A picture says it all......
These were Ralf's comments after the Final.
Souquet: Alcano deserved the Glory.
RALF Souquet vowed to bounce back from the disappointment of losing the 2006 Philippines World Pool Championship final and insisted he could still win the title again.
Souquet lifted the trophy in 1996 but his 17-11 defeat aginst Ronato Alcano was the second time he had been beaten in the final (with the other occasion being in 2001).
However, the 37-year-old German admitted Filipino Alcano was a worthy winner of this year’s competition.
“He played awesome and really deserves the title,” said Souquet. “He has beaten all the big names and played great but I did everything wrong that I could’ve done.
“I had the first chance to run out a rack when the score was 9-2 against me. I had to play safe or push out every time and that’s really hard to be in control if you don’t find a rhythm. It’s a race to 17 so you think it’s going to change and there will be a point where you can win a few games and make him nervous.
“But he played better than I did. I made some really dumb mistakes and on top of that everything went his way, but that’s what happens.
“My goal is to be the World Pool Champion again and hopefully that can happen here in the Philippines. I think I have another ten years ahead of me where I could win this title once more and I guarantee I’m going to.”
The German was not happy about Alcano’s use of soft breaks and called for the rules to be changed.
Souquet said: “His soft break was working really well and almost every time he had a shot at the one ball - that made it easy for him to dominate the match.
“I’m not a big fan of soft breaks and whenever I can choose to break hard I will always do so. I would like to see a rule that says you have to hit the breaks hard but unfortunately it’s not in the WPA Rules and the players are allowed to use the soft break. But I’m not blaming the rules - I just don’t like it myself.”
An emotional Souquet burst into tears at the end but received great support from the sporting home fans who chanted his name.
“The Filipino crowds are always great,” said Souquet. “Of course everybody was routing for Ronato Alcano, which is understandable, but they also cheered for me when I won my games.
“After the match they showed their appreciation and I’m always glad when I have the opportunity to play a tournament here because the people are nice and speak English.
“It’s my dream to win the tournament here in the Philippines , maybe next year or in a couple of years. I wanted to win as badly as anybody in the building but it was not meant to be.
“In the Philippines, people are crazy, in a good way, about pool and I’ve definitely made a few new fans. I’m looking forward to coming back here next year.”
These were Ralf's comments after the Final.
Souquet: Alcano deserved the Glory.
RALF Souquet vowed to bounce back from the disappointment of losing the 2006 Philippines World Pool Championship final and insisted he could still win the title again.
Souquet lifted the trophy in 1996 but his 17-11 defeat aginst Ronato Alcano was the second time he had been beaten in the final (with the other occasion being in 2001).
However, the 37-year-old German admitted Filipino Alcano was a worthy winner of this year’s competition.
“He played awesome and really deserves the title,” said Souquet. “He has beaten all the big names and played great but I did everything wrong that I could’ve done.
“I had the first chance to run out a rack when the score was 9-2 against me. I had to play safe or push out every time and that’s really hard to be in control if you don’t find a rhythm. It’s a race to 17 so you think it’s going to change and there will be a point where you can win a few games and make him nervous.
“But he played better than I did. I made some really dumb mistakes and on top of that everything went his way, but that’s what happens.
“My goal is to be the World Pool Champion again and hopefully that can happen here in the Philippines. I think I have another ten years ahead of me where I could win this title once more and I guarantee I’m going to.”
The German was not happy about Alcano’s use of soft breaks and called for the rules to be changed.
Souquet said: “His soft break was working really well and almost every time he had a shot at the one ball - that made it easy for him to dominate the match.
“I’m not a big fan of soft breaks and whenever I can choose to break hard I will always do so. I would like to see a rule that says you have to hit the breaks hard but unfortunately it’s not in the WPA Rules and the players are allowed to use the soft break. But I’m not blaming the rules - I just don’t like it myself.”
An emotional Souquet burst into tears at the end but received great support from the sporting home fans who chanted his name.
“The Filipino crowds are always great,” said Souquet. “Of course everybody was routing for Ronato Alcano, which is understandable, but they also cheered for me when I won my games.
“After the match they showed their appreciation and I’m always glad when I have the opportunity to play a tournament here because the people are nice and speak English.
“It’s my dream to win the tournament here in the Philippines , maybe next year or in a couple of years. I wanted to win as badly as anybody in the building but it was not meant to be.
“In the Philippines, people are crazy, in a good way, about pool and I’ve definitely made a few new fans. I’m looking forward to coming back here next year.”
