Up-And-Comers Make Their Mark in Las Vegas
Day two of the Enjoypool.com 9-Ball Championship was full of excitement at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nev.
In what many fans are calling the best match they’ve ever witnessed, Efren “The Magician” Reyes would not succumb to a 10-1 deficit to Allen Hopkins, who was playing near flawless pool. In the case match, Hopkins jarred the 8-ball, allowing Reyes back to the table. This would prove a fatal mistake, as Reyes strung together a 10-game comeback to win the match 11-10.
Also on the men’s side, Taipei’s Po Cheng Kuo knocked crowd favorite Tony Robles to the one-loss side, 11-8. Kuo will next face Johnny Archer who scored an 11-0 win over John Schmidt on Monday.
The women’s side had its share of excitement as well, as Arizona’s Angel Paglia upset Karen Corr, ranked second in the Women’s Professional Billiard Association, with a 9-7 win.
Another non-WPBA player, Jasmin Ouschan, scored a hill-hill win over former World Champion Ga-Young Kim. Ouschan went on to score a 9-2 win over Alice Rim later on Monday. Chinese up-and-comer Xiao-Ting Pan continued to make waves with her impressive play, scoring a 9-6 win over Jeanette Lee.
Enjoypool.com 9-Ball Championships Underway
Pool heavyweights and hopefuls alike arrived in Las Vegas over the weekend to compete in the Enjoypool.com 9-Ball Championships, which got underway May 14, at the Riviera Hotel and Casino.
This event always draws the top fields from both the men’s and women’s games, and this year is no different. Reigning champions Allison Fisher and Thorsten Hohmann will both be defending the titles they earned last year. Fisher will started off with a 9-1 win over My-Hahn Lac, while Hohmann will get his start today at 11 a.m. with a match against Bruce Wilkinson.
The first round of matches on Sunday featured a fair share of marquee matches. Johnny Archer defeated Kim Davenport, 11-4, and Jose Parica bested veteran Nick Varner, 11-8. On the women’s side, Chinese newcomer Xiao-Ting Pan tipped the scales against Tracie Hines, 9-6.
Hofstatter Graduates With Honors
Gerda Hofstatter, ninth-ranked player in the Women’s Professional Billiard Association and member of the International Pool Tour, graduated from the prestigious New York University on May 11.
Hoftstatter, who is originally from Austria, studied business, specifically leadership and management. She graduated with honors and now holds a bachelor’s of science degree.
Reyes Takes Sixth San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Leg Title
Efren Reyes was the fan favorite at the first leg of the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour, which took place May 5-7 at the Nguyen Du Sports Hall in Ho-Chin-Minh City, Vietnam. And “the Magician” didn’t disappoint, defeating Li He Wen of the Chinese Taipei, 11 – 6, in the finals to claim the trophy and the top prize of $10,000.
“Before the match, I knew I had a good chance but towards the middle I started to lose my confidence since I have taken bad safety shots,” Li said. “Reyes is really an experienced player and you can’t make too many mistakes when playing against him.”
With this win, Reyes has now won six leg titles in the Asian Tour, which will travel to Bangkok, Thailand for the second leg on June 2 – 4, followed by Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Aug. 4-6 and Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept. 15-17.
IPT’s King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout to Occupy Sunday Prime-time Slot on OLN
The International Pool Tour has secured a major television package to air the lucrative tour’s debut event, the action-packed “King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout” series on the Outdoor Life Network [OLN]. The network will carry the six IPT shows in prime time, with the first show set to premiere at 7 p.m. EST on Sunday, June 4.
The Comcast-owned OLN is currently available in almost 70 million households nationwide. The network is best known for its coverage of the National Hockey League, the prestigious Tour De France, the America’s Cup, Davis Cup tennis, the A1 Grand Prix series and the “Survivor” reality series in syndication.
“OLN is known for its coverage of some of the most prestigious and competitive international events in sports,” said Jon Denny, Executive Director of the IPT. “This new partnership signifies that pool is now a major television sport and that the International Pool Tour is a ready for prime time property.”
The International Pool Tour’s “King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout” features the world’s greatest players competing for more than $1 million in prize money. The series will be shown on OLN over six consecutive Sundays, culminating in a two-hour finale on Sunday, July 9, in which Mike Sigel and Efren Reyes face off in the final.
The “IPT King of the Hill 8-Ball Shootout” was produced by the International Pool Tour in association with A. Smith & Company, the executive producers of network hits such as “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Skating with the Stars” and many major television sports events including pro football.
San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Event Underway
The 2006 San Miguel Beer Asian 9-Ball tour begins today, May 5, at the Nguyen Du Sports Hall in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The field is divided into eight groups. Using a round-robin format, race-to-9, with alternating breaks, the winner of each group will advance to the quarterfinals. Filipino top seeds include Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan in group one, rising star “Marvelous” Marlon Manalo heading group three, Francisco “Django” Bustamante heading group four, and Efren “Bata” Reyes in group five.
Last year’s overall champion, the sensational Taiwanese Yang Ching-Shun, is the first seed in group eight, veteran Fong Pang Chao heads group seven and last year’s World Pool Champion, teenage sensation Wu Chia Ching has been listed No. 1 in group two. The fourth player Taiwanese player is Wang Huang Hsiang.
The only outsider who earned a top-seed ranking was Malaysia’s Patrick Ooi, who is heading group six. Four players will represent the host nation, Vietnam, led by Nguyen Thanh Nam and including Luong Chi Dong, Vu Trong Khai and Nguyen Phuong Thao.
