Ortmann beaten by impressive Immonen
Ortmann the machine certainly looked the part and had the look of the man to beat all week with his incredible record offour 100 + ball runs. But Mika Immonen had been Germany’s nemesis. Immonen did the unthinkable by knocking out pre-event favorite Thorsten Hohmann and then the Iceman toppled the machine Oliver Ortmann. Iceman Mika 60 ball on Ortmann, this was the first time Ortmann had been behind in any of his matches in the last five days. Ortmann rallied and came back to take the lead once again.But Mika wasnt to be bested and in true style of a champn came back the lead again, but relinquisehed the table again and it looked all over as Ortmann needed a 70 ball run to win, a mere formality it seemed compared to his other matches. At 181, Ortmann did the unthinkable and missed a combo a few inches from the pocket, and Mika knew it would be now or never and he ceased it. Mika ran 55 and out to keep Ortmann at 3rd place and away from a second world title in 14.1.
“When Oliver was on his last inning, I knew if I ever got another chance that would be it. I decided to not try to be too cute, just play,”Immonen said after his match win.
The final match would be a first, Finland vs France. To date, neither country had ever won a World 14.1 billiards title, and no Frenchman or woman, had ever claimed a world title in pool. The match started with the heavy favorite Immonen with a 97 ball run. He eventually held Cohen to a devastating 145-15, all in a matter of less than an hour. But you can’t keep a good Frenchman down.