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).