POOL SHARKS. Chinook Winds Casino in Lincoln City, Oregon recently hosted the Women’s Professional Billiard Association Tour Championship. Pictured are Xiaoting Pan and Ga Young "Little Devil Girl" Kim having fun during the charity Pro-Am Celebrity Shootout to benefit My Sisters’ Place. (AR Photo/Edward J. Han)

From The Asian Reporter, V17, #48 (November 27, 2007), page 9.

By Edward J. Han

Chinook Winds Casino Resort in Lincoln City, Oregon hosted the Women’s Professional Billiard Association (WPBA) Tour Championship for the fifth consecutive time. The Championship took place November 8 through 11. This year’s event, which marked the eighth and final stop on the WPBA 2007 Classic Billiard Tour schedule, showcased an international pool of talent.

Championship weekend kicked off on Wednesday, November 7, with a Pro-Am Celebrity Shootout. The pay-to-play event was a benefit for My Sisters’ Place, a local shelter for women and children. Teams of four — including one pro — played multiple nine ball matches under the clock. The fun-filled function provided an opportunity for the public to interact with the ladies of felt in a casual, friendly environment and raised more than $6,000 for charity.

A new set of rules was introduced for this year’s Cuetec Cues Tour Championship, which began on Thursday. Instead of the usual bracket of 64, the field was pared down to 48 players. Eight groups with six women each were formed for a round robin preliminary. The top two ladies from each group advanced to a single elimination bracket of the Sweet Sixteen. Each individual ended up playing five matches during the initial round, which lasted through Saturday morning. In a testament to the difficulty of the new format, Ireland native Karen Corr, who was ranked #2 in the world going into the event, did not qualify for the second round.

The single-elimination portion of the tournament began Saturday afternoon. Of the final 16 players remaining, 25 percent were Asian. These numbers improved, as all four advanced to the Elite Eight, setting up a possible all-Asian Final Four. Jeanette "The Black Widow" Lee defeated Helena "Sledgehammer" Thornfeldt of Sweden. Ga Young Kim, known as the fastest player in the world, knocked out Sarah Ellerby of England. Monica Webb, the only American ranked in the top five, lost to Xiaoting Pan of China. Taiwan native Hsin Huang, who now lives in Vancouver, B.C., topped crowd favorite Vivian "Texas Tornado" Villarreal to advance.

The quarterfinals took place Saturday evening. Match #1 featured Jeanette Lee versus Gerda "G-Force" Hofstatter, originally from Austria. After splitting the first four games, The Black Widow won two straight to go up 4-2. In game seven, Hofstatter had a much-needed run on the table to close the gap. Gerda followed up with two more subsequent wins and went up 5-4. But she could not close the door and Jeanette advanced to the semifinals, 9-7.

Ga Young Kim of Korea is currently the player ranked #2 in the world. She won this event in 2005 and narrowly missed repeating last year. The "Little Devil Girl" showcased her talents during the quarterfinal match against Ireland’s Julie "Motor Mouth" Kelly. Although Kelly took the first, Kim would not concede another game in the match and dominated 9-1.

Tour newcomer Xiaoting Pan of Shanghai was a rookie in 2006, and has already climbed to #3 in the world. She faced off against English snooker champion Kelly "Kwik Fire" Fisher in the quarterfinals. Pan jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but Fisher battled back and won the next three games. Xiaoting won game six to even the score at 3-3. Although Fisher took game seven, Pan again tied it at 4-4. Kwik Fire then tightened the screws to take a commanding 8-4 lead. Xiaoting made a valiant effort to come back. In game 15, however, she missed a bank shot on the seven-ball, which gave Kelly ball-in-hand and a 9-6 victory.

Defending champion Allison "Duchess of Doom" Fisher was down 1-2 early in her match against Hsin Huang. The two competitors each played brilliantly and were tied 4-4. That’s when the Duchess of Doom turned her game up a notch and showed why she is the #1 ranked player in the world. Fisher won the rest of the games to make the final score 9-4.

Semifinal match #1 began at 1:00pm on Sunday, featuring Jeanette Lee versus Allison Fisher. The first player to win seven games would advance to the final to be held that same evening. These two seasoned professionals are the best-known female pool players in the world, and a capacity crowd was on hand. The first four games went Lee-Fisher-Lee-Fisher. Allison won the next two to go up 4-2. Jeanette made it 3-4, but that would be her last win of the tournament. The Duchess of Doom ran the table the last two games and advanced with a final score of 7-3.

The second semifinal match started at 3:00pm and pitted Kelly Fisher against Ga Young Kim. The Little Devil Girl won the lag and broke first. After a few defensive moves, Kim made a carom shot off the one-ball to sink the nine and take an early 1-0 lead. Kelly won games two and three to go up 2-1. Ga Young made it 2-2 but then fell behind again 2-3. Fisher did not make a ball off the break in game six and Kim proceeded to run the table, evening the score at 3-3. Although Kwik Fire then took a 5-3 lead, Ga Young won the next two games to tie the match up again, 5-5. Kelly would not give up the lead and went back up, 6-5. But none of the balls dropped on her break, allowing Kim to run the table and force a game 13. After sinking the first six balls, Ga Young was left with a tough leave on the seven. She made a brilliant attempt, but the ball rattled in the corner and stayed up, leaving Fisher with two easy shots to win the match and advance to the final.

The all-England, all-Fisher (no relation) final resulted in a repeat victory for Allison Fisher with the final score of 7-2. This is the eighth time Allison has won the WPBA Championship. ESPN will air the semifinal and final round matches in the near future. Check local listings for dates and times.

The WPBA Tour will return to Chinook Winds Casino in October 2008. To learn more, visit <www.wpba.com> or <www.chinookwindscasino.com>.

My Sisters’ Place promotes a self-help philosophy that respects individual differences and encourages development of self-reliance. For more information, visit <www.mysistersplace.us>.