The Spring Battle of Beauty Commences in Taipei

The 2017 Amway eSpring International Women 9-Ball Championship set to kick off in Taiwan with 40 of the world’s top players. This year, the Amway Cup will be celebrating its 20th year Anniversary as the Amway Company has been the ongoing sponsor for the event for two decades ever since 1998. It not only has the highest standard but also is the longest-running international tournament in Taiwan. This event has been referred as ”The Spring Battle of Beauty”.

Last year, this event was moved to June to avoid date clashing the Yushan Chinese Pool World Championships and the venue was moved to the Banqiao Gymnasium. The Banqiao Gymnasium has been in existence over 30 years, since its opening in 1987. Due to the rainy season in Taiwan during May to June, the undesirable noise from heavy rain hitting the gymnasium was definitely a nightmare to the players, spectators and everyone who involved in the event last year. However, this year the Amway Cup not only returns in March but also comes back to the Taipei Gymnasiums, which located in the center of Taipei City.

The 40 of world elite female players from 16 countries will compete from March 2nd until 5th in next week for $93,400 USD in prize money with $34,000 going to the eventual champion. The event has begun today with the qualification gets underway from February 26th-28th, when the qualifiers compete for the last 8 spots in Main Stage. The 40 players for the main draw will be divided into 8 groups of 5 players. They will play in a manner of round-robin, race to 7 and winner break. The top 3 players of each group will promote to the Last 24, after which the tournament will become single elimination, race to 7 and alternate break. The semi-finals will be race to 9, while the final will be race to 11 and it is going to be played on Sunday March 5th.

As for the Taiwanese players, Yu-Wen HSIEH (Cyclop, Predator) has earned her ticket for main stage via the qualifiers that were held two weeks ago in Taiwan. She will join  the current Junior World Champion (Girl division) Chia-Hua CHEN, Shin-Mei LIU (Predator) , Ho-Yun CHEN, Tzu-Chien WEI, Yuan-Chun LIN, as well as Chieh-Yu CHOU who are automatically qualified in the main stage.

Across from the other side of the shore for the international players, CHEN Siming, PAN Xiaoting, HAN Yu and LIU ShaSha will be representing China this year. Akimi Kajitani and Chihiro Kawahara (Mezz) represent Japan in the main stage. Kawahara was runner-up in the women world championship in last December and the other Japanese player Akimi Kajitani holds a respectful record for being the only player who attended every single Amway Cup for the last 20 years.

For the Europe, there are 11 players coming through a long journey to Taiwan to participate the competition, including three fans’ favorite Kelly Fisher (Cyclop), Jasmin Ouschan (Predator) and Allison Fisher. Following the three veterans are Kristina Tkach (Predator), Natalia Seroshtan, Katarzyna Wesolowska (Mezz), as well as Kristina Grim (Kiki) who will again embrace a warm welcome and love from Taiwan fans just like last year. And most of them have just participated at the Eurotour in Treviso, Italy.

Nevertheless, there are also four new faces. the Swiss Claudia von Rohr has played the China Open in 2015, and Oliwia Czuprynska from Poland, who has been competing in international events for years but this would be her first time competing in the Amway Cup. Two young German Veronika Ivanovskaia and Pia Plaeser (Predator) will also join the event. Ivanovskaia, who played her first world ranking event last year at the China Open in Shanghai, earned herself a place in the Women World Championship as well. For the 18 years old Pia Plaeser, the Amway Cup is not only her first time to Taiwan, but also her first world ranking event. They will try their best to battle their way out and meanwhile earn valuable experience for the future.

去年安麗益之源盃世界女子花式撞球錦標賽為錯開在玉山的中式台球世錦賽而移往六月進行，今年則再度回歸到三月，並將於3月2-5日在台北體育館舉行。此賽事自1998年起由安麗公司持續贊助至今，今年也適逢20周年。由於每年大多在春季舉行，更被譽為”春天最美麗的戰爭”!

會外賽已於昨日在蘆洲集賢球館展開，45位參賽選手將經過為期三天廝殺爭奪最後8張會內賽門票。而屆時會內賽將有16個國家的40位菁英女子選手齊聚台北體育館爭取世界排名積分並爭奪本屆安麗益之源盃冠軍，贏得冠軍選手將獨得34,000美元的將金。比賽將分為8小組，每組五名選手進行小組循環賽，小組賽將採搶7、勝方開球。每一組別的前三名選手將晉級到最後24強單敗淘汰賽，直至四強賽均為搶7。半決賽為搶9，而決賽則為搶11局，進入到單敗淘汰皆段，衝球將改為輪流衝球制。

台灣選手方面，謝喻雯 (Cyclop, Predator) 從2周前所舉辦的選拔賽中脫穎而出取得會內賽門票。她將與奪下去年青少年世錦賽(女子組)冠軍的陳佳樺、柳信美 (Predator)、陳禾耘、魏子茜、林沅君以及周婕妤從會內賽出發。

中國國家隊四朵金花，陳思明、潘曉婷、韓雨和劉莎莎都將悉數參賽。梶谷景美與河原千尋 (Mezz)將為日本代表直接從會內賽出發。河原千尋在去年的女子世錦賽中取得亞軍的席次，而其中，值得一提的是梶谷景美是安麗盃 20年來唯一從未缺席的選手，這不但是項令人尊敬的紀錄，更加體現了她那熱愛撞球的赤子之心!

而在歐洲選手方面，受到許多台灣球迷所喜愛的Kelly Fisher (Cyclop), Jasmin Ouschan (Predator) 以及 Allison Fisher也都將不會缺席此盛會。而除了她們三人之外，Kristina Tkach (Predator)、Natalia Seroshtan、Katarzyna Wesolowska (Mezz) 以及去年首度來台也受台球迷相當喜愛的德國選手Kristina都將再度來台。

另外今年也將迎來四位首度來台的選手。來自瑞士的Claudia von Rohr曾於2015年參加過在上海的”浦东·唐城”盃世界9球中國公开赛，波蘭選手Oliwia Czuprynska則在近2、3年多次參與國際賽事，以及兩位德國年輕選手Veronika Ivanovskaia與Pia Blaeser，他們都將來台感受安麗盃的魅力及台灣球迷們的熱情，而她們不但將在此高強度、高競技水平的比賽中試圖脫穎而出，更加從中學習並累積經驗。

Alison