Taipei struggles in Team Cup opening day
The 2003 Rockport World Pool-Billiard Continental Team Cup kicked off on Friday in Taoyuan city, Taiwan and was full of world class 9-ball action.
The Hope of the Chinese Taipei B team, Ching-shun Yang, lost a close one to the Asian B team captain, Korea's Shin-young Park. Yang lead early, but a missed 5-ball by Yang allowed Park back to the table where he ran out the rest of the deciding set and gave the Asian B Team the round 3-2.
Ga-Young Kim lost her singles match to Jennifer Chen 7-3, but teamed up with Francisco Bustamante and beat Taiwanese Champions Wang Hua-fong & Yin-ya Lin. Kim commented after the match how glad she was to be invited to the event and how appreciative she was of playing alongside Bustamante who tought her a lot during the match.
Another great match saw two former World Women's Champions face off against each other. Franziska Stark (1992 World Champion) defeated Shin-mei Liu (2002 Champion) 7-3. Liu also lost a close match to Canada's Catherine Garon 7-6. Liu won one doubles match with Hui-kai Hsia and lost one doubles match with Kun-fang Lee.
Rodney Morris came out on fire against Ching-Shun Yang and led 5-0. A missed 2-9 carom in game six allowed Yang back into the match and he took full advantage as he came back for the 7-6 win. Morris joked with the press after the match that he missed the show because he likes Yang so much.
The U.S. team of Charlie Williams and Ming Ng looked strong on Friday as they beat Yang Tung-yu & Yin-ya Lin 7-2. The two players synced well and took no time at all to finish their match.
Taiwan's pool fans are already worried about their Chinese Taipei Teams. Neither Shin-mei Liu, Ching-shun Yang or Jennifer Chen had good days and the two teams are a combined 1-3 in the competiion. They will have their work cut out for them if they want to keep the trophy in Taiwan this year.
Final Prize Money:
1st $35,000
2nd $17,000
3rd/4th $10,000
5th/6th $8,000
7th/8th $6,000
Match Results:
Europe B vs. Asian Team A
Ralf Souquet 7:6 Efren Reyes
Julie Kelly 4:7 Akimi Kajitani
Ralf Souquet & Franziska Stark 5:7 Efren Reyes & Ji-won Hyun
Noclas Bergendorff & Julie Kelly 7:4 Takashi Uraoka & Akimi Kajitani
Mika Immonen 7:4 Young-hwa Jeong
Chinese Taipei A vs. Canada
Hui-kai Hsia 7:5 Luc Salvas
Shin-mei Liu 6:7 Catherine Garon
Pei-wei Chang & Jui-fang Fan 7:5 John Horsfall & Anita Kuczma McMahon
Hui-kai Hsia & Shin-Mei Liu 7:5 Alex Pagulayan & Catherine Garon
Kun-fang Lee 6:7 Alex Pagulayan
Europe B vs. Chinese Taipei A
Niclas Bergendorff 7:5 Hui-kai Hsia
Franziska Stark 7:3 Shin-mei Liu
Niclas Bergendorff &Julie Kelly 7:5 Kun-fang Lee & Shin-mei Liu
Ralf Souquet & Franziska Stark 7:3 Pei-wei Chang & Jui-fang Fan
Mika Immonen 7:6 Pei-wei Chang
Asian Team B vs. Chinese Taipei B
Park Shin-young 7:3 Ching-Shun Yang
Kim Ga-young 3:7 Chun-chen Chen
Francisco Bustamante & Kim Ga-young 7:2 Hua-fong Wang & Yin-ya Lin
Akikumo Toshikawa & Makiko Takagi 1:7 Ching-Shun Yang & Chun-chen Chen
Francisci Bustamante 7:3 Tung-yu Yang
USA vs. Chinese Taipei B
Rodney Morris 6:7 Ching-Shun Yang
Ming Ng 5:7 Chun-chen Chen
Charlie Williams & Ming Ng 7:2 Tung-yu Yang & Yin-ya Lin
Max Eberle & Megan Minerich 7:4 Ching-shun Yang & Chun-chen Chen
Max Eberle 7:5 Hua-fong Wang
Asian Team B vs. Europe A Park Shin-young 1:7 Thorsten Hohmann
Kim Ga-young 5:7 Karen Corr
Akikumo Tashikawa & Makiko Takagi 2:7 Oliver Ortmann & Karen Corr
Francisco Bustamante & Kim Ga-young 7:6 Thorsten Hohmann & Sandra Ordner
Francisco Bustamante 4:7 Tom Storm
