Kelly Fisher will meet Chieh-Yu Chou and Jasmin Ouschan will face Wei Tzu Chien in the semi-finals of the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship after the remaining 24 athletes played down to four at Sportpark Klagenfurt, Austria on Friday.
Ouschan faced three matches if she was to qualify for the semi-finals and came through them all to ensure she will feature on the final day of the event in her home city, and which she was a major driving force in the organization of.
After a defeat to Pia Filler on Thursday, Ouschan returned on Friday morning to face Bojana Sarac. The Serbian youngster didn’t allow her opponent to pull too far ahead at any time and twice fought back from behind to have the match level at 4-4. But Ouschan was able to reach the hill at 6-4 up, and though Sarac did pull another rack back, it was the Austrian who went through to the last 16 as 7-5 winner.
A re-draw took place before the last 16 began, with the tournament now playing to a single elimination format and all remaining matches a race to 9.
Ouschan’s draw pitted her against Germany’s Ina Kaplan, who earlier in the week defeated the reigning champion Rubilen Amit. Kaplan provided another tough match for the Austrian, who won 9-6, before beating Ho-Yun Chen 9-3 in her quarter final.
Awaiting Ouschan in tomorrow’s semi-finals is Wei, who conceded just three racks in three matches on Friday. First, she beat Veronique Menard 7-1, then Pia Filler was eliminated 9-2, and then on the feature table, Canada Open champion Chia Hua Chen was on the receiving end of a 9-0 demolition.
“I didn’t expect it to be like that,” said Wei after her win over Chen. “We have known each other for a really long time and she is a really good player. I am really enjoying playing the event. It has been three years without going to any international tournament because of Covid and lockdowns, so I have just tried to enjoy myself.”
The second semi-final will pit Fisher against Chieh-Yu Chou. Fisher started the day in the last 16 after coming through to single elimination undefeated. Her first match of Friday’s play was a re-run of the Germany Open final against Eylul Kibaroglu, which went to a shootout. This match wasn’t so close though, with Fisher in fine form in a 9-3 win.
Next up was Filipino Chezka Centeno, and again Fisher delivered a statement performance as she won 9-6 against a tough opponent.
“I am so happy to have won that one,” explained Fisher. “I have played Chezka so many times over the years but haven’t seen each other for three years. I know she fires on all cylinders, the only way to beat her is to keep her in her seat. I haven’t been playing at my best but today was a great day; I performed really well, used a little bit of tactics – I’m a bit older, a bit wiser – and managed to get the upper hand and keep control.”
Fisher’s semi-final opponent Chou began the day with a 7-1 win over Oliwia Zalewska to reach the last 16, when Allison Fisher was defeated 9-6. That set up a quarter-final with South Korea’s Yun Mi Lim, which Chou won 9-3 to guarantee herself a medal.
The semi-finals take place at 10am and 12noon local time on Saturday, before the showpiece final at 3pm. Matches will be streamed live and free on the World Billiard TV YouTube Channel, watchbilliard.tv and on Kozoom.com.
Manila, Philippines- Korea’s Ga Young Kim finally overcame her demons to claim World Championship glory for her country. Kim on her second appearance in the finals of the the Yalin Women’s World 10-Ball Championship, faced last year’s #1 in the world Siming Chen of China, and completely dominated the championship match. Kim’s victory has put South Korea back on top of women’s pool.
The Dragon Promotions produced 4th Annual Yalin Women’s World 10-Ball Championship is the most followed women’s event of the year. In the host country of the Philippines, it is the biggest female sporting event of the country. The event is supported by Asian table mammoth Yalin Billiards, advanced cue engineer OB Cues, long lasting Championship Tour Edition Cloth, top playing Aramith Balls, Tour Edition Chalk, and #1 TV network broadcaster ABS-CBN. Star Billiards and Pool & Billiard Magazine are also proud supporters. This year’s edition will take place August 20th-24th once again at Robinson’s Galleria Mall, which has now become synonymous for creating the dynamic atmosphere of the coveted championship. Robinson’s Galleria is connected to the host hotel Crowne Plaza Galleria. With massive media and global networks covering the Yalin Women’s World 10-Ball Championship, it will continue as still the biggest and most watched women’s billiard event in the world.
