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Chitra on Taiwan 9-Ball Tour

Thou unable to make it to Philiphines for coaching with Jorge Dacer from 20^th, reaching Taipei on 26^th, I have absolutely no regret. Mr. Tu President Taipei billiards association, arranged for pick up by the latest Merc, put me up in a good hotel, 3 meters from the venue & arranged for a very reputed English speaking (which is a rarity In Taiwan) coach.

The area I stay is called Wanhua, a business, hep-happening entertainment District. The poolers Asia Club, where I get coached & practice is the best of 5 clubs in the area with 35 tables, on the 9th Floor. The same building on the 6th floor 34 tables. All the clubs are 24 hours with ladies only day, tournament only days.

This club is owned by 4 people; 1.Steven: International player, national coach, ESPN TV Commentator, world Pool Championship coach from 97 till date, Bangkok Asian Games, Coach of 2 gold medal winners Doha Games, etc. etc. 2.Simon.International player, national coach, All Taipei Students / Talent Development Coach, (as they keep qualifying the state pays upto to university). 3. Allen Taiwan professional pool Player Committee member, 4. Ms. Kie Taiwan Professional Players Committee.

AMWAY throughout the year has a running budget for tournaments & as a prelude to qualifying rounds for the world Ladies 9 / ball Pool Championship, conducted a 1 day US 5000 $ prize money tournament, to-day 29.03.2008.

Record Number of entries. 83. Number of countries. 9. - It is, Race to 7, Single Elimination, no referee, winner to break, Dispute only call official Tournament.

Thou I played well, racked out twice, luck was not on my side, going in-off on scratches, not adjusting to world std. BRUNSWICK tables fast. lost 7-3. Qtr.finals .2. Japanese 6 Taiwanese..Semi final which is in progress All Taiwanese Affair. You can checkout all details http://www.mrtusports.com regarding why Taiwanese are the best, the programmes they have in place to promote pool, why 1000 of ladies from the age of 10 take up pool sport etc. Hope you find the above interesting.

Chitra Magimairaj

Taiwan - Republic of China :: 29 March 2008

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Qualifying Round - 1st Day at Taipei

10 countries - Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Philiphines, HongKong, Indonasia, Malaysia, Singapore, Germany & the lone ranger, self from, India.  68 entries. Race To seven, Single Elimination. A match which I should have won 7-2, lost 6-7 after leading 4-1 in the beginning. No excuses, but deserves an explanation. After yesterdays match on Brunswick tables, Olio table, new ball set, 1000 hours match, not adjusting to roll of the balls at the earliest, cost me dear. Not many pool shots,applying snooker\billiards mind may save a particular situation, but not necessarily win. Apart from Talent, knowledge, experience & luck plays a vital part.
 

It was luck which saw top 4 Taiwanese pitied against each other in the second round itself. CHOU & FAN, LIN & JAN. Chou & Jan went thru. Jan finally qualified also. Jan is a storey in herself. 2006 Taiwan No.1 a tomboyish looking ,but the most soft spoken, golden hearted girl, who lost the most crucial match in 2006 Doha Asian games to a philiphino, after leading thru out came to 6 all, & lost 6-7, in quarter finals. A medal winner in Taiwan gets, USD 100,000 She quit the game & disappeared. They had to track her & bring her back. After winning also, sigh of relief, no emotions & modest, while the whole arena jumped in joy & fellow Taiwanese were screaming for her. Touching Scenes.

The amount of Talent available here in these parts of Asia is proved by the fact it was 3 Koreans & 1 Taiwanese, semi-finals. The final qualifiers. Lim Yun Mi 7-5, Tan Hisang Lin 7-3. Chou who won earlier was the winner last night AMWAY OPEN & richer by 30000 NT $. (1 NT=Rs.30)
 
There are many interesting characters around. 1 particular LADY was very fascinating. AKIKO KITAYAMA from JAPAN, who doesn't look 1 day older than 25 is 41,majored In Drama In Tokyo, against everyone's wishes, when female players are unheard of, started playing when she was 20. She used to slip out of her house, when parents & brothers were not looking & started playing pool. Asian Championship-Korea No.3 & Autumn Japanese open Winner-achievements.

Wanted grow & establish herself. Thru a good friend found a sponsor to travel to USA, to be there to play the Pool Circuit, which was the best with money, bade good buy to all, packed her suitcase, bought her ticket. In the farewell party in the night at 11 she gets call from the sponsor, saying, he had certain problems with Tax Officials & hence the deal is off. Heartbroken, she had to Choose, expensive USA, not so good for single, young female-Philippines or Vastly talented & scope to become professional player-Taiwan. Chose Taiwan, where they don't speak English & she no Chinese.

Mr.Tu president of the association, got her a player visa for WHOLE of 2 years, which was unheard of in Taiwan & 1 of its kind, which forced her to become a student of Chinese Language. Looking back after 6 years in Taiwan, she has no regrets. She started understanding the coach, people, culture. Enabled her to become a coach. With her astonishing looks, modeling enabled her to pay her way thru. She is testimony to, if there is will there is way.

