Lin completed an undefeated run, eliminating Jeanette Lee 7-5 in the quarter-finals and Allison Fisher 9-8 in the semis. Fisher, from England, is a world champion at the top of her game, while Lee, nicknamed "Black Widow" due to her penchant for somber clothing, is a noted American player of South Korean descent.
"My excitement at winning my first world championship title in front of all my countrymen on home ground is beyond words," Lin said April 7, "especially since I beat all those outstanding international stars." The victory was not, however, Lin's global debut. In 2006, she took home the gold in the women's eight-ball pool singles at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar.
The right-handed Lin, 24, is noted for her cutting precision. Asked what was going through her head just before Fisher missed the last nine-ball to finish the semi-final match, paving the way for Lin's eventual comeback victory, she admitted she was praying for one last glimmer of hope. "Miraculously, a chance appeared, and this time I grasped it firmly," she recalled.
Despite outplaying her idol, Lin was still brimming with admiration for the world champion. "I can learn a lot from Fisher. She always remains calm no matter how tough the situation is," Lin explained, adding that mastering one's emotions during play is a key quality of being a top sportsperson. "This is something I need to work on in order to compete with other cue masters from every corner of the world," she said sagely.
But Lin is just one of many notable Taiwanese cue-sport athletes gaining global recognition. "People started noticing Taiwanese players after Chao Fong-pang," Tu Yung-hui, president of the Chinese Taipei Billiards Association, said April 14. During the 90s, Chao, now 41, brought home countless international trophies, winning the WPA World Nine-ball Championship title in 1993 and 2000, and the International Challenge of Champions title in 1995, 2001 and 2005. The former world No. 1 is renowned for his frequent, almost-theatrical jump shots. He also stands out from the competition with his open bridge hand play, a marked difference from the closed or loop bridge adopted by many players nowadays.
"The establishment of the association contributed a great deal to making pool popular and nurturing potential talent," Tu, its founder, said. Since 1990, the CTBA has drawn up domestic rules for professional competition, regularly hosted national and international games, and helped to develop the domestic pool industry.
"Another factor is the rising number of pool halls across the nation," Tu remarked. In the 1980s, pool was sneered at by many people as an "unhealthy" sport. However, its profile rose as Chao swept world titles and appeared in CTBA-arranged professional games with other well-known players such as Yang Ching-shun and Lee Kun-fang.
Today, it is a recreation enjoyed by many Taiwanese, regardless of age. For example, the 18-year-old Wu Chia-ching was in 2005 the first and youngest player ever to pocket the WPA World Nine-ball and Eight-ball championships at the same time.
"Compared with other mainstream sports like baseball and basketball, physical limitations are relatively insignificant in pool," Tu explained. "Take our players for example--in terms of skills, they are world-class," he added. What they need now is to build consistency during competition, he said.
Liu Shin-mei, the current title holder of the women's nine-ball championship at the 15th Asian Games, agreed, saying that standards of play have greatly improved in Taiwan in recent years. "Professional cue sports are getting more and more popular," she stated April 23. This has increased the number of young and potential players coming to the table, considerably raising national competitive standards, she noted. Prodded for the secret to her success, Liu replied, "Usually psychology plays a more important role than technique when the players are at the nearly same standard."
In particular, Liu excels in table management--her skills in offense and defense alike are second to none. "You need both to win a game," she remarked. "In addition to sinking balls accurately, an all-round player must know how to make a well-placed safety shot and how to deal with the opponent's safety shots properly." A two-time winner of the WPA Women's World Nine-ball Championship, she confessed that she hopes to score a hat trick this year, bringing the title home for a third time.
"Our male and female players have dominated most of the international competitions in recent years," Tu added. In the Guinness 9 Ball Tour season last year, for example, Taiwanese players triumphed in all of the championships held in six different Asian cities: Kaohsiung, Jakarta, Bali, Genting Highlands Resort, Shanghai and Singapore. Sanctioned by the Asian Pocket Billiard Union--an international organization co-founded by Taiwan--the tour boasts some of the world's best male pool players, with top 10 finishers gaining automatic qualification to the WPA World Nine-ball Championship. Taiwan's Chang Jung-lin has so far already claimed his second consecutive titles of the tour in Taipei and Penang this year.
Although Taiwanese players have showed the world what they are capable of, the sport still needs further government support, Tu pointed out. "One thing that needs to be done to make pool even more popular is listing it as a sport for young players at various levels, such as the National Athletic Games, National Intercollegiate Athletic Games and National High School Athletic Games," Tu suggested. Only then can Taiwan unearth more potential young stars to follow in the footsteps of Chao, Liu, Chang, Lin and many other outstanding local players.
Write to Allen Hsu at allenhsu@mail.gio.gov.tw