Thanks Ed. I find it interesting how many women remaining are NOT members of the WPBA tour. Of course, some of the best WPBA pros are still alive. I tend to agree with Sarah, the home court advantage is huge in this event. I believe you must get there a minimum of three days prior to the event to adjust to the time change.
There definitely should be practice tables available for players to loosen up before their match. That should be a given in a major pro tournament.
No problem Jay. I have a couple of thoughts with regards to what you said.
1. With reference to the WPBA tour comment, this is a WPA sanctioned event and I think they use their own ranking system. I think a problem is that not many American women are concerned when it comes to raising or maintaining their WPA ranking. If I remember correctly from viewing the WPA website the only WPBA tour event that is counted in the WPA rankings is the year end championship event. Kelly Fisher was a #2 seed in her pool! So the point I'm trying to get to is that some WPBA players had tough seeding issues when it came to this tournament. The seeding in the pools and the order of matches may have played a part in some WPBA players doing poorly and not making out of pool play. This brings me to my next point regarding prep time for a tourney.
2. Take Sarah for example. She was seeded fourth in her pool. Her order of play was that her matches in order were the #3 seed, #2 seed, #1 seed, #5 seed, and then the #6 seed. It seems that she said she was not ready to play at the highest level because she did not have enough time to adjust and prepare, and that may have bit her on the first day. Seeding and prep time both play a role. If she was seeded higher, she may have had a chance to loosen up against a lower seed before playing the higher seeds. This just reinforces the seeding issue mentioned above. Also if she had not had travel issues and had the extra day to adjust, she might have played better in the early matches against the higher seeds in her pool. So most of what was just said backs up your thought on prep time!
Unfortunately for Sarah things did not work out for her this time and maybe more prep time to adjust and higher seeding would help her out.
Jeanette did not make it out of her pool, but her pool was tough, and she was the #1 seed.
So anyways, just some thoughts on what you said.
ED
P.S. I might be going to the Philippines from mid-May to mid-June so might see you there!