What endeared her to me was, People make fun of my Sheffield Sticker - With thee I wed, on my cue case' when I asked her 'R U Married-she replied- "YES-TO POOL"

The above 2 can be inspiring storey to any one, any walk of life.

This is Chitra talking out loud from Taipei, going back to practice table @ 2200 hours, wanting to qualify !!!

Chitra Magimairaj

Taiwan - Republic of China :: 30 March 2008

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Qualifying Round - 2nd Day at Taipei

66 entries, 10 countries, Race To 7, No Referee, Winner To Break. If yesterday was Baby's Day-out, To-day was Dogs day out. Day started so bad with score-line reading 4-0 in my opponents favour. Made it 4 all. 9th rack GOLDEN BREAK. 10th should have been golden too, which would have been 1st in the tournament, but 9 stood at the mouth. 3 to 9 she racked out-score-line 5 all. 11th rack Score 6-5. 12th rack, She broke-bad break. 8 in. She played bad safety on 2. but scratched & snookered on. I played-in-off, ball in-hand 2 to 9 she cleared. Lost Match. End of Day 2. Chitra lost to Junko Mitsuoka - Rank 8 Japan 7-5.
 

If yesterday it was kudos to Koreans, to-day it was jubilant Japanese. Total Entries 29. 3 Japanese in semi-finals. 2 qualified. MAKI IKEDA & MIYUKI SALAKAI. Miyuki Salakai, who hails from Japan, again the same storey. All most all the girls, start against their parents, brothers, sisters wishes.

She started when she was 16, been playing for 10 years & the 1st 4 years, knew nothing but losses & disappointment. The choices were simple, Believe in yourself First, practice 8-10-12 hrs sacrificing everything. Learn to accept, if there are 100 entries, there will be only 1 winner & everyone is there to win. So, practice, practice & practice some more. 6th year a small tournament, 50 entries, she won ,she cried & smiled. Gained confidence. 2000 Won 1st national SETOUTHI OPEN -JAPAN, 2004-KOREA INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT. That DAY was so confident, turned pro.

After that winning became a way & has minimum 20 titles, can't remember. Sincerely feels & owes it to media & TV, who if not any one were able to prove it to parents, that POOL is not for boys only, not gambling-smoking & drinking. Got her the most valuable sponsors, without which traveling U.S.A. Taiwan, Korea, not possible.

Japanese Government - similar storey - Medal Winners Recognized, otherwise nothing. To-day the same parents scan news paper & TV & are proud to introduce their daughter. So playing 2 tournaments in a year, with 8 entries, on snooker bridge, without pool loop, soft & follow shots, applying Snooker & billiard knowledge alone is not going to take me anywhere. I was hearing murmurs about introducing Asian Leg for Women also & women championship & I PRAY TATAS will continue their support to enable me to park myself with one of the best coaches Mr. Steven at Taipei, even for a month, his club which has 35 tables & not less then 100 ladies to practice with & any no. of tournaments.

To-morrow yet another day, I pray I can prove it to myself & do the country proud, by becoming the 1st Indian to qualify.

Chitra Magimairaj

Taiwan - Republic of China :: 31 March 2008

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Qualifying Round - 3rd Day at Taipei

Leading at 5-1, I was rather jubilant I was going to prove the traditional April 1st, wrong. But, lo, it wasn't to be. It became 5 all, 6-5, 6 all, & final result 6-7. crucial 6th rack she had a golden break, last 3 racks in spite of playing much better to-day, I over ran on most crucial according to me in pool, on ball 7. The pressure to position & to win gets the better of you, inevitably you subconsciously play a snooker shot & over run on the nap less pool cloth. Not an excuse, considering our experience only for 2 years with 2 tournaments in a year & the players in the circuit have played for min,10 years, is a small consolation thought. I lost to CHAO HO MEI of Taipei 6-7, she being 2 pool parlour owner, not withstanding.

Pre-Quarters

CHO WEN HUA {TPE} bt LIN JING HUA {TPE}7-6,  LIN BEI JIN{TPE} bt SUHANA DEWI BINTI{MAS} 7-3,
WU XIAO WEN {TPE} bt WU KAI XIN {TPE} 7-3,    MARY ANN{PHIL] bt HYUN JI WON {KOR]  7-5,
CHOU JIE YI {TPE}    bt PARK YIN CHI{KOR}7-4,   HIROKO SAHARA{JAP} bt CHANG CHON WEN 7-3,
KANAKO WATANABE{JPN} bt SUSANNE WESSEL {GER} 7-4,LI JIN TIN{TPE] bt SANG YA TIN}  7-5.
 

Quarters:

LIN BEI JIN{TPE}  BT CHO WEN HUA{TPE] 7-4, MARY ANN{PHILI} BT WU XIAO WEN{TPE}  7-6
CHOU JI YITPE} BT HIRAKO SAKARA{JPN} 7-0,LI JIN{TPE] BT KANAKO WATANABE{JPN} 7-6
 

Unfortunately, they don't have referees, scorers, markers & score sheets. Its updated on a small notice board & mostly its in Taiwanese. Otherwise I could have send the complete results daily.

Chitra Magimairaj

Taiwan - Republic of China :: 01 April 2008

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