Manila, Philippines- The final day of the group stages are completed, and two great Koreans have been eliminated, while two great Korean players move on. Yu Ram Cha and Yun Mi Lim will join the ranks of strong players pushed to the wayside while Ga Young Kim and Erica Park advance. Meanwhile, Japan's fantastic four of Miyuki Fuke, Chihiro Kawahara, Keiko Yukawa, and veteran Akimi Kajitani are rising the hopes of Japan. The 2011 Yalin World 10-Ball Championship which will take place November 2-6 at Robinson's Galleria Robinson's Galleria. An elite world class pros only field of 48 international superstars of the world's greatest women's players will attend the event to become the World Champion of 10-Ball. This year's event is again title sponsored by Yalin Tables, one of the premier billiard table manufacturers of the world.
Full brackets and results at www.womensworld10ball.com
One of the top pre-tournament favorites, Ga Young Kim breezed through her group with relatively easy wins. Including over roomate and fellow Korean Yun MI Lim. Kim took one loss to Taiwan's strong Pei Chen Tsai in a bad 6-1 match. But was never threatened to not qualify. On the otherhand, Eunji Erica Park lost two tough hill hill 6-5 matches against USA's Jennifer Barretta and UK's Kelly Fisher. This forced her to have to win against China's Xiue Chen in a do or die. Park took a 3-0 lead, but saw Chen come back to level at 3-3. Park forced the issue and took over the match to win 6-5, after Chen missed an easy 10-ball under the pressure. Chen was forced to wait for the outcome of Fisher vs Barretta to see if she would qualify. An unenviable position to be.
"The World 10-Ball Championship is the one tournament I really want to win badly", said Kim in a past interview.
But the strong reputed Koreans took losses in Yu Ram Cha and Yun Mi Lim. Both players have had high top 4 and top 8 finishes in World Championship events along with big title wins. Cha had a miserable event as she lost 4 out of 5 matches. Lim had a chance at the end, but needed to not only win against Japan's Fuke, but hold her to 3 games only. Lim won the match 6-5, but was not enough to make it through even with her 3 win and 2 loss record.
Japan had great results, bringing four players into the final stage of the World Championship. Japan #1 Kawahara was not surprise, though she was in danger with only a 3 win and 2 loss record. Miyuki Fuke, a former Japan champion, played solid with her 3 wins and 2 loss as well. Legendary Asian Kajitani played great despite having to qualify and earn her way through the Stage 1 phase. Kajitani won 4 out of her 5 matches, with only one loss to UK's Allison Fisher.
The surprise player is Yukawa who has no real accomplishments to date, but played well enough to defeat Yu Ram Cha 6-3, and a bewildering 6-2 rout of World #1 Siming Chen of China.
Unfortunately for Korea, only one of their players will make it to next round as Kim and Park faceoff each other today. Park was ranked #15 seed after the group stages while Kim was ranked #18. Kim actually knocked Park out last year during the final stage. Park will be fighting to change history from repeating.
Play continues today with live coverage on Balls and Studio 23 of ABS-CBN.
