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Show HOPPE WILL DEFEND HIS BILLIARD TITLE All Veteran Players to Take Part in Next Tournament. It Is now generally understood that the next International 18.2 balkline tournament for the professionals will have about the same lot of players In it as took part li the one held at the Pennsylvania hotel in New York last November. In that tournament Willie Hoppe finished first, defeating the champion, Young Jake Schafer, who came second. Roger Conti of France, was third ; Edouard Horemans of Belgium, Bel-gium, fourth ; Welker Cochran of San Francisco, fifth, and Erich Hagenlach-er Hagenlach-er of Germany, last. These six players are now widely scattered. Hoppe, the champion, has been resting at his home in New York and paying attention at the same time to his big room on Broadway. Young Jake Schafer has been taking it easy at his new home in San Francisco. Now and then he visits Graney's room there or takes a run over to Los Angeles An-geles where he has played some games with Kinrey Matsuyama, the little Japanese expert at balkline, who is coming fast. Welker Cochran has quit San Francisco Fran-cisco and settled down at Hollywood, located In the center of Los Angeles' moving picture district. There he has established "The Cochran Billiard Studio," a work of art fitted up magnificently mag-nificently and its patronage is drawn mostly from the moving picture colony. Among his everyday patrons are such famous movie characters as Douglas Fairbanks, Charlie Chaplin, Jackie Coogan and others in that set. Roger Conti, who finished third In the international, has returned to his home In France, but has told his friends In America that he would return re-turn in the fall in time to take part In the next tournament. Edouard Horemans has arrived at his old home in Brussels, Belgium, after a two-year visit to this country, In which he was wonderfully successful from both a financial and playing standpoint. Erich Hagenlacher, the German expert ex-pert who finished last In the International, Interna-tional, has become a full-fledged American citizen and has settled down In New York for keeps. He Is often seen In the big rooms and they say he has Improved greatly In his play and that he will soon be able to hold his own with any of the balkline players. |