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International (IWGA) World Games
Chung Cheng MArtial Arts Stadium
No.96, Jhongjheng 1st Rd
Lingya District
Kaohsiung City
Chinese Taipei
www.worldgames2009.tw
www.worldgames-iwga.org
www.wpapoolonline.com

16-26 July 2009

World Games gold medals for Fisher, Jaspers, Souquet and Bond.
KOC-CNA photos by Hsu Shu-tuan
Clinical Souquet dashes Yang's hopes of hometown gold

The stage was set for a dream ending to the men's 9-ball tournament at the World Games, with Kaohsiung native Yang Ching-shun playing for a gold medal in his home town.

The 31-year-old Yang has a long list of 9-ball titles to his name during an illustrious career, winning gold in the 2001 World Games and the 1998 and 2002 Asian Games, but he was desperately hoping to clinch a major international title at home and seemed poised to fulfill his dream Sunday.

"Read More..." for the details by Wu Shye-chang from KOC-CNA.

Ralf Souquet of Germany lines up a shot during the 9-ball final at the World Games in
Kaohsiung July 26. Souquet beat hometown favorite Yang Ching-shun to win the gold medal.
KOC-CNA photo by Hsu Shu-tuan
Germany's Ralf Souquet, however, had little interest in sentimentality. Showing the same clinical form he displayed throughout the World Games, Souquet dispatched Yang with relative ease, 11-4, to win the gold medal.

Yang, who said Saturday he had never been as nervous at any tournament in his career as he was at the World Games, looked shaky from the start and failed to raise his level of play throughout the match.

He made a mistake in the very first game and quickly trailed 2-0.

Down 2-1, he was given a temporary reprieve when Souquet made his only mistake of the day, a scratch on the break, to pull even, and then cleared the table on his break to take a 3-2 lead.

But in the sixth game, Yang committed a foul while trying to pot the 1 ball, a mistake that was the beginning of the end.

He scratched off the break in the seventh game, scratched when trying to sink the 2 ball in the eighth game, played a bad safety shot in the ninth game, and didn't pot any balls on his break in the 11th game.

Souquet took advantage of those mistakes and his own clinical breaking and shotmaking to win seven straight games and take a 9-3 lead.

Yang broke the run by potting a nine-ball off the break in the 13th game, one of the few times he broke well on Sunday, but it had little effect in derailing the 1996 9-ball world champion, who won the final two games and the tournament.

"The key was the sixth game," a disappointed Yang said. "If I had sunk the 1 and cleared the table, I might have had a chance to widen the lead. It was just one mistake, but it decided the match."

Yang acknowledged that Souquet was a tough, experienced foe against whom he could ill afford to make any mistakes, and he knew that once the German opened a sizable lead, the match was over.

The Kaohsiung native, nicknamed the "Son of Pool, " also bemoaned his own troubles on the break. "I played my breaks too conservatively, and they didn't turn out well."

Allison Fisher of Great Britain was about to shoot at the World Games women's 9-ball final.
She won the gold medal with a dramatic win over Austria's Jasmin Ouschan 9-8.
KOC-CNA photo by Hsu Shu-tuan
In the women's 9-ball final, Allison Fisher of Great Britain won gold with a dramatic win over Austria's Jasmin Ouschan 9-8.

Ouschan had actually pulled even after trailing 8-6 and had the break in the final game, but she scratched, giving Fisher momentum.

Fisher later was forced to play a safety shot, but when Ouschan missed the resulting opportunity, the British "Duchess of Doom" lowered the boom on the Austrian.

D1ck Jaspers of the Netherlands lines up a shot during the carom final at the World Games in Kaohsiung July 26. Jaspers won the gold medal.
KOC-CNA photo by Hsu Shu-tuan
In the final of the men's carom competition, thingy Jaspers of the Netherlands had a relatively easy time with Torbjorn Blomdahl of Sweden 40-18 to take the gold medal.

Great Britain's Nigel Bond lines up a shot during the snooker final at the World Games
in Kaohsiung July 26. Bond beat countryman David Grace to win the gold medal.
KOC-CNA photo by Hsu Shu-tuan
Nigel Bond beat David Grace 3-0 to win the snooker gold in all British affair.

Chinese Taipei's Yang Ching-shun studies a shot during his quarterfinal 9-ball match
against Marcus Chamat of Sweden at the World Games in Kaohsiung July 24.
Yang won 11-9 to advance to the semifinals.
KOC-CNA photo by Hsu Shu-tuan
Hometown favourite Yang conquers 'Napoleon,' but 'Hitman' looms

Chinese Taipei hopes for a major haul of medals in the World Games billiards competition took a big hit Friday, but Kaohsiung native Yang Ching-shun and two other Taiwanese players remained in contention for medals after quarterfinal wins.

Yang, the sentimental favorite to win gold, reached the semifinals of the men's 9-ball tournament with a tense 11-9 victory over the accomplished Marcus Chamat of Sweden.

The two-time Asian Games champion trailed early 4-2, but in the seventh game, he took advantage of the only mistake the Swede, nicknamed "Napoleon, " committed in the match to run off three straight games and take the lead for good.

Ever the battler, Chamat narrowed a 9-5 gap to 10-9, but Yang closed out the match in the 20th game.

The Kaohsiung native, nicknamed the "Son of Pool, " attributed his victory to keeping his mind off the partisan crowd.

"I always get nervous when I see people, so today I decided to focus on the table," he said after his win.

Yang won the 2001 World Games 9-ball gold medal and after missing the 2005 tournament felt he could not pass up returning to the event staged in his hometown.

But if he wants to win gold, he has an even bigger challenge ahead in the semifinals, where the "Hitman" looms. Germany's Thorsten Hohmann, the 2003 9-ball world champion, set up the clash with an 11-5 victory over American No.1 Shane van Boening.

