This is sensational stuff. We get everything here. We get four average. We must have followers. A run of 20. Yes. How wonderful would that be? OK, we stop the commentary. This is table number one. We must watch that.