CITIC Guoan Emeishan Stadium
Emeishan
China
www.wpa-pool.com
www.top147.com
www.alison-chang.com
10-16 December 2016
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WOMENS WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
EMEISHAN, CHINA
DAY 4
Report courtesy of the WPA
Photography courtesy of Alison Chang
FINAL - Han Yu (CHN) vs Chihiro Kawahara
After getting away to a good strong start and leading 3/0, Chihiro missed an easy 1- 9 combination shot which allowed Han to the table for her first real chance in the match, and she ran the balls to make it 1/3. In rack five with the chance to run the rack, Chihiro had left herself a really difficult shot, and after losing the previous rack, it seemed as though this shot on the 7 ball would be expecting too much, but as clean anything into the pocket it went and now she led 4/1. Han broke off in the next, played a push, was sent back in and fouled, Chihiro cleared to now lead 5/1. In rack eight, Han broke the balls and was left without an easy safety. Instead, from the wrong side of the table, she cut the 3 ball onto the 9 to make a fantastic combination to win the rack, now 3/5. Chihiro replied with a nice break and run to lead 6/3. Not to be phased, Han replied with her own break and run to trail 4/6. Rack eleven, Han missed a shot at the 2 ball and Chihiro ran the remaining balls to lead 7/4. It appeared that the writing was on the wall; Chihiro was playing very well, great control of the cue ball with her positional shots, her only blemish really was the missed 1 - 9 combination in the fourth rack.
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Han won the twelfth rack, and in the thirteenth Chihiro scratched on the break and Han ran out, now the gap had closed to just one, 6/7. Inn rack fourteen, Han broke and made three balls, and played another great 2 - 9 combination to level the scores at 7/7. In each fifteen, Chihiro made three balls on the break, but no shot at the 3 ball, played safe. Han faltered and gave Chihiro a great chance to get back to the lead. In clearing up, she got herself a little out of ideal position for the 7 ball and tried to force the shot, with the ball refusing to go into the pocket. Han was left with a bank shot, which she made and for the first time in the match Han moved into the lead. In the final rack, Han broke the balls and ran out to win and become the 2016 world champion. Her last few shots were relatively easy if one were playing socially down at the club, but for world title she was starting the feel the nerves set in. Many a deep breath was taken before and after each shot. Both players should be very proud of their performance, there was very little between them. Chihiro was very gracious in her defeat, which must have been hard to do as she must have thought she had the title in her keeping at one stage. This is the second time that Han Yu has won the world championship, and she was a very popular winner here tonight. She is a great ambassador for the game.
Winner - Han Yu (CHN)
Runner-up - Chihiro Kawahara (JPN)
Third place - Gao Meng (CHN)
DAY 3 - WOMENS WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP - EMEISHAN, CHINA
WOMENS WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
EMEISHAN, CHINA
DAY 3
Tough day at the office for players, for four players it meant three tough matches for the chance of getting into the final of a world championship.
Popular favourites, Kim Gayoung and Han Yu made a flying start winning their matches by the same margin, an impressive 9/0. Unfortunately for them, they had to meet in the next round. The youngster from the Philippines, Chezta Centeno was impressive with her free-flowing style and defeated Keiko Yukawa 9/5. Not exactly an upset, but Gao Meng ousted her Chinese teammate and defending champion, world number one, Liu Shasha 9/7. Liu was not the only hotpot to bite the dust, world number two Chen Siming went out when Karen Corr played most impressively dispatching her 9/4.
The quarter-finals were next and one match was one that could have been billed as the final, Kim Gayoung vs Han Yu. High quality play throughout the match, but Han led from the start and beat Kim 9/6. On another table, Bai Ge eliminated her opponent very convincingly 9/3. Gao Meng and Chezka Centeno had a tough battle with the scores never more than two the difference. At hill/hill, Centeno played a very careless shot and left the table to the mercy of Gao who took full advantage to clean up for a well fought 9/8 victory. The other quarter-final saw Karen Corr trailing 6/0 at one point, but fought her way back the make the scores 5/7. Just when Corr look set to pull another rack closer, she missed and comparatively easy 9 ball and never really recovered from there, losing 5/9.
In the first semi-final Han Yu got away to a handy start and looked the goods for the entire match, winning comfortably 9/4. The other semi-final was a different story. After Gao Meng getting away to a handy lead, a tenacious Chihiro Kawahar started to gradually wear her down and got up in the final rack to win 9/8.
Tomorrow will see play commence at 2.00 pm for third place between todays losing semi-finalists, Bai Ge of China, and Gao Meng, and then at 4.00 pm the final between 2013 world champion Han Yu and Chihiro Kawahar of Japan.
DAY 2 - WOMENS WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP - EMEISHAN, CHINA
WOMENS WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
EMEISHAN, CHINA
DAY 2
Today kicked off with the completion of the double elimination group stage leaving just 32 players remaining. There were no real surprises from the double elimination favoured players getting through to the single elimination stage which features 32 players.
The draw was not so kind for two former world champions, Han Yu (CHN) and Kelly Fisher (GBR) drawn against each other in the first round. Han Yu has a world ranking of 3 and Kelly Fisher 8. Playing on the television table, both players produced some high quality play and it was sad to know that only one of them would remain in the tournament. In a tensely fought out battle it was Han Yu who prevailed and advanced to the last 16. Another thriller was between the two Filipinos, world number 7 Rubelin Amit and world number 9 Chezka Centeno. These two players slogged it out going rack to rack with Centeno finally getting in 9/8. Centeno is one of the up and coming stars, a left-hander she is a real delight to watch with her free and easy style and no messing about attitude.
