Sarah's blog, minus the pictures
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Is this an F-ing joke??
That is the question I am posing of the Women's World 10-ball Championship. This is not meant to slander the sponsors because I have to be sure that the sponsors knew nothing of this tournament being absolute crap. I am upset, angry, pissed, whatever word you would like to insert in would be Dragon Promotions and the WPA. I do realize that this could ban me from Dragon Promotions events but honestly, that might be a good thing if this is how things are. Where to begin...
First, I will say the Philippines have actually been great. I really like it here even though it is really hot and humid. The people are friendly. They speak english and the food is actually quite good. I will post in a little while about the great pool room action and all of that. Right now, this is a rant!
The event started off with TV commercials and newspaper articles. On this commercial it is promoting the beauty and class of the women that will be playing at the tournament. Those featured in the commercial: Jeanette Lee, Ga Young Kim, Xiao-ting Pan, Anna Kostanian, and Ewa Laurance. Now some of you may see the problem with this...if you don't, I will tell you. Only two of those names are playing in the tournament! Way to promote the top players that are playing in the tournament! Now on to the newspaper articles. I first must say that the Philippine press is absolutely awesome when it comes to coverage. Every day there is something pool related on the sports page (no, that isn't a typo, there is only one page of sports!). On to this, this is not meant in any disrespect to the players I mention, it is about the press releases that they are given or who/what they are told to follow. The first day was written about Angel Paglia and how she is coming as a qualifier from the states. They mention in one sentence about the other qualifiers, including all of the Filipino girls that qualified. Now, Angel, if you are reading this, I know you got sick and couldn't make it and whatnot, but Dragon Promotions should have known this and not used that as a selling point. Everyday in the paper there are articles covering pool as I said. Today when I got up the paper outside our hotel room door had a big picture of Jeanette and Shanelle. In the article there is a one sentence mention of other players that are doing well or are potential winners.
On Monday morning there was an optional press conference. I forgot to mention that I am rooming with Kelly Fisher for this event. So Kelly being the number one ranked player for the WPBA it was obvious that she should go to the press conference. Being a friend, I went too. As I talked about Taiwan last month and the importance of beauty and determination, I was hoping that was behind us...boy was I wrong! At the press conference we were told how we should pose and whatnot when we had to one by one walk out on stage. Some of us laughed and without naming names, some of us practiced our poses. At this press conference you have the likes of Allison Fisher, Kelly Fisher, Jeanette Lee, Iris Ranola, Rubilen Amit, Shanelle Lorraine, myself, a girl from Russia, a girl from South Africa, and a handful of others. Most questions and attention were directed to Jeanette...for obvious reasons. The rest were directed to Shanelle and one to Allison. Notice I didn't mention Kelly being asked any questions...she is the NUMBER ONE player in the world! Next we all had to say a couple words and then lunch. I'm not sure if lunch is the culprit but ever since about four of us have really been suffering when it comes to stomach pains....I'm not going to go into the details on that one!
Since we came to the venue for our press conference we got to see what it is like. Now here is where the really big joke comes in. There are only 5 tables, four in the big dome and one inside the huge mall that is the TV table. There is one practice table for all of us. So this might sound a bit off considering there are eight groups and only 5 tables. Here is a pic of the venue. I will explain (though I won't need to) after you see the picture.
Now you notice that it is a big globe...what you also may notice is that half of this pretty much five story globe is windows! When we play the day matches, the lights over the tables are not even turned on...beautiful! I didn't know that I had to invest in sunglasses before coming.
On to the players meeting. In the meeting we were told a variety of different things and who the tournament directors would be and all of that. Now this was open to the public so there were plenty of people and cameras watching...that is pretty wrong. The tables were ready and we could practice if we wanted. When looking at the tables they look like Brunswicks but they are AMF. The rails are wavy. If you don't know what I mean, the rubber has waves in it so a shot down the rail can really suck. The pockets have hard shims in them so a shot hit hard down the rail or straight and catches the shim...you are screwed. When we asked about a possibility of something being changed...we were laughed at.
