10 Ball World Championship in Manil/Philippines

The Austrian Jasmin Ouschan was next to the reigning World Champion Yuan-Chun LIN (TPE) and the Asian “Grande Dame” Shin Mei LIU (TPE) the only female player at this event on the “billiard fanatic” Philippines. After her sensational finish at the Straight Pool Men World Championship she faced again 128 athletes in this strong players field. The opening ceremony was, accordingly for the Billiard Mecca, accompanied by the Philippines Vice president Noli de Castro. The huge TV Arena offered enough space for the Philippine crowd and the biggest sport channel ESPN (Asia Star) and ABS-CBN broadcasted 4 hours live in 34 countries (mainly Asian countries).

The discipline 10-Ball developed, similar to the Super-G in alpine skiing, out of the 3 disciplines (8 Ball, 9 Ball and 14.1) and attained the admission as an official discipline from the World Pool Association with this event. ( 10 Ball is a modified version of 9 Ball, which tries to make the game more difficult with the 10^th ball and to work against the breaking strategies in 9 Ball.)

The draw made Jasmin Ouschan play a surprising opponent in the first round. She faced in this group with 8 players, the reigning Woman World Champion Yuan Chun LIN (TPE) (the best 4 players out of each group where determined in a double K.O system and advanced to the 64 single elimination final round). The other opponents in her group were next to the Nr.2 of the USA Corey Deuel and the in Germany living Czech Roman Hybler, German Thomas Engert, the fairly unknown Iranian Fahrad Shaverdi, American Oscar Dominguez and the bronze medal winner from the last 9 Ball World Championship Vilmos Földes from Hungary.

„Well, I was definitely not counting on playing a woman at this event. But I am looking forward playing against the World Champion who hasn´t played much international events after her victory. Obviously I could persuade the World Pool Association with my good results and he shows that with these three wildcards for the women and that makes me very proud. The group is definitely not easy and due to my last results and tight schedule I couldn´t prepare well enough. Since this is a new discipline for me, which I didn´t play or practice much yet I am just going to play and see what happens. The goal of my trainer and myself is to collect new experiences so that we can work more goal oriented next year.”

In the first match against the reigning World Champion Ouschan found a good start and took a rapid 4:1 lead. Unfortunately the pressure let loose in the middle of the match which the Taiwanese used to fight back into the match. At the score of 6:5 Ouschan found a way out of the tough safe situation with a great jumpshot and increased her lead to 7:5 LIN managed to win one more game but Ouschan stayed strong and won the important first match with a 9:6 score.

„At the beginning and at the end I played really well but the middle of the match could have been better. But all in all the match was good considering it was the first one and we had to play on the TV table. Even though the arena wasn´t completely full yet, it was a amazing feeling to know that over 20 million TV spectators followed this match mainly in Asia. I hope that I can use the experiences from this match, especially the break, for my next one.”

In round 2 Ouschan had to play the Czech Roman Hybler who plays in the first division in Germany and send Corey Deuel with 9:8 into the losers round. Unfortunately the Austrian couldn´t connect to the performance from her first match and lost the qualifying match from the last 64 with a 9:5 score.

„That was a match where pretty much nothing went like I wanted it to. Hybler played strong and simply took the wind out of my sails. I think I made about 10 fouls due to his strong safety game. A few more unforced errors were just too much in the end. I have to forget this match until tomorrow and focus on my last chance for the final round.”

In the losers round Ouschan met Thomas Engert from Germany.

„He is definitely the more difficult opponent to play in the qualifying match. Engert is extremely experienced and has also won a Euro Tour this year but exactly this Euro Tour I was the only one who won against him. But of course he is still the favorite in this match and to be the outsider feels quite alright.”

Again Jasmin Ouschan had the honor to play on the TV table. Engert, who seemed highly motivated, took the first 2 games in one inning. Ouschan fought back and won Game 3 and 4 to even out. Until the score of 4:4 both players didn´t give each other nothing. Engert disenchant to good safety from Ouschan with incredible bank shots, but Ouschan managed to win Game 9 and 10 to take a 6:4 lead. From that moment on Ouschan played flawless and simply run out the next 3 Games without giving the German any chance. She entered the final round with a 9:4 victory over Engert.

„I played unbelievable good in spite of the bad match from the day before. I was surprised that I could play on the TV table again and at the beginning I was probably too motivated because I wanted to show what I can after my first performance on the TV table. It was a good match from both sides. The impact here on the Philippines worked out pretty well and due to the fanatic spectators it took us one hour after the pressroom to get to the hotel.”

In the first final round Ouschan had to play Demosthenes Pulpul from the Philippines who entered the final round by winning against the Nr: 1 from Taiwan.

The match, which was again on the TV table due to Ouschans amazing performance before, didn´t start like she wanted it to even though she managed to win the first game she found herself soon trailing 5:2. Ouschan who didn´t play as aggressive as the day before tried to fight her way back into the match. In sometimes long lasting safety battles Jasmin Ouschan managed to take advantage of the situation and evened out to 6:6. A missed combination shot in Game 13 and a tough but successful combination of the Philippine in Game 14 made Ouschan trail by two games again. Ouschan fought back again and won the next 2 games. In the last and most important game Ouschan found an open table after her break. The Austrian played solid but 4 balls before the goal Ouschan made and momentous mistake which cost her the match.

„What a tough mistake at the end. I wasn´t in my rhythm and I fought back all the time and now lost due to a stupid mistake. That is really hard on me now and it will take a while to digest it. All in all I felt a little tired and I couldn´t play like yesterday. As the first frustration is gone I will be able to see the positive things like being 6 h live on TV in Asia and the new experiences with this discipline. Basically I find this new discipline not so much different than 9 Ball and when you watch the final you get the impression that when you find the right spot for the break, it is maybe easier to control the break or even the first ball. The 33^rd place is for my first 10 Ball event quite alright and since my last opponent made it into the semi final I can live with my finish even better.”

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