 Jeanette Lee and Yu Ram Cha |
Chun Cheon. Korea- Jeanette Lee went undefeated to become the 2nd Annual Empress Cup Champion. The Empress Cup drew record breaking TV ratings last year in Korea and even pushed #1 rated sport baseball back in its live broadcast. The Dragon Promotions produced event comprised of 6 of some of the world's most talented and beautiful ladies players in a round robin format. This year's players were Shanelle Loraine of Guam, Isabelle Krafczyk of Germany, Ga Young Kim of Korea, Yu Ram Cha of Korea, Miyuki Sakai of Japan, and Jeanette Lee of USA.
The event was sponsored by the city of Chun Cheon in conjunction with their annual sports festival which included competitions in skating, roller blading, bass fishing, and break dancing. The billiards event was the main attraction on center stage and was aired live for 4 hour broadcast on MBC ESPN, Korea's #1 network.
Isabelle Krafczyk won her first international TV debut by defeating Shanelle Loraine in the first match. Next Ga Young Kim looked on her way to dominate Japan's Sakai but missed a very easy routine 9-Ball to win the match 3-0. Instead Sakai mounted a great comeback at the cost of Kim's error and won 3-2. Next Koean Womens Champion Yu Ram Cha shut out Krafczyk 3-0 and then Jeanette Lee defeated Sakai 3-1. Cha clinched her finals berth by crushing Loraine her next match and Kim needed to defeat Lee 3-1 to force a tie breaker but could not overcome the Black Widow and lost 3-1.
The players were placed in two groups and the finals would pit the top finisher in each group against each other. Lee crushed Cha in a whitewash in 2006 Empress Cup. So Cha and Lee would face each other in a re-match of last year's Empress Cup round robin match, except this time this would be for the title. Despite Cha making a superb out in the first game whicj included two difficult bank shots, Lee won the first set 2-1. The second set was won by Cha 2-0 after Lee made a terrific thin cut shot on the 9-ball only to have the cueball go two rails for a scratch. Lee and Cha one set each. This would push the finals to a sudden death 1 game match. Cha won the lag and had an opportunity to run out but stymied herself on the 5 ball and opted for a safety. Lee came to the table hooked but went for a masse instead of a jump shot. She curved the cueball perfectly to pocket the 5-Balll length of the table and then shot a nervy long straight 6-ball and finished off the 7,8,and 9-ball perfectly with a concluding fist pump announcing her victory.
"It feels good to win a 9-Ball event here finally. It's a good start to this week's competitions." said Lee.
Lee can now add the Empress Cup 9-Ball title alongside her Queen of Carom and Women's Trickshot Challenge wins. In Korea Lee has now won in 3 disciplines in 3-Cushion, Artistic Pool, and 9-Ball.
The Empress Cup was also supported by billiard industry sponsors Brunswick Billiards and Predator Cues.
For more information on Korea events goto www.dragonpromotions.co.kr or www.dragonpromotions.com
