Gabica Settles for 2nd in Doha World 9-ball

By Marlon Bernardino

Filipino bet Antonio “Ga-Ga” Gabica missed a chance to make pool history Friday after losing to eventual champion German ace Thorsten Hohmann, 7-13, in the finals of 2013 World 9-Ball Championship at the Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.

The loss prevented the 41-year-old Gabica from becoming first Cebuano player to reign supreme in the World Pool Championship.

The 34-year-old Hohmann grabbed $36,000 for his effort, while Gabica who hails from Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu didn’t go empty handed with a runner-up purse of $18,000.

With the victory Hohmann now becomes only the second man to win the WPA World 9-ball Championship two times, matching American Earl Strickland, who won pool’s most prestigious crown in 1991 and 2002 according to World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) officer Ted Lerner. Hohmann will now also take over as the World Number 1 ranked player.

Hohmann’s second World 9-ball Championship comes exactly ten years after he burst on to the international scene with a powerful run through a stacked  field in Cardiff, Wales in 2003. 

I’m very lucky to make it to the final because you don’t know what can happen in the future. It’s not easy to get to the final, because there are too many good players.  I’m very lucky.  Maybe next year I don’t know where I’m going to finish. This was my one chance,” a disappointed Gabica told WPA Lerner.

“Thorsten (Hohmann) played very well and he’s very fit.  As he got more of a lead on me, he got more confident. That’s the way it is in pool. But me, I started to feel the pressure,” said Gabica.

“I’m really proud of myself,” Hohmann said. “It means a lot to me. If I had to choose between my first World 9-ball and here, I couldn’t make that decision because winning the first world championship back in Cardiff was incredible and to do it again ten years later, I’m just speechless.”

Gabica, a 2006 Doha Asian Games gold medalist, barged into the finals after beating Karl Boyes of Great Britain, 11-6, while Hohmann walloped Carlo “The Black Tiger” Biado of the Philippines, 11-4, in another semi-final affair.