The Washington times., 1927-03-01
It'll PLAY
STARTS At
ARCADIA
BY r. D. Thomas

h
America and Japan win fight It
out for a victorious start tonight
III the world championship 1872
ballSline billiard tournament in the
Arcadia auditorium.
Kinney Matsuyama will play
Willie Hoppe at 8:15 o'clock and
this 4OO.point match win inaugu.
rate IL days and nights Of competi-
ton among the most brilliant play.
ers ever gathered in one event,
with five nations represented.
In tonight's contest the most ia
NOUS player will meet the smallest.
Matsuyama is an oddly. He Is
barely five feet tall and weighs lO4
pounds. He has overcome serious
physical shortcomings to crash into
the big league of billiardists, this
being his first major international
tournament.
Hoppe, the defending champion,
has held the title almost continu-
Ously for 10 years.
He is still the great Hoppe.
{ That his crown fits not com
1 fOrtably is due to q forward
rush Of other stars and not
TO 3 decline Of his own ability.
The little Japanese Is expected
to make Il more than interest
ing for him.
Edouard Horemans, the sensa-
tional Belgian. will make his tour
nament debut tomorrow night. 0p.
ponent not yet selected. and it will
be an suspicious start in way.
The Belgian Ambassador and vir-
tually his entire embassy staff
viii be present. Horemans is one
OF the most popular young gentle
men Of his native land. More
over. his friends in America are
growing into a legion.
There will be special nights, too,
for Germany, represented by Erich
Eiagenlacher: France, by Felix
Grange, and last, but far from least,
America, represented by Hoppe, Jake
Echaefer and Welker Cochran.
These seven players - Hoppe
Schaefer, Cochran, Horemans, Ha.
genlacher, Grange and Matsuyama--
are the undisputed Bambinos OF bill.
lizards. Matsuyama Is the latest 70
acQuire the grand rank.
Kinney was a downcast youth to.
day, despite the fact that he had
drawn the honor Of meeting Cham.
pion Hoppe in the inaugural match.
The little fellow had hoped for the
presence Of the Japanese ambassador
and his staff. But the Japanese EN-.
bsassy is still in mourning for the late
Emperor of Nippon.
The little Japanese star, who re-
minds one Of a bright schoolboy,
though he is 25 years old, might
easily be mistaken for member Ok
Singers troop when he plays the
Erenchman. Grange.
Felix is easily twice as large
~ Kinney, scaling well over 200
pounds and standing about six
feet. For him the billiard shot
In the ml1d6 q tlss table calls
for q slight stretching Of the
diaphragm. For the Japanese IL
means almost cOntOrtiOn.
For that reason Matsuyam
thought once that he would never
be q great player and for several
months actually abandoned the
game. Then one day he saw
George Sutton, the handless marvel,
perform. He saw Sutton, with
arms severed close to the elbows,
play masses, gather shots and ex.
hibit other technique with the effec-
tiveness OF a fully equipped master.
AS Kinney, who speaks excellent
English. by the way, put it today:
when saw Sutton do those
things, holding the cue with the
stubs Of his arms, it made me
think differently about my own
shortcomings. II he could play
billiards, and fine billiards, too, ]
reasoned, ought to be able to do
even better.
''WeIl, I just practiced.. You
know. you can overcome most
anything with enough practice.
/ guess / practice more than
any other three players in this
"Look here.' he said, pointing
to a hole In his trousers about
hip-high, II wore away that spot
leaning against the table In prac.
tice. Besides working a lot to
perfect my own shots, / studied
the shots Of other players and
I've learned something from all
Of them"
Other stars win corroborate this.
They say that Matsuyama is q
remarkable student, that he never
forgets a shot once he's seen it
made.
Because it Is difficult for him
TO make shots in the center of
the table. he plays the style Of
billiards that keeps the ball fairly
close to the rail.
This contrasts with the style
Of Horemans. who Is a master
ct nursing the spheres back and