Siawieto sunk at Yogyakarta pool meet

Siawieto sunk at Yogyakarta pool meet

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

National pool ace Siawieto found the Yogyakarta pool
tournament a hotter-than-expected warmup ahead of his
participation at the World Championship next week, suffering a
series of stunning defeats here on Tuesday.

Held at the Galaxi Billiard Sport House, the fifth series of
the A Mild Billiard Cup saw Siawieto go down to local player Widi
Harsoyo 7-0, and 7-6 to Erma Yuliharto of West Java.

Siawieto, who will also lead Indonesia's medal bid at the
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in November, blamed hot temperatures
inside the playing hall for the defeat.

"Everything just did not work for me," Siawieto said. "The
venue is not good. It is hot. I can't shoot the ball (well) in
such temperatures."

Siawieto looked ahead to the next internationals, promising he
would not embarrass Indonesia when he played in the world pool
championship in Taiwan next week.

Erma, meanwhile, was delighted by his performance against
Siawieto. He complimented his higher-ranked opponent, saying he
was lucky to beat a national-level player.

"We were level at 6-6 when he missed to give me a final strike
on ball No. 9," Erma said. "So it was easy for me to end the
match. He must have lost concentration at that point."

Siawieto's national teammate Adam A.R. also suffered from the
hot conditions but was still able to advance to the quarterfinals
with wins over local player Rudi H. 7-1, over Cherry of South
Sulawesi 7-6 and over Aming of West Java 7-4.

"It was laborious playing in such a hot temperatures," he
said. "I just tried to enjoy my game. You know you can not expect
to have a good venue when you play outside Jakarta."

Adam was the runner-up in the fourth series in Jakarta, a 32nd
round loser in third series in Bandung, a quarterfinalist in the
second series in Surabaya and semifinalist in the first series in
Makassar.

"Tomorrow's (Wednesday) match will be tougher ... of course I
want to win the tournament this time around," he said.

Jakarta series winner Heru Gunawan of Yogyakarta maintained
his winning form to qualify for the quarterfinals. He defeated
Erma 7-1 in the first round, Hanarto 7-2 in the second round and
M. Ramansa of East Kalimantan 7-3 in the third.

Two other Yogyakarta hopefuls, Widi and Deny S. of Jakarta
also secured final eighth round places.

Eight players were still competing for the remaining four
places in the quarterfinals late on Tuesday evening.

Quarterfinal and finals matches will be held on Wednesday with
the winner of the tournament taking home prize money of Rp 9
million (US$1,000).