Women’s World 9-Ball Championship Begins

WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Championship / Shenyang, China

by InsidePOOL Staff

A full 128-player field filled with the top female billiards players in the game today have gathered in Shenyang, China, to see who is the best of the best. The WPA Women’s World 9-Ball Championship has concluded two rounds of play, and already there have been some upsets.

Perhaps most surprising is the two-and-out exit of Yu Ram Cha, a promising young player on the Women’s Professional Billiards Association (WPBA) from Korea. Cha’s first-round match saw her go up against Taipei’s Ho Yun Tan, who delivered Cha to the one-loss side of the chart 7-3. There she met Japan’s Kawahara Chihiro, who had just been edged out of a hill-hill match against fellow countrywoman Keiko Yukawa 7-6. Cha put up a good fight against Chihiro but fell 7-5.

Ireland’s Karen Corr, ranked third on the WPBA, headed the bracket and faltered in her first-round match against Chieh-Yu Chouh, which went hill-hill before Corr went west. Corr then eliminated Kynthia Orfandis of the Netherlands 7-4 and will next play Hui Shan Lai of Taipei.

Also surprisingly, Xiaoting Pan, who is ranked fourth on the WPBA, fell in the first round to Taipei’s Pei Chen Tsai 7-5. She rebounded in the one-loss side against Norway’s Line Kjorsvik, trouncing her 7-1, and will next face Yun Mi Lim.

Another unexpected loss came from Austria. Number-two-ranked Jasmin Ouschan did well in her first match against Shu Wah Hoe of Singapore, besting her 7-5. But in the second round, Ouschan went to the hill against China’s Xue Chen and ended up heading west 7-6. There she will face Brittany Bryant, former junior champion, who just dealt Carlynn Sanchez of Venezuela a donut 7-0.

View the Women’s World 9-Ball tournament brackets (updated continuously)

Representing the U.S., Sarah Rousey has gone through the first two rounds unscathed, defeating first Bryant 7-3 and then Costa Rica’s Adrian Villar 7-3. U.S. players who have won the first-round matches include Angelina Paglia, Vivian Villareal, and Monica Webb.

Allison Fisher won her first two matches easily, sending first Gerda Hofstatter 7-3 and then Germany’s Ina Jentschura 7-2 to the left side of the chart. Also undefeated, Kelly Fisher bested Taipei’s Ya Ting Chan 7-5 and then Siming Chen of China double-hill.

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Tags: Billiards Players, Chihiro, Female Billiards, Good Fight, Heading West, Hui Shan, Junior Champion, Karen Corr, Kawahara, Pa Women, Professional Billiards, S Line, Shenyang China, Tournament Brackets, Unexpected Loss, World 9 Ball, World 9 Ball Championship, World 9 Ball Tournament, Wpba, Xiaoting Pan