German pips Fil-Canadian in 9-ball final

German Thorsten Hohmann stepped out of the shadow of his more illustrious countrymen as he beat Fil-Canadian Alex Pagulayan, 17-10, in the final of the world pool championship at the Cardiff Internatoinal Arena in Cardiff, Wales Sunday.

The 24-year-old from Fulda, Germany, capped his stunning performances over the past the nines days by outclassing Pagulayan in their race-to-17 duel to win the top purse of $65,000.

"This will take a long time to sink in but I’m going to have a party and then try and think about what this all means," Hohmann said after essaying the victory. He thus became the third German to win the annual event after Oliver Ortmann and Ralf Souquet reigned back-to-back from 1995.

"I’m the youngest world champion ever I think and all the time and effort over the years has paid off. I was in the German army for five years and they gave me the opportunity to practice everyday. I was running 400 balls in practice and I knew I could become the world champion," added Hohmann.

Hohmann dominated the erratic Pagulayan, who trailed all throughout and could only force a 2-2 tie in the early going before spending the rest of the match chasing the talented German cue artist.

Pagulayan, 24, took the 22nd rack to close in at 10-12, made a ball on the next break but left himself a long cut on the yellow 1. Despite making it, he failed to score a run-out as he missed the green 6 on an open table.

That proved costly as Hohmann expectedly took the rack then went on to sweep the next the next four to wrap up the match. Pagulayan settled for $30,000 second prize.