In another year which sees no 9-ball world championship for the men, the women continue their successful world championships in China, with a new 16year old superstar taking gold, and Ireland winning silver!

Teenager Liu Shasha of China defeated Ireland’s Karen Corr 9-5 to claim the title and set her career in motion in grand style. When the last day of the Kappa 2009 Women’s World 9-Ball Championship in Shengyang, China began there were four undefeated players all seeking the same prize. The two semi-final matches could not have been closer. First, Karen Corr defeated Fu Xiofang of China 9-8 to earn her berth in the final set. Then Liu Shasha edged her fellow Chinese citizen Pan Xiaotang by the same 9-8 margin to get her ticket punched for the honor of playing Corr in the finals.

Before the final match a playoff was held between Pan Xiaotang and Xiaofang to determine our third place finisher. Pan controlled this match throughout and took that spot with a very convincing 9-1 victory. Then a crowd of over 1,000 very excited fans took their seats to watch the final battle.

It appeared that Corr would walk away with the title. She was the master of the table early on and rarely gave Shasha a glimpse of daylight. At one point she led our race to nine games by the score of 5-1. Shasha was obviously nervous and off her game. But then, assuming that she had to be aggressive to have a chance at victory, she put her nerves down and began her march. She won the next game to make the score 5-2, then broke and ran five racks in a row to lead 7-5. The penultimate rack had a bit of back and forth but Shasha won that as well and then on the final break she made four balls on the snap and easily made the clearance to take her 6th break and run of the match and earn the gold!