Sunday saw the climatic final final of a week long, every frame televised event for Asia's top 9-ball women players. The eventual winner of this Shanghai stage was Jennifer Chen who edged out the reigning World Champion Liu Xin Mei 5-4, 5-4 in an unusual two set final format. Jennifer played some great pool to keep Liu Xin Mei always on the back foot.
The event is the first on a five-stop tour this year around China. Each event will produce 50 hours of TV broadcast to be aired in China and Taiwan. The next event of the series will take place in Guanzhou in March.
The local favorite Pan Xiao Ting who recently won the All Japan Open was defeated by Liu Xin Mei 4-2, 4-2 in the semi final after winning through the round robin qualifiers undefeated. Pan Xiao Ting played some uncharacteristic misses which gave Liu Xin Mei the confidence she needed to lift her form.
In the other semi-final Jennifer Chen scraped a win over the Taiwanese rookie Lin Yuan Chun who had won through her qualifying half of the draw. Lin is a great talent to look out for.
In the final 6, Jennifer won a close tussle over the exciting and energetic Korean Kim Ga-young who currently spends most of her time on the Taiwan pool circuit. She is a great talent to watch out for, with a style somewhere between Jeanette Lea and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Other great players unlucky not to figure in the final stages were the Japanese champion Akimi Kajitani and the amazing 15 year old Zhou Meng Meng from China who we will surely hear more about in the years to come.
This is a great cornerstone event for women's pool in Asia, with 250 television hours to be broadcast across much of China this year.
