Rakin and Ko New Junior World billiard Champions
Mary Rakin of the United States and Pin Yi Ko of Taipei are the new Junior Champions of the World. They took their titles today in Willingen, Germany at the conclusion of the WPA World Junior Championships for 2007.
This is nothing new for Mary Rakin. She won this same event last year, but took the longest road possible to repeat the feat. Coming into the event as the number one seed she dropped her very first match (7-4) to Denise Wilkinson of New Zealand. From there she went on an undefeated romp through the rest of the field.
Her second match was nearly the end of her road, but she got by Anja Wagner of Germany (7-6) and then easily took down both Hui Ching Yap of Singapore (7-2) and fellow American Briana Miller (7-2), the 12-year-old wonder with a very big future. This put her into the redraw that signals the start of single-elimination play and her first match there was another close one as she escaped Kristina Schagan of Germany by a single game (9-8). When she then stepped on Kim Witzel of Germany (9-4) it meant she had once again made the finals of the Worlds.
Her opponent in the final attempt was Tina Buhnen. Strangely, Buhnen had also lost her first match of the week, and to the same Denise Wilkinson that had sent Rakin left as well! (Wilkinson wound up in fifth place.) Buhnen had easily taken down Sabrina Naverschnig of Austria (9-4) in the Semi-Finals prior to finding herself across the felt from Rakin. This would not prove a comfortable spot to be as Rakin found her best game of the week and simply tortured Buhnen to win going away at 9-2 to take her second consecutive World Title. Asked if pool would be in her future she replied: “Yes, but not until after I finish school. School first, then pool.” Pressed as to whether she would be knocking on the door of the WPBA after college she grinned: “Yeah, I think so!”
The young men had watched for the last three years as Yu Lun Wu of Taipei had owned the field and won three World Championships on the trot. When he defeated Yusuke Shibata of Japan 11-7 in the Semi-Finals it seemed a near certainty that history was about to repeat itself. But coming through the field undefeated (as had Wu) was last year’s runner-up, Pin Yi Ko, also of Chinese Taipei. Ko had to defeat another Taiwanese player, Kui Ming Lin (three of our four semi-finalists were Taiwanese) in order to get to the final stage again but after he managed that (11-8) he walked out into the main arena with an air of confidence that was palatable.
Ko took an early lead and never looked back. He won the first three racks, dropped one, and then won three more to lead 6-1 in the race to eleven. After eleven racks he led the race 8-3 in a shining match that had displayed eight break and runs to that point. Wu made a strong charge from there and brought the match close at 8-7. But then Ko took control again and won the next three racks to take the crown 11-7. How well did they play? According to Stan Shuffett, who was tracking every shot, Ko shot an Accu-Stat score of .962 (1.000 is perfect and nearly unheard of) while Wu fired an .858 in his failed bid. Adult pros shoot those same types of scores to win major titles.

The WPA wishes to heartily thank all of the sponsors whose efforts made this fine event possible. These include bwin.com, Iwan Simonis, Dynamic billiards, Aramith billiard Balls, Gutshoff Itterbach, the City of Willingen, Germany, The EPBF, The WPA, the IBP Foundation, and the host site, the beautiful Sauerland Stern Hotel.
RESULTS
MEN
1) Pin Yi Ko (TPE)
2) Yu Lun Wu (TPE)
3) Yusuke Shibata (JPN), Kui Ming Lin (TPE)
5) Mathew Lawrenson (GBR), Attila Bezdan (HUN), Thomas Luttich (GER), Hee Sup Kim (KOR).
9) Nico Wehner (GER), Fabian Breuer (GER), Landon Shuffett (USA), Rusian Chinahov (RUS), Tomoya Iima (JPN), Nick Pera (NZL), Petri Makkonen (FIN), Hao Xiang Han (HKG)

LADIES
1) Mary Rakin (USA)
2) Tina Buhnen (GER)
3) Sabrina Naverschnig (AUT), Kim Witzel (GER)
5) Kristina Schagan (GER), Si Ming Chen (CHN), Sina Petry (GER), Denise Wilkinson (NZL)

WPA Expels Pan-American billiard Confederation
The World pool-billiard Association (WPA) has today announced the expulsion of the Pan-American billiard Confederation (CPB) as a member body. This action, taken by a vote of the General Assembly of the WPA, came after several days of deliberations and hearings.
Ian Anderson, President of the WPA, said: “We do not take this sort of action lightly. However, the independent course that the CPB has charted in the past year has been found to be inconsistent with the goals and direction of the WPA. We wish the CPB success in their future endeavors but we must seek to affiliate with those whose objectives are consistent with our own.”

