Rodney Morris found just the salve to ease the sting of Saturday afternoon’s 11-10 loss to Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann at the World Games in Duisburg, Germany. Back at the table in the Saalbau Arena in Bottrop, site of the billiard competitions, just hours after the heartbreaking loss, Morris free-wheeled his way to an 11-2 rout of Greece’s Vangelis Vettas to secure the Bronze Medal in Men’s 9-Ball.
Morris sped off from a 1-1 deadlock with six consecutive rack wins, and coasted comfortably home.
“When I got up a couple of games,” said Morris, “and my break started working better, I knew that he couldn’t catch me. Not with alternating break.
“The key to this match was focus,” he added. “I didn’t think of anything other than the table. I wasn’t leaving here without at least the Bronze.”
Also earning Bronze Saturday evening at the international sports festival was Semih Sayginer of Turkey, who beat countryman Murat Coklu, in Carom. Sayginer bolted off to a 35-22 lead after just 20 innings, before Coklu chipped away at the lead. Coklu pulled to within five at 37-32, before Sayginer closed out the match, 40-32, in 24 innings.
In Snooker, Belgium’s Bjorn Haneever whitewashed 17-year-old Mark Allen of England, 4-0, to capture the Bronze.
Line Kjorsvik of Norway, back at the table after an eight-month layoff, earned Bronze in Women’s 9-Ball with a 9-6 win over Sung-Hyun Jung, Korea’s top-ranked woman player.