The first day of play is now complete at the WPA Women's World Nine Ball Championships in Taipei, Taiwan. Representatives from the events main sponsor, Amway, watched on as some players had days of great promise while others will come into play tomorrow bearing a sense of desperation.
We are in the round-robin stages and only three out of the six players in each group will survive the stage. By Friday morning twenty-four of the forty-eight players from throughout the world will have had their tournament hopes quashed while an equal number will continue on to fight through the championship rounds.
Highlights of the day included the opportunity to watch two former World Junior Champions in action. Meng Meng Zhou of China is making her presence known here, first with an impressive win over American powerhouse Monica Webb 5-4 followed by a double-hill loss to Charlotte Sorenson from Denmark, the number three ranked player in the EPBF.
Zhou then faced her final match of the day against Keiko Yukawa of Japan who won a qualifying tournament to gain her spot in the event. Zhou lost this one 5-3 to place herself in a tight spot going into the final day of round-robin.
Jasmin Ouschan of Austria is another former World Junior Champion who has now entered the world of professional billiard play. Miss Ouchin began her day by disappointing former World Champion and last years Amway Cup Champion Shin-Mei Liu, the APBU's number one ranked player. Her 5-4 vicctory in this match catapulted her into another victory later in the day against Rubilen Amit of the Philippines, whom she white-washed 5-0!
Jasmin's final match of the day came in the evening against Lynette Horsburgh of Great Britain and Ouchin won this one as well, 5-2 to put herself on easy street and be able to freestroke tomorrow.
British snooker star, Kelly Fisher, had a nice opening day. Fresh from a second-place finish in America, Ms. Fisher first annihilated Kynthios Orfanidis of the Netherlands 5-0 and then easily dismissed Akio Otani of Japan 5-1. Refusing to show any mercy to her opponents she then took on Lynette Hulley of Australia and ruined her evening 5-2 to crown a great day.
Helena Thornfeldt of Sweden only arrived this morning after a long flight from the USA and her fatigue showed in her first match where she fell before the power of Makiko Takagi of Japan 5-0. But she caught her second wind in the next match and dominated Canadian Champion Myriam Lafranchise by that same scoreline.
Her final match of the evening came against Bernadette De Joinge of the Netherlands and she won it easily 5-2 and ease her future workload.
The 2004 Women's World Champion, Ga-Young Kim of Taipei, also strutted her stuff on day one. She bested Melissa Herndon of the USA 5-3 in her initial match and then took down Hynthios Orfandis (NED) with another 5-3 margin. In her last match against fellow Taipei native Hui-Shan Lai, Kim squeaked by 5-4 to join the others atop the leader board.
International superstar Jennifer Chen of Taipei will need a better day tomorrow. She was overpowered in her first match 5-2 by Japan's Akimi Kajitani and could fare no better against Denise Wilkinson of New Zealand. Chen will play three matches on Thursday and needs to find her game in a better spot in order to advance any further.
Ine Helvik of Norway, known by the nickname of Snow White, is another player hoping for a better day to come. Her first defeat came at the hands of Korean player Ji Won Hyun 5-2 and then never scored a point as she fell again to Shu-Pin Kao of Taipei.
With the first day now complete all of the competitors know that judgement day comes tomorrow. A dark fate awaits fully one-half of the field then when they will be sent home early while the other half lives on to fight another day.
Full Results from Day One
Group 'A'
First Round
G.Y. Kim d. M. Herndon 5-3
K. Fisher d. K . Orfanidis 5-0
H.S Lai d. L. Hulley 5-3
Second Round
G.Y. Kim d. K. Orfanidis 5-3
M. Herndon d. L.Hulley 5-2
KL. Fisher d. H.S. Lai 5-1
Third Round
G.Y. Kim d. H.S. Lai 5-4
M. Herndon d. K. Orfanidis 5-1
K. Fisher d. L. Hulley 5-2
Group 'B'
First Round
M.M. Zhou d. M. Webb 5-4
C. Feldman-Naeff d. C. Sorenson 5-4
Keiko Yukawa d. L. Marthinez 5-0
Second Round
C. Sorenson d. M.M. Zhou 5-4
M. Webb d. L. Marthinez 5-0
Keiko Yukawa d. C. Feldman-Naeff 5-3
Third Round
K. Yukawa d. M.M. Zhou 5-3
C. Sorenson d. M. Webb 5-0
C. Feldman-Naeff d. L. Marthinez 5-2
Group 'C'
First Round
M. Takagi d. H. Thornfeldt 5-0
H.L. Tan d. B. De Jonge 5-0
J.F. Fan d. M. Lafranchise 5-4
Second Round
M. Takagi d. B. De Jonge 5-2
H. Thornfeldt d. M.Lafranchise 5-0
H.L. Tan d. J.F. Fan 5-2
Third Round
J.F. Fan d. M. Takagi 5-4
H. Thornfeldt d. B. De Jonge 5-2
H.L. Tan d. M. Lafranchise 5-2
Group 'D'
First Round
J. Ouschin d. S.M.Liu 5-4
L. Horsburgh d. L. Wever 5-0
C.H Lin d. R. Amit 5-4
Second Round
S.M. Liu d. L. Horsburgh 5-0
M. Webb d. L. Marthinez 5-0
C.H. Lin d. L. Wever 5-3
Third Round
S.M. Liu d. C.H.Lin 5-2
J. Ouchin d. L. Horsburgh 5-2
R. Amitt d. L. Weaver 5-3
Group 'E'
First Round
Y. Hamanishi d. Y.C.Lin 5-3
L. Kjorsvik d. V. Finnie 5-3
A.Otani d. A Villar 5-0
Second Round
L. Kjorsvik d. Y.C. Lin 5-4
Y. Hamanishi d. A. Villar 5-1
A.Otani d. V. Finnie 5-2
Group 'F'
First Round
A.Kajitani d. J. Chen 5-2
J, Seaver d. V. Hubrtova 5-4
C. Kawahara d. D. Wilkinson 5-0
Second Round
A.Kajitani d. J. Seaver 5-2
D. Wilkinson d. J. Chen 5-2
C. Kawahara d. V. Hubrtova 5-1
Group 'G'
First Round
S.H. Jung d. T. Nelson 5-1
S.H. Chang d. W. Jans 5-4
P.C. Tsai d. N. Surajlall 5-2
Second Round
W. Jans d. S. H.Jung 5-4
T. Nelson d. N. Surajlall 5-4
S.H.Chang d. P.C. Tsai 5-1
Group 'H'
First Round
S.P. Kao d. X.T. Pan 5-0
E. Bijnen d. J. Barretta 5-1
J.W. Hyun d. I. Helvik 5-2
Second Round
X.T. Pan d. E. Bijnen 5-0
S.P. Kao d. I. Helvik 5-0
J.W. Hyun d. J. Barretta 5-2
