Renegade said:
wow! great pics, richard. how come japan and taipei have so many awesome female pool players (and they all look great, btw!)? are pool halls there more gender-equal or female-friendly? how come the philippines only has two players in this tournament?
In my opinion, I think Taiwan has the highest standard on average when it comes to female 9 ball players. I am not sure the exact reasons, but in the last ten years pool has really taken off thanks to the efforts of Mr. Tu.
I think credits should also be given to Taiwanese players who did very well internationally, such as Jennifer Chen, and Fung Pang Chao. They were treated as local celebrity, and were even received by the President. This has really motivated the local youngsters to participate in the sport. Taiwan also has most likely the highest population of pool hall per square feet in the world. There are live pool on TV all the time. House pros are usually very generous in sharing their knowledge. It is much easier for a female player to learn how to play the game properly over there.
A lot of the top players in Taiwan are very young, yet they are seasoned enough to compete with any of the top professional players in the World. A lot of them have only been playing for around 10 years or so. I think a lot of it has to do with the avaliabilty of good couching and good instruction material.
In Japan, I feel that pool is regarded as a sport rather than a game. In that regard, it is very respectable to play pool and even make a living out of it. Pool does not really has the "hustler" image in Japan at all as far as I know. Besides, I suspect the fact that it is an American sport might have served to motivate some players to try pursue this "American Dream" of becoming a pool player. It might be, to some, an romantic and trendy thing to pursue.
I feel that there are a lot more respect to the sport of billiards in Japan than there is in the US. I also feel that a lot of players play the game more for passion and love. The atomsphere is a bit different. For example, I have seen tournaments with only prize and no cash payout with overwhelming participation. They just joined the tournament for the competition.
I have watched Rublien Amit play and I think she is a great player. May be all she needs is a bit more international tournament experience.