Xiaoting Pan Wins Amway World Championship
Tao Yuan, Taiwan, outside Taipei, was the site of this year's Amway WPA Women's World 9-Ball Championships. Dozens of players competed in a shopping mall in front of a whole new crowd of spectators to try and earn a coveted world title, but only one player would claim the crown.
China's Xiaoting Pan, fresh off her first win in the U.S. at the Great Lakes Classic, emerged victorious over the Philippine's Rubilen Amit 11-5 to earn her first world title and $20,000.
The prelims featured round robin brackets with races to five and alternate break. Surprising upsets included top ranked Allison Fisher and Gerda Hofstatter, who were both locked out of the top 16 that advanced to the single elimination rounds.
In the single elimination portion of the event, format became winner-break, race to 7. Pan advanced quickly through the single elimination, besting Japan's M. Tagaki 7-5, U.S. Monica Webb 7-2, and England's Kelly Fisher 7-3. The semi-final was a race to nine and Pan dispatched P.C. Tsai 9-4.
Amit, meanwhile, upset former world champ Ga Young Kim 7-2 in the quarter finals, then defeated Japan's Yukiko Hamanishi 9-6 to earn her bout with Pan.
The highest finishing U.S. player was Texan Kim White (pictured right) in fifth. Kim remained undefeated through the week of preliminary play, but was brought down in the quarter-finals by Japan's Yukiko Hamanishi. The next highest finishing American was Monica Webb in ninth.
Matches were broadcast live on Taiwan's Videoland cable network; Taiwanese citizens had the opportunity to call in and predict the winners.