Friday, June 12, 2009

Jasmin Ouschan at the 2009 Women's World 10 Ball Championships

It's a weekend and I had nothing much to do so I went to see the few but interesting matches left at the 2009 Women's World 10 Ball Championships held at the SM City North EDSA Sky Dome in Quezon City. This sports event was participated in by 48 of women's top pool players including Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, Jeanette Lee, Karen Corr and lots of others.

Last June 2-6, 2009, the Sky Dome and The Block of SM North EDSA were the venues of some of the better matches I've seen in women's pool circuit. Jasmin Ouschan, who earlier competed in the Philippine Open battling top male pool players was also present in this women's 10 Ball event. During the elimination round, Jasmin was surprisingly outclassed by Hsiang-Ling Tan but went on to win her remaining matches and beat Miyuke Fuke in the round of 16.

In the other matches in the round of 16, Karen Corr of Ireland won over Yun Mi Lim of Korea, Akimi Kajitani of Japan bested Yuan-Chun Lin of Taiwan, Jeanette Lee of the U.S.A. sneaked past Tamara Rademakers of Netherlands, Rubilen Amit of the Philippines disposed off Hsiang-Ling Tan of Taiwan, Allison Fisher of England was stunned by Yu Ram Cha pf Korea, Shin-Mei Liu of Taiwan easily defeated Charlene Chai of Singapore and Kelly Fisher of England advanced to the quarter-finals by beating Chieh-Yu Chou of Taiwan.

In the quarter finals, Karen Corr was crushed by Akimi Kajitani, Jeanette Lee was trounced by Rubilen Amit, Jasmin Ouschan trumped Yu Ram Cha and Shin-Mei Liu drubbed Kelly Fisher.

In the semi-finals, Jasmin Ouschan was pitted against Shin-Mei Liu who seemed to have the better luck in the later racks and went on to beat Jasmin. Rubilen Amit had a more difficult time slugging out with Akimi Kajitani.

This sight of a helpless Jasmin in her match with Shin-Mei Liu might have broken the hearts of her fans who prefer seeing an Amit-Ouschan face off. But Shin-Mei Liu was the steadier player that night and moved on to meet Amit in the finals. Being the reigning European pool champion, Jasmin easily captured the hearts of the local crowd with her powerful hard breaks and beauteous look on and off the camera.

Despite her loss, Jasmin remains a darling of the Filipino crowd. Next to Rubilen Amit who won the championship, Jasmin Ouschan was the player with the most number of fans and local supporters for being such an amiable and approachable person. She will never turn you down when you ask for an autograph or pose with her for a picture taking.

This first-ever Women's World 10-Ball Championships was the inaugural staging of the event and was promoted by Dragon Promotions and sanctioned by the WPA. Hopefully, this women's 10 Ball sports event will return again next year with the same top women players.