Straight Pool Men World Championship in East Brunswick/New Jersey

From August the 25th until the 30th the 2008 Men World Championship in the historical precious discipline Straight Pool, was held in East Brunswick just one hour away from New York City. Due to the great results at the last two World Championships (5^th and 9^th place) Jasmin Ouschan was seeded as Nr. 9 (due to the fact that there are no Women World Championships in this discipline, it is women allowed, because of the equal principle, to qualify for these events)

The tournament of the best 64 nominated 14.1 players in the world was played in a round-robin format (8 groups of 8 players) in which the best 4 players advanced to the final 32 (race to 100). The last 32 players played in a double K.O. system until the last 16 players where determined. From that on the format was normal single elimination.

The Nr. 9 seeded Austrian was drawn into group 8 and had the first match against „the" American Billiard athlete of the last years, Johnny Archer.

„That is a dream draw playing against Johnny Archer in the first match. Of course I am the total outsider in this match, but that is even more exciting and challenging and I am really looking forward to the match.”

Ouschan opened the match and was leading after the 3rd inning with 32:26. After a break mistake which led to an open table Archer showed his level by playing a run of 72 balls. When Ouschan got to the table on a safety she tried a very difficult shot which didn´t work out for her and Archer took the chance to finish it off. The second match of the day was against the Californian Qualifier Calvin Coker. At the beginning the match was a big safety battle but Ouschan was able to run 22 balls until she scratched on a break ball. Coker managed to run 57 balls and took Ouschans rhythm away. Another break ball mistake brought the American back on the table who used his chance to run another 44 balls for his victory.

„Standing here after the first day with two losses was definitely not how I expected it but both my opponents played really strong and had good runs. I didn´t make that many mistakes but on this level you get punished right away. But it is not over yet and I have to put all my focus on the next matches so that I have a chance to advance.”

The second day started with the match against the Pan-American Champion Tony Rolon from Puerto Rico and unfortunately didn´t look much different than the first day. Even though Ouschan played a lot better she still ended up losing 97:100. In the second match of the day against Steve Lillis from USA Ouschan managed to put in another gear and successfully finished the match with 100:73. In the nightsession against the strong Polish Radoslaw Babica Ouschan found obviously her rhythm and convinced the crowd with a 90 ball run. Babica tried again with a high run to turn the match around but Ouschan didn´t get influenced by that and ended the match 100:81. Next to that Ouschan also corrected her women world record in World Championships from 84 to 90 balls.

„Well the first day should have been like this as well. I am happy with my performance on this day. Tomorrow I have two more tough matches and in case I win these matches and the other matches are not running against me I have a chance to advance to the final round.”

In the first match of the decision day Jasmin Ouschan started strong with a 40 ball run in the beginning against the American Steve Lipsky. But Lipsky fought back and Ouschan lost in 5 innings with a 79:100 score. Due to the 4 losses and 2 victories Ouschan knew that the last match against the Dutch Mohammed Hakin, a former 7-times Tae Kwon Do World Champion, was not relevant for entering the last 32 anymore. Surprisingly Ouschan still had a chance because of the tight group constellation to finish the group matches as the Nr.4 in her group. The match was pretty balanced and the lead was constantly changing. At the score of 75:85 Ouschan risked a tough shot and it worked out. Very confident after this shot Ouschan managed to run out and win her third match with a 100:81 score. When two players have the same number of matches won the amount of balls count and in this case Ouschan entered the final 32 with a difference of 6 balls.

„Actually looking at my performance of the first day I don´t think I should advance to the next round but I am still happy that I did and that the luck was one my side for once. Tomorrow I will face Mika Immonen in the first round who had the best score of all the players and I am definitely going to be the outsider. Maybe I can pull off another high run but to be honest I am already happy with being in the final round and we will see what happens because my performance seems to get better the longer the tournament lasts.”

In the match against the Finnish favourite Ouschan seemed to have no chance and lost with 150:56 score. But the event was not over for her yet. Ouschan now played Bob Maidhof from the USA and this time she showed her level in straight pool again. With a clear 150:46 score she entered the next round. In the qualifying match for the last 16 Ouschan had to play Radoslaw Babica from Poland again and in this match the Austrian reached a high level, played world-class straight pool and simply crushed the European with 150:10.

„That was a really good day today and I was able to play a high level in the last two matches. I am not in the best shape right now and so I am even more surprised about my performance. If I keep on playing like that I know that I could beat everyone, but right now I am just happy with advancing to the final 16. Everything that happens tomorrow is a bonus.”

In the round of the last 16 Ouschan met Mika Immonen again who was still undefeated in this event. Again the Austrian found herself in the position of the outsider but this time the match started differently. With two high runs she took a rapid 101:10 lead and put a lot of pressure on Immonens shoulders. The in the US living Finn and known as the “Iceman” fought back and evened out at the score of 166:166. Now the pressure was on Ouschans shoulders and she obviously found a good way to cope with it. Ouschan, who is known for her fighting qualities stayed calm and focused. After a few safeties Ouschan used the chance to kick the favorite with a 200:174 score out of the event. 

„An unbelievable match and fortunately I could hold the nerves after 3 hours of concentration. Immonen was the big favorite after the pre rounds which put pressure on him and this was to my advantage. I started really strong  and after he evened out the match became even more exciting but this time I was the “Icewoman” and could finish it at the right time.”

After a 2 hours relaxing break Ouschan had to play the quarterfinal. In this match she played the reigning straight pool World Champion Oliver Ortmann from Germany. With a more defensive strategy than the match before Ouschan managed to not led Ortmann find his rhythm. The Austrian who was leading right from the beginning was able to increase her lead in the second half of the match. After another 2 ½ hours Jasmin Ouschan managed to win this match with a 200:133 score with standing ovations of the American crowd.

„Against a player like Ortmann you are always the outsider. But I got used to this role and in this match I was able to not led him get into his rhythm. I didn´t risk everything which I normally would have done. Of course this strategy influenced also my rhythm as well and it wasn´t the best match I have ever had but I could control the table and the main thing is that I won. After two 3-hours matches I am really exhausted but very happy that I am the first woman ever to achieve that. I am also happy that so many European fans stayed up all night just to see how I was doing and sending me congratulations.

In this important and historical semi final, the Austrian had to play Billiard legend Francisco Bustamante from the Philippines. Ouschan had again a good head start and took a rapid lead as in the match against Ortmann. At the score of 123:62 Ouschan made a bad mistake on the break ball which gave Bustamante the chance to find back into the match. First he had two average runs to even out but after a safety mistake by Ouschan the Philippine played an unbelievable difficult shot to start his run of 71 balls. A little mistake of him at the end gave Jasmin Ouschan another chance on the table but more than a few balls were not possible. Bustamante won 200:143 and proceeded to the final.

„Well it was bad for me that he had this run in the middle of the match and changed his score from 62 to 200 in just 4 innings. He took full risk on a few balls and it worked out for him. When I look back on the event I am of course really happy with the result especially since the start wasn´t that great. For me it is important to know that when I play my level that I can beat everybody. My trainer and I always had the vision to achieve a medal at a Men World Championship and some people always smiled at us and that it finally worked out is a reward for our work in the past years and for the way we live our sport. That gives us a lot of motivation for the future. Anyway now I am really exhausted from the jetlag and the long event so I am glad that we have a few days off in the next week and also have the chance to go to the US Open Tennis in New York.”

Result:

All pictures copyright by Michael Neumann / www.jasmin/ouschan.com