By Saturday evening, everyone involved in organizing the World Pool Championship was in agreement that something had to be done to avoid a Sunday final in which both players broke soft on Table 1, thus producing what was sure to be a snoozer of a final extension rack. Obviously they could not institute a last minute rule, like ordering both players to break hard, because that would be contrived and unfair. But what to do to?
Just after Saturday’s semi-final matches, Yen Makabenta, the president of Raya Sports, and the man responsible for bringing the World Pool Championship to the Philippines two years running now, went to see Overbeck and Matchroom officials. He didn’t want his dream final to be a soft break bore fest. So he offered this idea; since TV Table 2 was playing ideal, why not move that table over to the main arena overnight for Sunday’s final match.
This sounded at first like a good idea, but, of course, there was a catch. It turns out that the lights over TV Table 2 are not as strong as on table extension rack. And so if the main reason for the fast cloth on Table 1 was the strong lights, then that meant that if you moved table two over to the main arena for the final, the strong lights there would quickly produce conditions making the newly placed table into a lightning quick surface conducive to soft breaking. And thus there was no guarantee of preventing a soft break marathon.
And so the final conclusion to try and ensure a thrilling and fun final on Sunday at the World Pool Championship came down on Saturday evening, after the fans and most players had already left the arena. The better breaking TV Table 2 would be moved to the main arena overnight. Then, the conditions in the arena would be adjusted to make the cloth less extensionrack.
The air conditioning in the Araneta would be turned off immediately and left off overnight and up until as long as reasonably possible for the Sunday final. This would add moisture into the air and might help slow down the cloth. In addition, to stop the cloth from drying, the strong TV lights on Table 1 would be kept off until the last possible moment on Sunday when the worldwide broadcast would begin.
Matchroom officials informed both Roberto Gomez and Daryl Peach of these moves, and both players, even though they had used the soft break with great success on Table 1 with great success, had no complaints.
Of course there is no guarantee that these moves will work. But everyone, from fans, to officials, to the players, is in agreement that the sport of pool needs a final as exciting and captivating as what Ali and Frazier created in the very same venue 32 years ago. The soft break could never produce another Thrilla in Manila. The hard break can. The solution to pool’s plague may have been found just in time.
