Women Worldchampionships 2006 in Taiwan

From the 1.03. – 5.03.2006 the Wome Worldchampionships took place in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. As we all know is Taiwan a Billiard loving country and so this Championship was a really great event.  48 of the best women players in the world took part and competed for the title. We played in a sportshall where they put up 5 tables and one TV table with a big stand for hundreds of spectators. The machtes on the TV table were live to see on a taiwanese channel all day long. We played in a round robin system. There were 8 groups with 6 players. The best 24 for players were qualified for the final round. The best 8 of these 24 players were seeded into the second final round. It was race to 5 by alternate break till the final round.

I arrived with my trainer on the 24.02.2006 to get used to the conditions and the time difference. I already changed my sleeping rhythm at home so that I don´t have a problem with it in Taiwan. Before the tournament started I played a men tournament of the taiwanese professional men´s league. 64 men played in that tournament and I managed to finish 9^th. It was a good practice for the Championship.

My first match was against the number 1 of Taiwan and favorite Shin Mei Liu. I knew it´ll be a tough match. I had a good start and took a rapid 2:0 lead. Liu had a good break and ran out the next rack. She made good use of her opportunities and won game after game. When she was leading 4:3 I played an unbelievable jump – shot out of safety situation that brought me back into the match. At the end I managed to win 5:4. At 4 o´clock pm I had my second match against the shootingstar from the philippines, Rubilen Amit. I didn´t know her at all so I was very careful. From the beginning I was able to control the match and put her under pressure. I won 5:3. My last match on this day was against the number 2 in the snooker world ranking, Lynette Horsburgh from Great Britain. I knew her from the European Championships and because of that I knew her game very well. I was again very careful but I made some unnecessary mistakes at the beginning, so it was a very balanced match till the score of 2:2. With a 5:2 victory over Horsburgh was the first day over and I was very satisfied with the three victories.

On the second day I first played against Chun Hwa Lin from Taiwan. She was one of the qualifiers who played the qualification tournament right before the Championships. At the beginning she tried to get me out of the rhythm with a lot of safes but she was not successful. I waited for my chances and when I got them I crushed her 5:0.  In my last match I faced Lucia Wever from Southamerica. Till now she was not very successful and lost all her matches. But at the score of 3:3 I realized that this match is not as easy as I thought it would be. After a really hard work I finished my last match with a score of 5:3. I won all my matches and had together with Ga Young Kim the best score of all players. So I was seeded into the second final round.

After one day of relaxing I played Charlotte Sörenson. I played against her in the 9 Ball final at the European Championships 2005, so I knew what strategy to choose. At the beginning we both were struggling a bit but I started making better use of my opportunities and in short order I had gained a hefty 6:2 advantage. I entered the quarterfinal with a solid 7:2 victory over Sörenson.

On the next day I faced Line Kjorsvik from Norway. Kjorsvik, already European Champion and played 2 years ago as a pro in the USA at the WPBA Tour, pushed through in a 7:6 thriller match against the in USA living, current number 6 in the WPBA ranking,swedish Helena Thornfeldt. I started out really well and kept her well under control. I played flawless pool and simply crushed Line, leaping out to a 6-1 lead before Line could score her second point of the match. Kjorsvik managed to move another bead in the next rack, but it was way too little, way too late. I poured in a three-nine combination in the next rack to earn my berth in the semi-finals 7-3.

In the semifinal I played again against Shin Mei Liu. Liu had a good start and ran out the first racks. After a short time Liu had gained a hefty 3-0 advantage. I did get to the table in rack four and put away five balls, but I just wasn't controlling my rock the way I had in her earlier matches and I fell out of line on the seven ball and missed the shot. Then Shin-Mei went past her line on the eight and faced an ugly eight-nine combination. She studied the angle and sent it home to go up 4-0. At the score of 5:0 Liu missed the two and I played a good safety but the two sat by the nine and Liu kicked two rails to send the two perfectly into the nine and the nine into the corner. I couldn´t believe what was going on on the table. I got a chance in the next rack and this time I made it. I won the next racks and at the score of 6:3 I had a perfect break and ran out the next 3 racks. It was 6:6 and I was back into the match. In the next rack, my break failed to drop a ball. It was a tough set up and we played a couple safes till I got the chance to run out. When I made the five and broke the cluster up it moved the seven ball in front of the six. The combination did not work and Shin-Mei returned to claim the rack. Shin-Mei Liu broke and ran the next rack.  On the next break two balls fell away but the five ball ruined her party by rolling in the line between the cue ball and the one at the very last moment. She played a push out but I answered with a good safety shot. Liu made a kick but was a bit lucky and left nothing for me. I played a safety again but this time I came up half a centimetre too short. Liu made the one and was again a bit lucky to kick the three on the right side for a good position. That was it for me. I lost 9:6. I was of course disappointed because I had such a good comeback and other players said to me that I played unbelievable but in sport you do need a bit luck and this time it was not on my side. I am very proud of myself because I played on such a high level the whole tournament.

Results:

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