In the semi-finals, China #1 Xiaofang Fu faced off with 19 year old Siming Chen for a spot into the finals. Neither had ever reached this far into this event. It was a tightly contested match, with Chen leading by 1 game margins throughout. But it was Fu’s fatal scratch on the 7-Ball in game 14 where she had a chance to tie the match at 7. Instead Chen was given a sigh of relief and was able to close the rest of the match out at 9-6.
The bottom bracket featured an all Korea semi-final between Korea’s #1 and #2 women with Ga Young Kim and Yu Ram Cha. The match was epic. Both women played superb with non-stop exciting jumps, kicks, powerful break shots, and awesome offensive firepower.
“This match is equal to watching two top pro men playing at a high level”,said world men’s champion Thorsten Hohmann who was commentating on the live TV match.
“Both ladies are playing at a high level. Neither wants to lose and both have a steely look of determination on their face. The shots they are making are incredible!”, exclaimed Charlie Williams during the match.
Kim took the first game, but Cha came back with the next runout. Kim played a good safe in the 3rd game, but Cha called the 2-Ball in the corner pocket and made a fantastic kick shot and ran out the rest of the rack. Leading 3-1, Cha gave Kim a slim opportunity which Ga Young fully took and came back to level the score at 3-3. Cha made one costly error going for a 10-Ball combination instead of opting for a runout. She missed the combo and the tide turned again. Kim took the lead and at 5-4, Cha was able to break again and this time smacked a powerful break sending the cueball high in the air and landing perfectly in the center of the table. Pocketing a ball as well, the rack looked good for a runout to tie the match. But then the 3-Ball went 3 rails around the table and like an unlucky heat guided missile, hit the cueball perfectly to send it 3 feet away into the corner pocket. Kim ran out. Cha’s next opportunity was off a safety , where Ga Young faced a jump shot with only 3 inches between her and the 1-Ball. Kim made an amazing jump just to hit the ball, and left Cha a length of the table shot on the 1-Ball, but with the cueball frozen to the 8-ball where she could only hit the top side of the white. Cha jacked up and speared the 1-ball in perfectly and made a tough cutshot next with a bridge and ran out! But a dry break next would be it for Cha. Kim was determined to get to the finals by 1% more than Cha, and she ran out and broke and ran the last rack.
“The final score of 9-5 is not even close to showing how great and tight that match really was”, commented Yahoo Sports writer Bob Guerrero.
In the final match, China would face South Korea. China has had an army of strong top notch players, and Korea has produced perhaps not quite as many in quantity, but makes up for it in quality with gems such as Ga Young Kim, Yu Ram Cha, Yun Mi Lim, and Eun Ji Park.
The finals began with Kim continuing her lightning fast pace from her last match. She took the first 3 games in a blink of an eye. In about 15 minutes, she already commanded a 4-1 lead. Chen seemed overcome with the blitz of Kim and was never really able to shake her off. Chen pocketed some nice shots, but wasn’t able to control her cueball well. Kim on the other hand, looked to be in supreme confidence at the table coming with every challenging shot and executing intricate safeties and positional play.
Leading eventually at 9-3, Chen was given another chance off a Kim safety. Chen made a nice carom shot off the 3-Ball sending the cueball down table off the short cushion and neatly hit the 10-Ball perfectly where she called , and pocketed it. Score was now 9-4 and the crowd cheered wildly hoping for a tighter contest. Chen then broke and ran the next making the audience hopeful for a comeback. But it was not to be, Chen made a positional error in the next rack and was forced to kick the 6-Ball. The effort was half hearted as the disappointment was apparent on her face from the earlier mistake. Kim faced the final 4 balls that stood in her way, and pocketed the first 3. As the cueball landed perfectly for the final 10-Ball shot, Kim showed her first emotion in the whole event by looking up to the sky, as if to say, this is what I’ve been fighting for the whole week. She pocketed the final shot and clenched her fist in the air in victory!
“I have improved my result from last year, so I am happy about that. I am getting closer”, said Chen in the finalists speech.
“I really did not practice any more than usual for the event, but I was doing a “Dancing with the Stars” TV show in Korea leading up to the World Championship, and so I was really in a happy mood. So I think my happiness and positiveness carried over to here this week”, explained Kim when asked if she did anything differently this year to prepare.
Ga Young Kim will enjoy a full year of reigning in women’s pool most highest challenge and honor, as the World Champion of 10-Ball.
Follow the ladies at http://www.facebook.com/womensworld10ball For more info email womensworld10ball@gmail.com Complete info and news visit http://www.yalin.cn/
Results and brackets can be found at www.womensworld10ball.com
Park Hungry For World Title. Photo by Emille Soriano
Manila, Philippines– The final day of the group stages are completed, and two great Koreans have been eliminated, while two great Korean players move on. Yu Ram Cha and Yun Mi Lim will join the ranks of strong players pushed to the wayside while Ga Young Kim and Erica Park advance. Meanwhile, Japan’s fantastic four of Miyuki Fuke, Chihiro Kawahara, Keiko Yukawa, and veteran Akimi Kajitani are rising the hopes of Japan. The 2011 Yalin World 10-Ball Championship which will take place November 2-6 at Robinson’s Galleria Robinson’s Galleria. An elite world class pros only field of 48 international superstars of the world’s greatest women’s players will attend the event to become the World Champion of 10-Ball. This year’s event is again title sponsored by Yalin Tables, one of the premier billiard table manufacturers of the world.
One of the top pre-tournament favorites, Ga Young Kim breezed through her group with relatively easy wins. Including over roomate and fellow Korean Yun MI Lim. Kim took one loss to Taiwan’s strong Pei Chen Tsai in a bad 6-1 match. But was never threatened to not qualify. On the otherhand, Eunji Erica Park lost two tough hill hill 6-5 matches against USA’s Jennifer Barretta and UK’s Kelly Fisher. This forced her to have to win against China’s Xiue Chen in a do or die. Park took a 3-0 lead, but saw Chen come back to level at 3-3. Park forced the issue and took over the match to win 6-5, after Chen missed an easy 10-ball under the pressure. Chen was forced to wait for the outcome of Fisher vs Barretta to see if she would qualify. An unenviable position to be.
“The World 10-Ball Championship is the one tournament I really want to win badly”, said Kim in a past interview.
But the strong reputed Koreans took losses in Yu Ram Cha and Yun Mi Lim. Both players have had high top 4 and top 8 finishes in World Championship events along with big title wins. Cha had a miserable event as she lost 4 out of 5 matches. Lim had a chance at the end, but needed to not only win against Japan’s Fuke, but hold her to 3 games only. Lim won the match 6-5, but was not enough to make it through even with her 3 win and 2 loss record.
Japan had great results, bringing four players into the final stage of the World Championship. Japan #1 Kawahara was not surprise, though she was in danger with only a 3 win and 2 loss record. Miyuki Fuke, a former Japan champion, played solid with her 3 wins and 2 loss as well. Legendary Asian Kajitani played great despite having to qualify and earn her way through the Stage 1 phase. Kajitani won 4 out of her 5 matches, with only one loss to UK’s Allison Fisher.
The surprise player is Yukawa who has no real accomplishments to date, but played well enough to defeat Yu Ram Cha 6-3, and a bewildering 6-2 rout of World #1 Siming Chen of China.
Unfortunately for Korea, only one of their players will make it to next round as Kim and Park faceoff each other today. Park was ranked #15 seed after the group stages while Kim was ranked #18. Kim actually knocked Park out last year during the final stage. Park will be fighting to change history from repeating.
Play continues today with live coverage on Balls and Studio 23 of ABS-CBN.
Day three at the 2011 Amway Cup was not kind to the home players as seven of the eight players from the host country of Taipei were eliminated. The sole remaining hope for Taipei in this event is Hui Shan Lai who defeated 2009 Champion Chieh Yu Chou on Saturday 7-6. Chou was running out for the victory at 6-6, when a missed 8-ball was the end of her campaign. Lai will face China's Xiao Fang Fu in the final eight.
Allison Fisher made quick work of Japan's Kyoko Sone on Saturday and Fisher played almost perfect pool in missing only one ball in her 7-0 win over Sone.
Women's World 10-Ball Champion Jasmin Ouschan is also looking strong after a 7-3 win over Yu Han and then a 7-6 win over 2009 World Champion Sha Sha Liu. Ouschan will face Fisher in the final eight.
Reigning Champion Yu Ram Cha has already accomplished something that has never been done before. A defending champion has never made the final eight in the year following a victory in this event. Cha whitewashed fellow Korean Yun Mi Lim 7-0 and then defeated 2008 Champion Yuan Chun Lin 7-2.
Cha's opponent in the final eight will be the same player she played in the finals last year; 2010 Female player of the year Ga Young Kim.
A champion in this event will be crowned on Sunday and you can follow all of the action at the official website.