Japan’s lone entry is Masaaki Tanaka. Hong Kong will be represented by Au Chi Wai. Korea’s entry is Jeong Young-Hwa who was runner-up to Reyes in Taipei in 2004. Other entries are Xu Meng and Li He-Wen of China, Nurdin Abuba and Imran Ibrahim of Indonesia, Sundeep Gulati of India, Chan Keng-Kwang of Singapore, Tepwin Arunnath and Amnuayporn Chotipong of Thailand.
Three Cushion Debuts on American TV
This Sunday, May 7, the first show of a four part series on the 2005 Sang Lee International Open will premiere at 10 p.m. Eastern on America One Sports, a division of America One Television Network.
The tournament featured 76 of the strongest three-cushion players in the world, from 23 countries, competing for the most prestigious title in the game and $100,000, the richest purse ever offered on American soil.
The event took place last August at Carom Café Billiards, in Flushing, N.Y., and served as a memorial for the tournament’s namesake, Sang Chun Lee, who passed away on Oct. 19, 2004, at the age of 51. As player, organizer, promoter and room owner, Lee devoted his life to “making billiards beautiful in America,” and rejuvenated three-cushion billiards in the United States.
Ira Lee said Sang would be incredibly pleased to see three cushion’s debut on American TV. “It’s a dream for him,” Ira said.
Three-cushion is a mesmerizing game, in which there are only three balls, a yellow ball for one player, a white one for the opponent and a neutral ball, which is red. The object is to hit both balls and three cushions, but players commonly make five-, eight- and even 10-cushion shots under extreme pressure.
“Many of the top pros in our event have played billiards for over 30 years,” Lee said. “Raymond Ceulemans, perhaps the greatest of them all – has been playing billiards for over 50 years and is still in great form.”
Lee says that the television coverage will be of interest to anyone, with expert commentary and intricate shot problems charted out and diagrammed for the audience beforehand.
“Pool players can learn a lot about cue ball control from these masters, who practice just that aspect of the game that long and that diligently.”
The four-part series will air between May 7 and Aug. 1. For TV scheduling information, check your local listings or visit www.americaonesports.com.
Kim Breezes Through Enerva Asian 9-Ball Championship
Reigning back-to-back world champion Ga Young Kim of South Korea has another title to add to her growing resumé, with a win at the Enerva Asian 9-Ball Tour Championship, held April 26-28 at Robinson’s Gallera in Mandaluyong City, Philippines.
Kim defeated Shu-Pin Kao of Chinese-Taipei, 11-4, in the finals to clinch the the top purse of $10,000. Kao received the runner-up prize of $5,000. Losing semifinalists Yuan Chun Lin and Jui-Fang Fan of Chinese-Taipei got $2,500 each.
Suffering at the hands of the undefeated Kim in the winners’ bracket were Chieh-Yu Chou of Chinese, Taipei, 9-7, Sakiko Namiki of Japan, 9-5, Jennifer Chen of Chinese-Taipei, 9-3, and Kao, 9-5, respectively.
Kao was able to get back in contention after topping the losers’ bracket with Fan. Kao beat lone Filipina quarter finalist survivor Irish Ranola, 9-6, while Fan inched out Chen, 9-7.
In the single-elimination matches between the top four players, Kao yanked the carpet out from under tied-for-top finisher Lin, 9-8, while Kim battered Fan, 9-5.
In the final, Kim posted three consecutive racks to take a 3-0 lead in the opener. Kao was never able to overcome Kim’s lead, despite some momentum gained after connecting a difficult 2-9 combo for a 4-9 count. Kim regained control, taking the last two racks for a final score of 11-4.
Van Buren Becomes Oldest Touring Professional in WPBA
Ellen Van Buren played her first professional event in 1976, finishing third in the World Open. On April 22, 2006, 30 years later, Van Buren achieved the goal she has been working towards since 2003, becoming a touring professional in the Women’s Professional Billiard Association, and making history on the way, as the oldest female ever to earn this sought-after distinction.
While Van Buren had her first taste of victory at the ripe old age of 17, she gave up professional pool to follow a more conventional path. “I really just thought the girls must not have played very good. I didn’t know. So I quit, I did school, I did career, and then I retired when I was 43. I had started playing pool again a couple years before that, so I actually came back to the game when I was 41. Two years later, I decided to try and make it here on the WPBA,” she said.
For the past three years, Van Buren has been playing regional tours to gain qualifiers for WPBA events, and trying to make a name for herself as “The Florida Flash.” While gaining the touring pro status was her main focus, she says the most important thing to her is to have a good time. “Out there, there’s no pressure on me. I’m not paying my house bill, I’m not paying my car note, I’m realizing a childhood dream. So how could I not be happy? Win or lose.”
Check out Van Buren’s “player diary” at www.wpba.com.
IPT Announces 25 Qualifier Tournaments for 2006 Season
The International Pool Tour has announced that it will hold 25 additional tournaments to win a spot in the 2006 IPT North American 8-Ball Open Championship on July 22-30 at the Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nev.
Five qualifiers will be held every weekend, starting May 26-28 and ending June 23-25, in locations ranging from Australia to Akron, Ohio. For an updated schedule, visit www.internationalpooltour.com.
Entry into IPT Qualification Tournaments is $1,000, with the option to enter for a $500 fee, by which the player will be eligible for only half of the full prize payout earned. The third through sixth-place contestants who paid the $1,000 entry fee will earn a free entry into another qualifying tournament of their choice. Each tournament will be a double-elimination, race-to-10 format.
Online registration is the only way to enter these events and the form is on the aforementioned IPT Web site.