Korea’s Ga Young Kim finally realized a dream that took four years to nurture when she claimed the Yalin Women’s World 10-Ball Championship by beating topranked Siming Chen of China, 9-5 in Friday night’s final at the packed Robinson’s Galleria in Ortigas.
The finals started with Kim jumping to a fast, 3-0 lead and in just 15 minutes, she was already up, 4-1.
Chen seemed surprised by Kim’s lightning-fast start and although the Chinese star pocketed some nice shots, she wasn’t able to control her cueball well. Kim on the other hand, seemed in complete control, canning every challenging shot and executing intricate safeties and positional plays.
Trailing 8-3, Chen got another chance off a Kim safety. Chen made a nice carom shot off the 3-Ball sending the cueball down table off the short cushion and neatly hit the 10-Ball perfectly where she called and pocketed it to improve to 9-4. With the crowd wildly egging her on, Chen broke and ran the next rack fueling hopes of a massive comeback.
But it was not to be.
Chen committed a costly positional error in the next rack and was forced to kick the 6-Ball. The effort was half hearted as the disappointment was apparent on her face from the earlier mistake.
Kim faced the final four balls that stood in her way, and pocketed the first three. As the cueball landed perfectly for the final 10-Ball shot, Kim showed her first emotion in the whole event by looking up to the sky, as if to say, this is what I’ve been fighting for the whole week. She pocketed the final shot and clenched her fist in victory!
“I really did not practice any more than usual for the event, but I was doing a Dancing with the Stars TV show in Korea leading up to the World Championship, and so I was really in a happy mood. So I think my happiness and positiveness carried over here this week,” explained Kim.
Chen made the finals by beating compatriot Xiao Fang Fu, 9-6, in an all Chinese semifinal duel while Kim, who has come close to winning the World 10-Ball, with a silver in 2010 and bronze in 2011, routed compatriot Yu Ram Cha, 9-5, in an all Korean semis battle.