Two other Brits, Allison Fisher and Karen Corr also drew against each other. Karen has recently acquired a USA passport and now competes under the stars and stripes. It was real test of wills, both players very cautious as they are well aware of each others ability, but Karen found the finishing line first 9/6. Unfortunately the bubble burst for the youngster from Chinese Taipei, world junior champion Jia-Hua Chen, but not without a fight, losing 8/9 to Tan Hui Ming. Another former world champion got through to the final 16, Yuan-Chun Lin of Chinese Taipei when she defeated Sun Danhong 9/7 in another high quality battle.
Another impressive performance came from world number 4, Chinese Taipei’s consistent Chou Chieh-Yu who had a comfortable win over Kateryna Polovinchuk of the Ukraine 9/2. One player travelling under the radar is China’s Jiang Teng who had a solid performance defeating Korean Solid Choi. Jiang is one to keep an eye on, a dark horse selection.
One of the favourites for title is world number 2 China’s Chen Siming, had a convincing win over Ji Won Hyun of Korea 9/2. But the best performance today belonged to Korean Kim Gayoung against Ho-Yun Chen of Chinese Taipei. After trailing 1/6, Kim then found another gear and played flawlessly to runout the winner 9/7.
Play gets underway tomorrow at 1.00 pm local Chinese time. We will see the Last 16, Quarter-finals & Semi-finals played, a gruelling day for those who get through with just the play-off for 3rd and 4th place on Friday, followed by the final.
The winner of this world championship will gain automatic entry into the 2017 World Games being played in Wroclaw, Poland 24-31 July 2017.
Si-Ting Guo TPE 5
Shin Mei-Liu TPE 9 Shin-Mei Liu
Jiang Teng CHN 9 Jiang Teng
Sollip Choi KOR 5
Yuan-Chun Lin TPE 9
Sun Danhong CHN 7 Yuan-Chun Lin
Park Eun-Ji KOR 7 Bai Ge
Bai Ge CHN 9
Tzu-Chieh Wei TPE 9
Natalie Seroshtan RUS 3 Tzu Chieh Wei
Han Yu CHN 9 Han Yu
Kelly Fisher GBR 8
Jia-Hua Chen TPE 8
Tan Hui Ming SIN 9 Tan Hui Ming
Ho-Yun Chen TPE 7 Kim Gayoung
Kim Gayoung 9
Rubelin Amit PHI 8
Chezka Centeno PHI 9 Chezka Centeno
Keiko Yukawa JPN 9 Keiko Yukawa
Wang Xiao Tong CHN 7
Hiraguchi Yuki JPN 5
Liu Shasha CHN 9 Liu Shasha
Pan Xiaoting CHN 4 Gao Meng
Gao Meng CHN 9
Zhou Doudou CHN 5
Chihiro Kawahar JPN 9 Chihiro Kawahar
Chieh-Yu Chou TPE 9 Chieh-Yu Chou
Kateryna PolovinchukPOL 2
Chen Siming CHN 9
Ji Won Hyun KOR 2 Chen Siming
Karen Corr USA 9 Karen Corr
Allison Fisher GBR 6
DAY 1 - WOMENS WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP - EMEISHAN, CHINA
Pan Xiaoting
WOMENS WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
EMEISHAN, CHINA
DAY 1
Format for the event is two stages, first stage the 64 players are divided into 8 groups of 8. Each group plays a double elimination which means a player must win two matches to qualify. Two losses and you’re out. The second stage features 32 players which is single elimination or knock-out.
Defending champion and world number one, Liu Shasha got away to a shaky start today when she lost her opening match 5/7 against a very good Chinese player Zhou Doudou putting her straight across to the loser’s side of the draw. Another loss and she will be out of the tournament. Liu did redeem herself in her second match when she defeated Kristina Tkach of Russia 7/4. Her victor, Doudou showed her win was no fluke with a 7/1 win over Korean Hyun Ji Won to put her into the final stage.
Another scare for the organisers came about when superstar Pan Xiaoting lost her opening match to Wang Wanling 5/7. Pan also redeemed herself in her next match against Japanese Miyuki Kuribayashi 7/1. Convincing score but did not really play at her best, however was aided by a good run of the balls and a lucky shot with the 9 ball to win the fourth rack to lead 3/1 instead of 2/2. Pan did manage to lift her game towards the end of the match and was back in good form by the end of the match.
Most other matches went to plan, Korean Kim Gayoung looked very good winning 7/2 against Kristina Grim of Germany, and then qualified for the final stage by defeating Japan’s Keiko Yukawa 7/3. Chen Siming started well, winning her two matches, 7/2 against Miyuki Kuribayashi and 7/5 against Wang Wanling. The Fishers got away to a good start also, Kelly winning 7/4 against Korean Lin Run Mi and Allison beating former world champion Liu Shin-Mei 7/2. They will play their second match tomorrow. Former Irish and now American, Karen Corr also started with a rush beating Japan’s Akimi Kajatani 7/1.
But surely the story of the day is Jia-Hua Chen of Chinese Taipei when she started off defeating South African Nicola Rossouw 7/5, then in her next match she defeated former world champion and world number three Han Yu 7/5. Chen won the juniors world championship in Shanghai just a few weeks ago earning herself a spot in the world’s most prestigious event for women. She is now through to the knock-out stage, and anyone will be pleased to dodge her name when the draw is done.
Play resumes tomorrow at 1.00 pm local Chinese time where we will see the first stage completed, the draw done and the first round of the knock-out stage completed as well.
Karen Corr
Chen Chia Hua (2016 world junior champion)
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