Hohmann, Feijen win; knockouts begin today

While two former champions, Thorsten Hohmann and Niels Feijen, made it through to the last 64 of the World 9-Ball Championship through the losers’ side of the draw, another one, Yukio Akagariyama, bowed out of the competition, even as four Qatar players made an exit from the tournament yesterday.
At the Al Arabi Sports Club’s Indoor Hall yesterday, the two-time champion from Germany overcame a late four-frame winning spree from Finland’s Petri Makkonen to win 9-7 for his spot in the last 64.
Hohmann, who last won the championship in 2013, ten years after his first, had a 7-1 lead over his 29-year-old opponent, who then clawed his way back to 7-8 as Hohmann, nicknamed Hitman, won the 16th frame to advance.
In 2013, the German world number 10 had made it through the losers’ side of the draw before lifting his second world 9-ball title.
Feijen, 40, faced a see-saw battle against Kuwait’s Fawaz al-Rashedi before closing out the match 9-6 for his knockouts place.
Feijen went 3-0 up before his 38-year-old opponent won four straight frames for a 4-3 lead. The Dutchman then came up with a three-frame streak of his won for a 6-4 lead, before closing out the game in the 15th frame.
Russian teenager Maksim Dudanets accounted for Japan’s Akagariyama, the 2011 champion, 9-7 to move into knockouts.
The 19-year-old will face world number nine Jeffrey Du Luna of the Philippines in the last 64, which starts today.
A seven-frame streak by China’s Chu Bingjie halted the campaign of Qatar’s Waleed Majid, while Bangladesh’s Md Al Amin was in sublime form beating Mhanaa al-Obaidli 9-0. Mhanaa’s brother Ali fought well early on in his match against Ruslan Chinakhov before the Russian 25-year-old slowly pulled away for a 9-5 victory.
Qatar’s Muzammil Hussain opened well in his match against South Korea’s Woo Seung Ryu going up 4-2 and then holding a slight edge over his opponent at 5-4. However, 32-year-old Woo fought back with a five-frame streak to wrap up the match at 9-5.
Israel Rota of the Philippines, who is based out of Qatar, made it to the last 64 on the back of a 9-4 win over Germany’s Andre Lackner yesterday.
Rota, who has worked with the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation for long, gave very few chances to his 26-year-old German opponent to set up a last 64 match with Chinese 35-year-old Liu Haitao.
Defending champion Albin Ouschan of Austria will face Kuwait’s Abdullah al-Yusef in his last 64 match today. Ouschan made it through the winners’ side of the draw on the back of two 9-5 wins, over Qatar’s Abdulatif Alfawal and Taipei’s Hsieh Chia Chen.