In the other men's semifinal, Germany's Ralf Souquet, the 1996 World 9-ball champion, will face France's Stephan Cohen.

Chinese Taipei's Lin Yuan-chun studies a shot during her quarterfinal 9-ball match
against Vivian Villareal of the U.S. at the World Games in Kaohsiung July 24.
Lin won 9-1 to advance to the semifinals.
KOC-CNA photo by Hsu Shu-tuan
Three Taiwanese women sought spots in the women's 9-ball semis Friday, but only two were successful. Lin Yuan-chun, the 2008 world 9-ball champion, coasted past Vivian Villareal of the United States 9-1 to set up a showdown with the "Duchess of Doom" Allison Fisher of Great Britain.

Fisher, who has won four 9-ball world championships and was nominated in June to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame, set up the showdown with a 9-5 win over one of Chinese Taipei's most celebrated players Liu Shin-mei.

Austria's Jasmin Ouschan lines up a shot during her quarterfinal 9-ball match
against Jeanette Lee at the World Games in Kaohsiung July 24.
Ouschan won 9-5 to advance to the semifinals.
KOC-CNA photo by Hsu Shu-tuan
In the other half of the draw, Chinese Taipei's Chang Shu-han beat Line Kjorsvik of Norway 9-8 and will face the tough Jasmin Ouschan of Austria, who eliminated Jeanette Lee of the U.S. 9-5.

Billiards, and especially the 9-ball game, is extremely popular in the host country, and was one of the most anticipated World Games events among local fans.

But Chinese Taipei has traditionally not been as strong in the other World Games billiards events -- snooker and carom.

The host's hopes in snooker were dashed Friday, when local favorite Wu Yu-lun, who upset the second seed Ricky Walden of Great Britain, was defeated by Mohammed Shehab of the United Arab Emirates 3-0 and Lin Shu-hung lost to David Grace of Great Britain 3-1.

In the snooker semifinals, Grace will face Soheil Vahedi and Shehab will play Nigel Graham Bond of Great Britain.

In the carom event, Chinese Taipei's Yuan Yung-kuo lost to Marco Zanetti in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Zanetti will play Torbjorn Blomdahl of Sweden, and Dingeman Jaspers of the Netherlands will face Daniel Sanchez Galvez.

THE STATS

MEN

2009 INTERNATIONAL WORLD GAMES
KAOSHIUNG - CHINESE TAIPEI
THE LAST 16
Ralf Souquet	11 : 6	David Reljic
Leonardo Didal	11 : 8	Young Hwa Jeong
Stephane Cohen	11 : 8	Satoshi Kawabata
Bruno Muratore	11 : 6	Jason Theron
Marcus Chamat	11 : 8	Alejandro Carvajal
Thorsten Hohmann	11 : 4	Luong Chi thingy
Shane Van Boening	11 : 10	Po Cheng Kuo
Ching-Shun Yang	11 : 2	Ivica Putnik

2009 INTERNATIONAL WORLD GAMES
KAOSHIUNG - CHINESE TAIPEI
THE QUARTER-FINALS
Ralf Souquet	11 : 10	Leonardo Didal
Stephane Cohen	11 : 4	Bruno Muratore
Ching-Shun Yang	11 : 9	Marcus Chamat
Thorsten Hohmann	11 : 5	Shane Van Boening

2009 INTERNATIONAL WORLD GAMES
KAOSHIUNG - CHINESE TAIPEI
THE SEMI-FINAL
Ralf Souquet	11 : 6	Stephane Cohen
Ching-Shun Yang	11 : 10	Thorsten Hohmann

2009 INTERNATIONAL WORLD GAMES
KAOSHIUNG - CHINESE TAIPEI
3RD / 4TH PLACE
Stephane Cohen	11 : 6	Thorsten Hohmann

2009 INTERNATIONAL WORLD GAMES
KAOSHIUNG - CHINESE TAIPEI
THE FINAL
Ralf Souquet	11 : 4	Ching-Shun Yang

WOMEN

2009 INTERNATIONAL WORLD GAMES
KAOSHIUNG - CHINESE TAIPEI
THE LAST 16
Jasmin Ouschan	9 : 4	Amalia Matas
Jeanette Lee	9 : 4	Carlynn Andrea Sanchez Torrealba
Line Kjorsvik	9 : 6	Ga Young Kim
Shu Han Chang	9 : 5	Yukiko Oi
Allison Fisher	9 : 3	Aspra Indujeeth Panchoo
Shin Mei Liu	11 : 4	Akio Otani
Vivian Villareal	9 : 5	Estelle Bijnen
Yuan Chun Lin	9 : 2	Pei Chen Tsai

2009 INTERNATIONAL WORLD GAMES
KAOSHIUNG - CHINESE TAIPEI
THE QUARTER-FINALS
Jasmin Ouschan	9 : 5	Jeanette Lee
Shu Han Chang	9 : 8	Line Kjorsvik
Allison Fisher	9 : 5	Shin Mei Liu
Yuan Chan Lin	9 : 1	Vivian Villareal

2009 INTERNATIONAL WORLD GAMES
KAOSHIUNG - CHINESE TAIPEI
THE SEMI-FINAL
Jasmin Ouschan	9 : 2	Shu-Han Chang
Allison Fisher	9 : 5	Yuan-Chun Lin

2009 INTERNATIONAL WORLD GAMES
KAOSHIUNG - CHINESE TAIPEI
3RD / 4TH PLACE
Yuan-Chun Lin	9 : 5	Shu-Han Chang

2009 INTERNATIONAL WORLD GAMES
KAOSHIUNG - CHINESE TAIPEI
THE FINAL
Allison Fisher	9 : 8	Jasmin Ouschan

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