Champions Set to be Crowned Tomorrow in Willingen
by Jerry Forsyth
Only four young ladies and four young men remain in the running in the WPA World Junior Championships in Willengen, Germany. On Friday all but one male and one female will fall to the wayside and make way for the new billiard champions.
On the ladies’ side, last year’s champion, Mary Rakin of the USA, has made it into the semifinals by turning aside the sharp cue of Kristina Schagan of Germany by the slimmest of margins, 9-8. She will find herself battling another German, Kim Witzel, in her semifinal match. Witzel earned her berth by destroying Si Ming Chen of China 9-4.
The other ladies’ semi will find Tina Buhnen of Germany matching up against the only remaining undefeated female, Sabrina Neverschnig (pictured) of Austria. Buhnen won 9-6 against Sina Petry, today while Neverschnig barely got by Denise Wilkinson of New Zealand 9-8.
The final four men include Kui Ming Lin of Taipei who will face his countryman, Pin Yi Ko. These two arrived here after Lin bested Tomoya Iima of Japan 11-8 and Attila Bezdan of Hungary 11-10, while Ko defeated Hao Xiang Han of Hong Kong 11-2 and Mathew Lawrenson of Great Britain by the same wide margin.
On the other half of the bracket the two advancing cueists are the defending champion, Yu Lun Wu of Taipei, and Yusuke Shibata of Japan. Wu remains undefeated this week, today overpowering Nico Wehner of Germany 11-6 and Hee Sup Kim of Korea 11-6. Thomas Luttich ended the run of the final American, Landon Shuffett, 11-6 and then lost to Shibata 11-9 after Shibata had already bested Rusian Chinahov of Russia 11-8.
For full brackets please see www.wpa-tour.com (http://www.wpa-tour.com) and click on “sheets” on the left-hand side of the page.

McDermott All American Tour Results from Match-Ups

The fifteenth stop of the 2007/2008 McDermott All American Tour, produced by the American CueSports Alliance (ACS), was hosted at Match-Ups in Fort Collins, CO, on the weekend of November 24-25 for the annual 8-ball Turkey Shoot. The $1,000 added event drew thirty-five billiard players in a double-elimination 8-ball format on 7-foot bar boxes.
Nick Smith ran undefeated to the finals. In the hot-seat match, Smith handled Dave Gomez, 5-1. Earlier in the A-bracket semi-finals, Smith tripped Mike Hellmer, 5-4, while Gomez eclipsed Johnny Vasquez , 5-1. In the B-bracket quarterfinals Mark Haddad eliminated Mike Hellmer 5-3, while Vasquez upended Nathan Smith, 5-4. In the semifinals, Haddad toppled Vasquez 5-2, and he continued his momentum in the B-side finals by ousting Gomez 5-4. The tourney finals featured Nick Smith versus Mark Haddad, and Smith continued his winning ways to claim the title by a 5-4 margin!
By virtue of Nick Smith being the highest-finishing ACS member in the event, he qualified for a free 8-ball singles entry into the 2008 ACS Nationals in Las Vegas – courtesy of the ACS. The ACS wishes to thank sponsors McDermott Handcrafted Cues, Championship billiard Fabric and Nick Varner Signature Cases for their support in donating “Value-In-Kind” product for this and all stops on the McDermott All American Tour. Sponsorship opportunities are still available for the 2007/2008 All American Tour by contacting the ACS.
The Tour switches over to the “Pechauer Custom cue All American Tour” on December 1, and the first Pechauer-sponsored stops that weekend will include a $500 added 8-ball event at cue Masters billiards in Dubuque, IA (contact Bill Kramer at 563-557-0875); a $1,500 added 8-ball event for men and women at Spikes Bar Grill in Faribault, MN (contact John Stich at 507-210-7558); and a $500 added 8-ball event at Sharky’s billiards in Sedalia, MO (contact Mellody Allee at 660-826-5855). Further information, entry details and schedules for the 2007/2008 Pechauer All American Tour are available at www.americancuesports.org (http://www.americancuesports.org).
The ACS is a non-profit, national organization dedicated to heightening the interest and awareness of cue sports through the support and sanctioning of organized competition throughout the United States.
Final Results:
1st Nick Smith (Colorado Springs, CO) $550 + Free entry to 2008 ACS Nationals
2nd Mark Haddad (Westminster, CO) $400
3rd Dave Gomez (Northglenn, CO) $300
4th Johnny Vasquez (Fort Collins, CO) $150
5-6th Mike Hellmer (Fort Collins, CO) $75
Nathan Smith (Colorado Springs, CO)
7-8th Ray Padilla (Denver, CO) $50
Warren Woodson (Greeley, CO)
Top Female – Terry Duncan (Englewood, CO) $50

