Alex Kazakis won the Kremlin Cup (10-Ball division) today in Moscow defeating former world champion Thortsen Hohmann 9-6 in the final.
Early in the match and trailing 2/3, Kazakis missed an easy 1 ball leaving Hohmann a relatively simple run-out and extend his lead to 4/2. It was thought that losing that rack would be mentally disturbing to Kazakis, but he made the best of any opportunity thereafter and won the remaining racks 7/2. After recouping the deficit, the scores remained even to 6/6, then Kazakis edged away and won the the next three racks. Fair to say that Kazakis enjoyed a good run of the balls, where on the other hand Hohmann couldn’t get a shot at the 1 ball after his break, and each time needed to play a safety. The crunch really came when trailing 6/7, Hohmann played a fantastic shot on the 3 ball only to see the cue ball travel around the table and scratch in the side pocket. Kazakis with ball in hand, cleared up to reach the hill, then gave Hohmann no chance in the final rack to collect a thoroughly deserved first place prize.
A total of 445 players competed at the Kremlin Cup, 101 of those in the 10-Ball pool division. The stadium venue is huge, some 5,500 sq metres and was built for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. 16 Diamond Pool tables and 20 Dynamic Pyramid, plus a pool table and pyramid table in the televised arena were used. The area was beautifully presented and congratulations must be acknowledged to the organisers, International Pyramid Confederation.
Winners of the Kremlin Cup are:
Pyramid men, Dimitri Belozorov – Ukraine
Pyramid women Diana Mironova – Russia
10-Ball Alex Kazakis – Greece
