Xiaoting Pan defeats Ga Yound Kim to win The 2008 BCA Generationpool.com Championships
June 14, 2008 – Charlotte, NC - As the camera’s rolled the capacity crowd at the 2008 BCA Generationpool.com Championships looked on as Xiaoting Pan and Ga Young Kim battled for the title of Champion this past Thursday, June 12th, 2008.
The event kicked off June 6th with a 64 player women’s field filled with many of the top U.S. and International Players at the Smokin’ Cue in Concord, NC (just outside of Charlotte). Owner and host Matt Riggs was very excited that the WPBA was there. “I really enjoyed having the ladies play here; it’ll be something this area will talk about for a long time!” He generously donated all ticket sales to both the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Billiard Education Foundation.
Several of the Top 40 WPBA Pro’s failed to make it to the top 32, including Kim White and Ewa Laurance. Pilipino qualifier, Iris Ranola playing in her first ever Professional Event, won her first two matches against both Val Finnie and Julie Kelly. She ran into the now #2 ranked WPBA Player, Ga Young Kim and lost, but continued on in the one loss side, defeating Jennifer Chen before matching up with Jasmin Ouschan. Jasmin and Iris traded games until it was hill-hill, but Jasmin came out ahead. Iris finished tied for 13th. She’s definitely one to watch out for and has qualified to play in the WPBA US Open in July.
Taiwanese Invitee, Shin-Mei Liu finished a strong 9th place. Shin-Mei moved into the one loss side after Anna Kostanian, in her first year as a Top 40 Exempt player, soundly trumped her 9-5. Shin-Mei went on to defeat Melissa Little and Joanne Ashton before Kelly Fisher showed her mettle.
Meanwhile, Defending Champion Karen Corr was rolling along looking to repeat. She had wins over Helene Caukin, Laura Smith, Joanne Ashton and Anna Kostanian prior to the Top 8 Redraw into the single elimination rounds. Xiaoting Pan, who had been knocked into the 1 loss side by Ga Young Kim, was looking to exact revenge and summarily dismissed Karen Corr in a tough 9-7 match. Allison Fisher was also knocked out of the tournament by Anna Kostanian in the same round as Karen. Anna played well while Allison struggled with her break and missed key shots. This is the first time in recent memory that neither Karen nor Allison had made into the TV Taping rounds.
Ga Young Kim was the only undefeated player to continue on to the TV rounds, with wins over Candi Rego, Kim Shaw, Iris Ranola, Xiaoting Pan, Kelly Fisher and Jasmin Ouschan. Jasmin had run into Xiaoting in the 3rd round, but couldn’t muster the concentration to defeat the now #3 ranked WPBA Player. She continued on in the one loss side, with solid wins over Debbie Schjodt and Iris Ranola. Jasmin next played Helena Thornfeldt to get in to the redraw round. Helena put up a great fight but in the end Jasmin proved too much and won 9-7.
