Midwest Classics in Norman/Oklahoma

Due to the good results at the San Diego, US Open and Enjoypool.com Open, Jasmin Ouschan got the spot for the 7^th WPBA Event this year, the Midwest Classics. The tournament was held in the impressive hall in the Riverwind Casino. In spite of the strong winds (about 3 Beaufort)  because of the typical strong American air conditioning, the playing arena was the perfect coulisse for women billiards.

They played the tournament with 64 players and 16 were seeded. Since Jasmin Ouschan haven't played all events, which led to the fact that she can't be that far in the ranking, she got one of the seeded players in the first round. It was the world champion from 2000, Julie Kelly from Ireland. This wasn’t the first time that these two top players played each other but they still had a lot of problems finding their rhythm. Even though Ouschan took over first and managed to win with 9:6. In the next round she faced Megan Minerich from the USA. Jasmin Ouschan struggled a little bit but was able to enter the next round with a 9:6 score. The next round was supposed to be a little bit more exciting. She played the Nr.1 in the WPBA ranking and multiple world champion Allison Fisher. Until that match it was 2:2 head-to-head between them and both players knew that you can hardly overbid the intensity of this match. Unfortunately this time, Allison Fisher didn’t give Ouschan a lot of air to breath and took a rapid 4:0 lead. With the pressure on her shoulders, Ouschan fought back and took every chance she got. After a though match Ouschan was sent into the losers round with a clear 5:9 defeat. In the losers round Ouschan had to play against one of the ambitious American players, Liz Ford. Again Jasmin Ouschan was trailing from the beginning but this time the fighting paid off. After Ford was leading with 4:1 Ouschan managed to turn the 4:1 into a 9:5 victory and entered the final round.

„My performance so far was not perfect but it was okay. I have to be careful that I don’t lose my concentration in certain situations because that could cost me always a few games,” said Ouschan after entering the final round.

For the final round, 8 players from the losers round were drawn to the other 8 players coming from the winners’ side. And the principle of the self-fulfilling prophecy was proven to be true as Ouschan drew again Allison Fisher. The match was pretty balanced all the time which led to a nerve-racking game. Nobody was able to take a lead until Ouschan played a bad position on the 9 ball at the score of 8:7 for Fisher. Although Ouschan played a good safety, Fisher banked the 9 ball over the short rail into the corner pocket and sealed her second victory over Ouschan in this tournament.

„ Of course it is not every pool players dream to get Allison Fisher in 2 out of 5 matches but before I drew her I knew that this was going to happen. I still think that the last match was pretty good. We played a good level but unfortunately there has to be one who makes more mistakes and this time it was me. The next time could be totally different” said Ouschan after her match.

„Basically the tournament was okay even though I am not really satisfied with the 9th place. But that is a part of the sports business and I am happy that I got a spot for the next and last WPBA event, the Nationals in Oregon. New goal, new chance,” meant Ouschan after the event.

Link: Tournament Summary

Results: