Thank you for this. I have personally worked over 200 tournaments in my life and I can affirm that sometimes things come up during the course of a game, match or event that are not covered by any "rule." This is where good judgement comes in on the part of tournament officials, and an attempt at the most fair ruling needs to be made. This is not a perfect science and rarely will everyone present agree with the ruling but that is why you have officials to make it. They must bare the brunt of the responsibility for the outcome, as they have here.
In this case I don't know what I would have done or how I would have ruled. I'm glad that I wasn't the one put in this position. I wasn't there so I was not privy to any conversations that took place. I think Mark and his staff made what to them was the correct ruling at the time. Obviously not everyone agrees after the fact.
So here's the bottom line kids, Life is not fair! Sometime things go the way we want and sometimes they don't. If you're a winner, you get back up and fight the good fight, over and over again. No matter what! What you don't do is b-tch and moan endlessly about how unfair things are. All of us have been the recipients of a bad decision at one time or another. How we handled that is the true test of our mettle. I suspect Ko will come back and win many tournaments in the future. This was just a hiccup along the way.
More to my liking right now is the incredible run being made by Team Philippines in Bejing at the World Team Championships. They are showing the courage that makes them all champions. For me this would be a very symbolic victory for the Philippines over China if they can complete it in the finals. I think we all know the history of the ongoing conflict between China and The Philippines. A win here for the underdog Filipinos would send a clear message to the world that they will not buckle under to pressure and will never give up! For me this final match will be more significant than almost any pool match played before. Kind of reminds me of the Ping Pong diplomacy of many years ago. These four little Filipinos are representing a nation right now! This is about a lot more than a simple game of Pool!