Amway Women World Championships 2008 Taiwan

The 2008 Women World Championship in Taiwan in the discipline 9 Ball, started with a sensation in a negative way. The reigning World Champion Xiao Ting Pan from China was not allowed to leave her country and had to turn back in tears on the Shanghai airport. The reason is probably politically motivated. If it is a result of the tension between China and Taiwan or the answer to the boycott threat towards the Olympic Games is not known.

After a pompous opening ceremony, which was broadcasted live on TV like almost all the matches, the event also started for Jasmin Ouschan. The preliminary rounds were played in a round robin format (8 groups with 6 athletes each – last 24 in a KO system). Even though Jasmin Ouschan was under the top seeded players, due to her Nr.1 place in the world ranking, she got a pretty difficult group. Next to the 6-times Snooker World Champion Kelly Fisher (GBR) and the surprise European Champion from 2007 in this discipline Eylul Kibaroglu (TUR) it was also the Canadian Joanne Ashton and the two Taiwanese players Shu-Pin Kao and the strong qualifier Chieh-You Chou.

On the first day Ouschan had to play two out of her 5 group matches. In the first match the two times “Carinthian Sportswomen of the year” crushed Ashton from Canada with a 7:1 score. In the evening session Ouschan started out pretty good against Taiwanese Kao on the TV table. She was able to took a rapid 3:0 lead. After a few mistakes, which Kao couldn’t use for herself, Ouschan managed to continue her good game and defeat Kao with 7:1.

„ It is difficult to draw conclusions after the first day but I am really happy with my results so far. I am still having some problems with the speed of the tables and adjust to the air conditioning, but I can't expect that after 2 matches. Tomorrow on the second day I have the last 3 group matches and that against the other favourites in my group and then it will show how good I can adjust to the conditions”.

On the second day at the „ 2008 Amway Women’s World Championship” the 22- year old Jasmin Ouschan wasn’t able to continue her good run from the day before. Already in the first match Ouschan had to swallow a painful 2:7 defeat against Chou Chieh-You from Taiwan. A little insecure from the first match Ouschan had a few problems at the beginning against Eylul Kibaroglu from Turkey. Due to the tight group constellation it was a must for her to win it. As a result of Ouschans retained play Kibaroglu took her chances and in a short time the Austrian saw herself 2:5 behind. Ouschan, who is known for her fighting quality, found back into the match and took back the table. Ouschan led the Turkish player only on safety situations to the table until she managed to win this important match with a 7:5 score.

In the night session Ouschan met the 6-times Snooker World Champion Kelly Fisher. Ouschan started out strong and controlled the match. At the score of 5:3 Ouschan made a mistake with serious consequences. Fisher took a 6:5 lead but Ouschan fought back and was able to even out. The important last game was full of safety situations. Fisher made the better use of her opportunity and defeated Ouschan with a tight 7:6 score.

„ A really tough second day for me. In the first match against Chou I wasn't able to adjust to the TV table at all and played way under my level. The second match was good in the middle and made me a bit more confident. The last defeat against Kelly Fisher was in fact unnecessary, because I should have finished it earlier, but fortunately it didn’t affect the group constellation anymore. The draw for the next day seems doable, but I still have to adjust better to the tables because if not it will be very difficult”.

The draw for the last 24 made Ouschan play Akio Othani from Japan. Ouschan who had massive problems with the tables, was able to adjust better and managed to enter the next round with a clear 7:2 victory over Othani.

In the round of the last sixteen Ouschan had to play the runner up from last year Rubilen Amit from the Philippines. A lot of Philippine fans came to see her star, who started the match very strong. Amit used a few insecurities of the Austrian, and left most of the time a difficult table to benefit from the risky and error prone game of Jasmin Ouschan. At the score of 3:1 Ouschan decided to take her time-out and get her concentration back together and focus on her goal. Amit started to have problems finding back in her rhythm and Ouschan used that chance to fight herself back on the table. She took control over the table and acted secure again. She left the Philippine no air to breath until she kicked her out of the event with a 7:4 score.

„Overall I was able to adjust better to the tables, even though I still couldn’t play on my highest level. But by entering the quarterfinal I already reached one of my goals. I hope that tomorrow I can increase my level because Chou seems to be in perfect shape and she made a good use of her home advantage”.

In the quarterfinal Ouschan had to play the strong Taiwanese Chou Chieh-You who gave her a painful 2:7 defeat in the pre rounds. But in this match it seemed to be the other way around. Ouschan controlled the match and the table and gave her no chances until she returned the favour with a clear 7:3 victory. In the semi final Ouschan faced the World Champion of 2005 and 2006 Ga Young Kim from Korea. Ouschan who has a positive Head to head percentage against Kim started the match with a strong performance and took a rapid 6:3 lead. In game Nr.10 Ouschan missed and easy 8 ball to go 7:3. Instead Kim showed a flawless game and won the next 4 games to take over the lead. Ouschan tried to turn the match around but Kim wouldn't let loose and entered the final by kicking out Ouschan with a 9:6 score.

„I am not quite sure yet if I should be happy about the 3rd place, because I am still very angry about the chance I gave away. In this important 10^th game I must have had some sort of black-out. I don't know why I missed that ball but all in all I can be happy with my finish considering the strong field and my bad result last year. Of course the Asian players used their home advantage and were able to prepare on these conditions, which I couldn’t. Out of this view I am happy with the result”.

Results: