Khodjaeva wins Silver Medal

Nov 19, 2014

Kamila Khodjaeva lost the final match of the WPA World 9-Ball Championships for Youth in Shanghai, China with 3:9 to Liu Yuchen (CHN) and won the Silver Medal in the girls division.
The final score already indicates that Khodjaeva did not really get too many chances in the match. She tried to keep the match open as good as she could but Liu was simply too strong for her. Every mistake that Khodjaeva committed was punished without mercy by the Chinese. After six racks, the score was tied at 3:3 and Khodjaeva went for a time-out. She attempted to get her nerves together. When she came back, she missed an easy 6-ball and Liu ran the rack and the next one to get a two-point lead to 5:3. During that period of the match Khodjaeva suddenly lost all her self-confidence. Whatever she tried, the balls simply did not roll her way. Liu had a good roll and made use of it. She played good safety shots and did not leave any chance for Khodjaeva anymore. 9:3 was the final result for Liu which brought her the match and the Championship.
In the Under 17’s, Kong De Jing (CHN) won by a whisker with 8:7 over Jeffrey Roda (PHI). In the Under 19’s division, Aloysius Yapp (SIN) took on Hsu Jui An (TPE). Hsu was painfully remembered by the European team since he had ousted several team members from the event. He started as usual and took a quick 4:0 lead over Yapp. But the player from Singapore found his rhythm during the match and puled back rack after rack, bringing the score to 10:10. The match had a thrilling end which saw Yapp as a winner with 11:10.
In summary, the Asians have again dominated this year’s World Championships Youth. Team Europe was prepared well but Lady Luck was not on their side. Maybe things will turn out better next year when the event will once again be held in China.