Here is the biggest gripe of all is the draw. Now there are supposedly certain rules to follow when doing the draw. Sixteen players are seeded. The way the seeding works is based on past world champions, WPA ranking, and overall ranking within your federation or association. The next rule is that a WPA official must be present for the draw. Supposedly the draw was done in Korea with a Korean official present. Strange that Dragon Promotions is run by two Korean/Americans and that most of the Dragon Promotions events are held in Korea. Anyway, now people are supposed to be separated by country. Now in two of the groups there are three Japanese players and in another two Japanese players...obviously, they are getting screwed. In my group there are six top players. Four of the players in my group would obviously be seeded and have been seeded in other WPA events. In a couple other groups, there is one top player and then five of the people that were special promoter invites. Now in saying that there should be some research done before seeding and all of that this is what was said to me by Charlie Williams.."Are you in the top 32 of the WPBA and are you ranked higher than the other USA players?" Wow, thanks buddy, those are great questions to ask now that the draw has been done and all of that. I'm not saying that I could have been seeded or not but I do know that one of the players in my group should have been, Akimi Kajitani. I am not sure of the last time she hasn't been seeded in a tournament.
As for the qualifiers that were held here in the Philippines. There were more spots to give than players that were there to fill them. Everyone got in. I have only attended one other world championship and it was as one of the junior players but the Women played along side. Those qualifiers were full of girls just wanting more than anything in the world to qualify for the main event.
Now the tournament starts and all of a sudden matches are changed, tables are changed, there are forfeits....great, glad this is a world championship! One of the forfeits was by a Filipino girl that showed up for her first match and lost and then said that she was embarrassed by how she played so she doesn't want to participate anymore.
Oh, did I mention, the tournament is a race to 5! How in the world can a world championship be a race to 5??? I can't even tell you how many times I have been down 5-0 or whatever in a match and come back to win...what a joke!
Another gripe, no offense to my friend that reads this and that I am speaking of, but the referee situation. Apparently yesterday they didn't have enough referees so an American/Filipino guy that is here was asked to put on a JBETPoker.net shirt and be a referee for a few rounds. Great, what happened to ref training?? Now it isn't his fault and I am glad it was him that was picked rather than any random person because at least he knows the rules and plays pool. He was not only thrown into the ref situation but he was put on the TV table first!
The TV rounds that have been scheduled have been changed if someone that is deemed 'prettier' has a match in the same round. No offense to Shanelle because I don't know here and I know that it isn't her fault that she is put in these situations, but her matches are all scheduled for the TV table. Another girl, who I have spoken to, Zarah from Chicago has her matches scheduled on TV as well. She is a new player and I feel bad for her because she must feel like she has to perform as a puppet more than a player.
Today in my match with Julie Kelly we were put on the shot clock ten minutes too early. When we were put on the clock our ref was not supplied with a timer. He was using his watch. This means he was looking at a small second hand on his wrist rather than watching the match. Julie and I spoke about it and Julie went to complain. She was told that is how things are and they don't have any timers to provide to the refs today. Funny since yesterday they all had timers. I guess they were left at the hotel and are not important.
I know that all of these gripes should be put aside and just play pool. I have to admit I feel a bit stupid for being so bothered but it is hard not to be. I know that the best players will win, but it doesn't help that so many players that deserve to be here are not here or were not even invited. I didn't know that we signed up for a beauty pageant rather than a World Championship pool tournament. I hate the feeling that most of us "pool players" have to feel about ourselves and the situation. We are really being made a joke of. I guess I will have to go home, go on a diet, get a boob job, grow my hair out, learn to walk in very high heels and pose as I play so I can be guaranteed success! Just kidding.
Those that remain undefeated that I can remember off the top of my head are Kelly Fisher, Allison Fisher, Jeanette Lee, Karen Corr and Tan from Taiwan. There are about 8 people that are threats to win and another 5 or so that could surprise everyone and win. Everyone else is just kind of filling the field. Right now with the way I have played...I feel like one of the fillers!
Really, I have won my first match and lost my next two. I have two matches left and a slim chance of making it out of my group. Though I really want to make it out all I can do is try my best and try to forget everything going on.
As I said, this is not meant in any disrespect to the players that are puppets, the table, cloth, or whatever sponsors, this is totally against the lack of rules in forced to call something a world championship and for the stupidity of the promoter for thinking that this is okay.
Again, I apologize for the lack of communication lately. I will give all of the updates because I have so many stories from the incredible pool room and just life in general. I will cool down a bit before I do those!! I hope everyone has been doing well and thank you all again for continuing to check in on me!
edit: I have come back now after posting this and would like to say that the players aren't totally not at fault...we should have complained sooner about the race and it possibly could have been changed. Also, the roof is now leaking at the venue...on the tables.
