Two Mezz‘s players Hayato Hijikata and Miyuki Kuribayashi won the 29th Japan Open in Tokyo Japan.
In Men division, Toru Kuribayashi defeated Jeffrey Ignacio (PHI) 9:4, Katsuji Teruya 9:3, and Lo Li-Wen 9:6 to promote into the Final. His opponent Hayato Hijikata had outstanding performance in this tournament, with victories over Hiroshi Takenaka 9:3, Antonio Lining (PHI) 9:6, Naoyuki Oi 9:2, and completely smashed Toru Kuribayashi with 9:1 in the Final and pocketed a prize money of ¥1,200,000 JPN. In the meantime, this year was the first in the last 20 years that final 4 are all JPBA Pros since 1996.
L→R: N. Oi 大井直幸, H. Hijikata 土方隼斗, T. Kuribayashi 栗林達 & Lo 羅立文
第29屆日本公開賽於東京的New Pia Hall會場順利落下帷幕，最終地主選手土方隼斗與栗林美幸分獲男女子組冠軍，將冠軍留在日本。
在男子組方面，衛冕冠軍菲律賓好手Carlo Biado預賽出線後，在進入128人小組單敗階段 8:9 敗給日本選手佐藤正行，抱憾出局。
決賽則由栗林達對上土方隼斗，兩人從422名參賽選手中脫穎而出。栗林在16強以 9:4 打敗在日本公開賽前甫拿下關東公開賽的菲律賓選手Jeffrey Ignacio。接著以 9:3、9:6 分別戰勝照屋勝司與台灣旅日選手羅立文，闖進決賽。而他的對手土方隼斗在本屆比賽中有著非常出色的表現，從16強開始先後以 9:3、9:6、9:2 接連淘汰了竹中寬、菲律賓選手Antonio Lining與大井直幸。從16強開始包含決賽在內的四場，其中三場以大比分差距獲勝。最後在決賽中更以 9:1 橫掃栗林達拿下冠軍，獨得120萬日圓獎金。值得一提的是，今年也是自1996年以來，第一次進入到四強的選手由皆由JPBA職業選手所包辦。
Top Eight Finishers 八強
- Hayato Hijikata 土方 隼斗 (Mezz)
- Toru Kuribayashi 栗林 達 (Mezz)
- Lo Li-Wen 羅 立文
Naoyuki Oi 大井 直幸 (Exceed) - Wu Jiaqing 吳珈慶
Katsuji Teruya 照屋 勝司 (Mezz)
Antonio Lining – PHI
Ching-Shun Yang 楊清順
In Women’s division, Taiwan’s three young players Chia-Hua Chen, Zhi-Ting Wu and Szu-Ting Kuo reached the quarterfinals.
22 years old Chia-Hua Chen, who eliminated Chie Fujita 8:4 and destroyed defending Champion Chihiro Kawahara with 8:2 in the quarter-finals, won her semi-final with 8:5 over Maki Kimura. She earned a seat in the Final match. Her opponent Miyuki Kuribayashi with a clear 8:1 victory over Fumie Shimazaki entered into the last 8, before beating successively Szu-Ting Kuo 8:4 and Keiko Yukawa 8:5 in the other semi-final.
Final match was quite even from the start. Both players have played a good tournament by far. After 12 racks, the match tied at 6:6. In rack 13, Kuribayashi missed shot on 8-ball. Nevertheless Chen couldn’t take the opportunity to take the lead. After the break in rack 14, Kuribayashi chose to play safety. Chen tried to pot the 1-ball but missed it. That gave Kuribayashi the chance to come back and closed the match with 8:6 and grabbed a reward of ¥1,200,000 JPN. Miyuki Kuribayashi won the Japan Open in 2007 and 2008 consecutively. This is her third times to win the title.
L→R: K. Yukawa 夕川景子, M. Kuribayashi 栗林美幸, Chen 陳佳樺 & M. Kimura 木村真紀
女子組方面，台灣此次共有吳芷婷、李心語、王婉菱、郭思廷、范育瑄、蔡佩君及陳佳樺在內的 7位年輕選手參賽。其中陳佳樺、吳芷婷與郭思廷打進到8強之列，王婉菱則在16進8中，7:8不敵木村真紀而止步於16強。被三屆安麗盃冠軍”大眼妹”周婕妤視為潛力新秀的小將陳佳樺 16強中 8:4 擊敗藤田知枝，8強賽再以 8:2 橫掃力圖衛冕的日本好手河原千尋，緊接著在四強 8:5 戰勝木村真紀挺進決賽。
而她的對手栗林美幸則先以 8:1 橫掃島崎史惠，接著用 8:4、8:5比數連續擊敗郭思廷與和夕川景子。決賽中雙方比數一直相當接近，12局結束，雙方比數來到 6:6。在第13局中，栗林 8號球位進袋，但陳佳樺未能把握機會反超前取得領先。第14局，栗林開球後選擇防守，留下1號球進攻機會，可惜沒打進，最終就讓栗林在接手後，順利清光台面 8:6 取得優勝，抱回120萬日圓獎金。栗林美幸曾在2007及2008連續兩年贏得此賽事，當時的她還尚未與日本名將栗林達結婚，使用的還是其本姓”福家”，而這也是繼2008年後，第三次收穫冠軍。
Top Eight Finishers 八強
- Miyuki Kuribayashi 栗林美幸 (Mezz/Exceed)
- Chia-Hua Chen 陳佳樺
- Maki Kimura 木村真紀
Keiko Yukawa 夕川景子 - Chihiro Kawahara 河原千尋 (Mezz)
Zhi-Ting Wu 吳芷婷 (Mezz)
Akimi Kajitani 梶谷景美
Szu-Ting Kuo 郭思廷
By Alison
Photos Courtesy T. Kobayashi/Billiards Days