BY TED LERNER
WPA PRESS OFFICER
Photos courtesy Alison Chang/Alison-chang.com
(Shenyang, China)– Han Yu of China and Lin Yuan Chun of Chinese-Taipei will square off for the 2013 WPA Women’s World 9-ball Championship.
The race to 11, alternate break matchup will begin at 5:30pm local time(GMT +8).
The match for the biggest and most prestigious prize in women’s professional pool promises to be a high quality affair as both players advanced to this point playing the most consistent pool out of the 64 players who entered this week.
The 28 year old Lin moved into the finals after a career defining 9 – 6 win in the first semi-final against world number 2, Liu Shasha. After the two players traded the first six racks, Lin did precisely what champions do on their way to the crown; punish each and every mistake, and hardly miss a ball.
Lin pushed the score to 7-3 and appeared unstoppable. Liu got two back and it looked like she might have stolen all the momentum. But Lin made Liu pay for a mistake in rack 13 to get to 8-5. Liu grabbed the next rack to get to 6-8, but Lin pounced on a poor leave by Liu in rack 15 and the curtain came down.
In the second semi-final Han went up against Chinese Taipei’s Tan Ho Yun. Tan had been through two brutal battles yesterday, including a shock defeat of defending champion Kelly Fisher. Those wars seemed to take some starch out of her game today as she fell behind straight out of the gates and never saw a lead. Han played steady, solid 9-ball and didn’t let her few mistakes get to her emotionally. Han won the match 9-6.
Liu, 28 years old, may have a slight edge in the final as she has won this event before, back in 2008 in Taipei. But since reaching the mountain top 5 years ago, Lin’s game has faltered. Only in the last two days has she recaptured the old magic.
Han, on the other hand, has been knocking on the door of success for several years. She is a member of the Chinese national team and won the Japan Open in 2009. The 21 year old also reached the semi-finals of this event in 2011. If there’s any potential downside to Han’s position right now it’s the certain pressure as she carries the hopes of tens of millions of fans on her slight shoulders. However, she has shown no sign of nerves in any match so far and in fact has been downright fearless at time out on the table.
The winner of the 2103 WPA Women’s World 9-ball Championship will receive $40,000 while the runner up will receive $20,000. The total prize fund is $150,000.
Please visit the WPA Facebook page for the 2013 Women’s World 9-ball Championshipat the link below. We have links to live scoring, photos, articles and updates as they happen. http://www.facebook.com/pages/2013-WPA-Womens-World-9-ball-Championship/360470447416060?ref=hl
Follow the WPA on Twitter: @poolwpa
Visit the official website of the WPA at www.wpapool.com
*The 2013 Women’s World 9-ball is sanctioned by the World Pool & Billiard Association(WPA, the world governing body of the sport of pool. 64 women players from across the globe will compete for the biggest prize in Women’s Pool. The 2013 Women’s World 9-ball Championship is a WPA ranking event.
