At the National Billiards Championship held in Namwon, Kim Haeng-jik and Jo Myung-woo, who were strong candidates for the first and second place in Korea, were eliminated early. On the other hand, Hur Jeong-han, Kim Hyung-gon, Heo Jin-woo, Kim Jun-tae, Ahn Ji-hoon, Hwang Bong-joo and Choi Wan-young advanced to the round of 16.
Cho Myung-woo (Silk Road C&T, Seoul City Hall) lost to Seong-Won Jang (Incheon Billiard Federation) in the round of 32 in the men’s 3-cushion match at the ‘2023 Namwon National Billiards Championship’ held at the Chunhyanggol Gymnasium in Namwon-si, Jeollabuk-do on the 7th, with 37:40 (17 innings), the contest was over. Jo Myung-woo lost to Jang Seong-won, who scored 2.352 even after hitting an average of 2.176.
Cho Myung-woo was dragged 2:8 by Jang Seong-won, who scored 8 high runs from the first inning. However, in the 7th inning, they tied the game at 20:20. Jo Myung-woo turned around at 29:27 with 8 high runs in the 9th inning, but then fell into a lull and was dragged to 32:37 in the 15th inning. Jo Myung-woo scored 5 high runs in the 16th inning and caught up with the score at 37:37. However, Jang Seong-won, who inherited the right to attack, filled the remaining 3 points first and the game ended.
Jo Myung-woo tried to win three consecutive championships following the last ‘National Territory Central Cup’ (March) and ‘Taebaeksan Cup’ (May), but in this tournament, he failed to win three consecutive championships, staying in the round of 32.
Haengjik Kim (Jeonnam Billiards Federation)메이저놀이터, who was ranked #1 in Korea, lost to Jinsam Kim (161st place, Namyangju Billiards Federation) by 1 point in 39:40 (28 innings) in the round of 128 held on the 6th, the day before, and suffered a loss in the first round.
Kim Haeng-jik was dragged from the beginning and pushed back to 33:37 in the 25th inning. Kim Haeng-jik seemed to be on the verge of victory with a high run of 6 runs in the 26th inning, the final game, with a score of 39:37. However, when Kim Haeng-jik hit the ball in the 27th inning, Kim Jin-sam scored the remaining 3 runs in the 28th inning and ended the game.
Heo Jeong-han (3rd place, Gyeongnam Billiard Federation) advanced to the round of 16 by defeating Park Hyeon-gyu (Daegu Billiards Federation) 40:11 in just 15 innings with 13 high runs in the round of 32.
Heo Jeong-han took a narrow lead of 5:4 until the 4th inning, then added 16 points in 5 innings and took a long lead at 21:8 in the 9th inning. Heo Jeong-han continued to accumulate points after that, leading by 27:11 in the 14th inning, and finished the game at once with a high run of 13 points in the 15th inning. The fair average was 2.666.
In addition, Hwang Bong-ju (15th, Siheung City Sports Association) defeated Cha Myeong-jong (Incheon City Sports Association) with 40:17 (17 innings) thanks to 10 high runs, Kim Jun-tae (7th place, Gyeongbuk Sports Association) Ahn Ji-hoon (10th place, Daejeon Billiards Federation) Choi Wan-yeong (16th, Gwangju Billiards Federation) joined the round of 16. On the other hand, Kang Ja-in (11th, Chungnam Sports Association) lost 36:40 (24 innings) to Kim Min-seok, who was recently selected as a Busan City Sports Association player, ending the tournament in the round of 32.