Young People Are Not Green in Pool

From November 26 to 28, Kyiv’s Rostok Company Club hosted Ukraine’s second championship in billiards (nine ball). The 25 strongest wielders of the cue, including a woman, Ilona Lorentseva, who took part in the competition, represented various cities of Ukraine, such as Kyiv, Odesa, Sevastopol, Kharkiv, and Kramatorsk. The competition had a UAH 10,000 prize fund.

The Sunday before last saw a largely predicable final game between Borys Zahuliayev and Yaroslav Vinokur. Both finalists were wearing buttoned-up vests, white shirts, and bow ties, while the judges were dressed in black suits, white shirts, ties, and white gloves, as if stressing the solemnity of what was happening. The audience, too, would alternately hush with delight, burst into thunderous applause, and watch their idols in silent awe, deriving true esthetic pleasure. This is how violin enthusiasts behave at Yuri Bashmet recitals. It seemed at times that a certain magical relationship existed between the multicolored balls and the players, while the cue became a magic wand.

After six games, the score was a 3:3 draw (the game lasted until eleven wins). Then Vinokur pulled ahead. Especially spectacular was his win in the eighth game: he ran the table. This may have been the turning point in the marathon that ended with an overall score 11:4 in favor of the younger competitor in the finals, who received a prize of 4,000 hryvnias.

The performance of Slava Hudiyev, age 9, became a virtual sensation of the championship. Holding no terror in front of his authoritative and meritorious rivals, this boy forced to surrender even some battle-hardened players. It is not accidental that experts predict a bright sports future for him.

Devotees of the velvet-covered table were in for a surprise before the awards ceremony conducted by leaders of the Ukrainian Billiards Federation and Chairman of the State Sports Committee Oleksandr Volkov. They witnessed a friendly game between Slava Hudiyev and Borys Zahuliayev. The representative of the younger generation took the upper hand. It is symbolic that brand new champion of Ukraine Yaroslav Vinokur presented his bow tie to the boy before this game. We can now say for certain that the billiard fete had a field day in Ukraine. If only it were neither the first nor last.