First Cleaning Day at the WPA Junior World Championships

by Jerry Forsyth
Today was the day that the first bodies hit the floor in Germany as the one-loss side became fatal for many contestants. Paul Everette of Canada had one of the most brutal days possible, as he was eliminated from the tournament on a one-game margin when Christopher Futrell of the USA bested him 9-8. Everette was not the only player to be dusted off by such a slim margin. Joshua Newman of the USA felt the same sting from Kim Hee Sup of Korea, and Anja Wagner of Germany got the same cards dealt into her hand when Mary Rakin of the USA outbid her 7-6.
Others taking the longest walk away from the venue today included Dominic Jentsch of Germany, who lost to Kim Hee Sup 9-5; Kang Lee (KOR), who fell 9-5 before Kui Ming Lin (TPE); Michael Czarnecki (POL), who dropped his match 9-5 also to Lin of Taipei; Jason Cook of New Zealand, who was eliminated 9-4 by Yusuke Shibata of Japan; and Daley White (also of New Zealand), who was vanquished 9-7 by Christopher Futrell of America.
Landon Shuffett of the USA bounced back from his loss yesterday to send two players home today. First he knocked over Roman Pruchai of Russia 9-6 and then ended the run of Canada’s Marc Bucais by the same margin. Shuffett, ever the good sport, called a foul on himself that no one else saw—a foul that wound up costing him three games when Bucais caught a gear on him. Aslam Sayed Sharik, a young player who redefines methodical, bested both Yevgen Novosad of the Ukraine 9-7 and Chew Ming Tan of Singapore 9-2 in a match that saw Sharik take more than 25 minutes to clear a single rack. Wehner Nico of Germany likes to keep things close. He beat both Ramazan Dincer of the Germany and Marc Bljsterbosch of the Netherlands 9-7. Mark Mendoza of the Philippines took out Stephen Lammons of Belgium 9-4 but then lost to Petri Makkonen of Finland 9-6.
On the young ladies’ side Tina Buhnen of Germany rolled over two other contestants 7-1. She ended the runs of both Marina Linguerri of Canada and Amy Claire King of South Africa. Shu Ling Lin of Taipei ended the tournament for Claudia Damiani of Nicaragua 7-2, while Chiaki Komiya of Japan did the same for Nicole Keeney of the USA 7-5 and Jenny Cook of New Zealand 7-3. Finally, defending champion Mary Rakin of the USA took down Hui Ching Yap of Singapore 7-2.
Ladies progressing on the winners’ side included Kristina Schagan of Germany, who slid by Denise Wilkinson of New Zealand 7-6; Si Ming Chen of China, who dusted Karla Fernandez of Mexico 7-3; and Sina Petry of Germany, who defeated Briana Miller of the USA 7-4 and Sabrina Naverschnig of Austria 7-3.
Our unscathed young men as of this moment are Yu Lun Wu of Taipei, who ran over Albin Ouschan of Austria 9-3; Fabian Breuer of Germany, who scraped past Richard Barney of the USA 9-8; Thomas Lufftich of Germany, who beat Ikwan Sandjaja of Indonesia 9-3; Rusian Chinahov of Russia, who took down Nick Pera of New Zealand 9-2; Tomoya Iima of Japan, who bested Rene David of the Philippines 9-5; Attila Bezden of Hungary, who got by Diego Gomez of Venezuela 9-7; Mathew Lawrenson of Great Britain, who escaped Hoa Xing Han of Hong Kong 9-8; and Pin Yi Ko of Taipei, who dominated Xiang Xao of China 9-0.
Play begins again on Thursday at 10 a.m. CET. Please refer to wpa-tour.com for up-to-the-minute scoring and live streaming video of the matches on table 1. Also, scroll down the left-hand side of that website to the button labeled “sheets,” and you will find the entire bracket set.