Queens for a Day

Team Asia was victorious, but the real winner may have been the event itself.

By Mike Panozzo
Photos By Biboy Soriano

If all goes well, pool promoter Charlie Williams’ ambitious Queens Cup tournament will follow in the footsteps of Matchroom Sport’s Mosconi Cup. The Mosconi Cup, a Ryder Cup-style team competition between the top players in the United States and the top players in Europe, has been largely hailed as the most exciting and emotion-packed event on the pool calendar for more than 20 years.

In just its second year, Williams’ Queens Cup has a ways to go to match the credibility and impact of the Mosconi, but the Dragon Promotions (Williams’ company) event is off to a promising start.

There are, of course, similarities and differences between the rivalry-driven events. Unlike the transatlantic Mosconi Cup, the Queens Cup is a battle between Team Asia and Team West, which includes players from both the U.S. and Europe. The logic in Williams’ version is sound and relatively obvious. Matchroom events aside, Asia is the only area of the world currently funding pro events, and the media and sponsors in Asia seem to jump at the chance to showcase their women players.
The similarity (and with it the inherent problem) is that, like the Mosconi Cup, the Queens Cup has been one-sided affair and looks to stay that way for the foreseeable future. (Nothing can ruin a rivalry like a lack of competitive balance!)

(L-r) Amit, Jennifer Chen, Park and Siming Chen reveled in Team Asia's 2015 Queens Cup victory.

Thankfully for Dragon Promotions, the 2015 AMB.com Queens Cup was infinitely more competitive than the inaugural event, in which the Asian quartet of Rubilen Amit (Philippines), Siming Chen (China), Pei Chen Tsai (Taiwan) and Ga Young Kim (Korea) dominated Team West (England’s Allison Fisher and Kelly Fisher, Austrian Jasmin Ouschan and Vivian Villarreal of the U.S.) from the start and coasted to a 10-4 victory.

The storyline was different in 2015. Staged in a glitzy arena at Resorts World Manila in the Philippines, this year’s Queens Cup saw the teams battle to a 7-7 tie, before Team Asia slugged its way through three consecutive match wins for a 10-7 victory.

On paper, Team West was an even bigger underdog in 2015, with American Jennifer Barretta, Ireland’s Karen Corr and Sweden’s Ewa Laurance joining Villarreal, but the team displayed both confidence and heart in challenging a squad that featured two of the top-ranked players in the world (Siming Chen and Amit), along with former Women’s Professional Billiard Association star Jennifer Chen and 27-year-old Korean Eunji Park.

“The chemistry on Team West was much improved,” noted Williams. “They kept inching closer each day, and when they came back to tie Asia on the final day, the atmosphere was electric. Both teams felt enormous pressure, and there was genuine camaraderie and passion to win.”

As is the case with most professional events in Asia, the media turned out in droves for the pre-event press conference, where cameras flashed and the players’ comments were recorded. According to Williams, some 100 journalists attended and/or reported on the three-day tournament. More than half-dozen cameras also captured the action, which was produced by Filipino operated ABS-CBN Sports and aired live in the Philippines and in parts of Canada and the Middle East. (The event was also streamed live in a pay-per-view option and will be edited into hour-long shows for distribution to Korea, China, Malaysia and India.)

With a crowd of 300 filling the arena for each session, the contest opened with Asia storming to a 4-1 win in a full-team four-on-four match (the Queens Cup was contested in 10-ball). Corr and Barretta then turned the tables on the Chens in a doubles match, 4-1, to even the score.

Amit, the tiny national treasure and captain of the West squad, then took over the opening day, teaming with Park to sneak past Laurance and Villarreal, 4-3, and edging Corr by the same score in singles to give her team a 3-1 lead. Team West was at the table in the case game in both matches, but failed to clear.
Villarreal prevented Asia from taking a commanding lead into the second day by racing to a 4-1 win over Park in typical “Texas Tornado” fashion, sprinting around the table and pocketing balls with staccato rhythm.

“We could easily be in the lead right now,” commented Barretta, pointing to the back-to-back last rack losses. “We are right there, keeping up with Asia.”
Apparently, Team Asia’s view of the opening day was similar, and the feared foursome rolled into Day Two with steely concentration and focus. They raced to a 6-2 lead with a win in trios and back-to-back singles wins. The still-unbeaten Amit teamed with Siming Chen and Park in a 4-2 decision over the West trio of Corr, Barretta and Laurance. World No. 1 Siming Chen then capitalized on several Barretta errors to coast to a 4-2 win, and Jennifer Chen rolled to a 4-1 victory over former WPBA Classic Tour mate Laurance.

In addition to having to play a stacked Asian squad, Team West struggled at times with what could be called the game’s most unforgiving shot clock. In an effort to create drama, speed play and challenge the players, the Queens Cup employed a hard 30-second clock, which started as soon as the cue ball stopped from the previous shot.

Team West's (l-r) Barretta, Laurance, Corr and Villarreal kept favored Team Asia in its sights, before running out of steam on the final day.

“The shot clock got us,” said Team West captain Laurance. “We were not ready for that. We got better later, but felt rushed. We are used to a shot clock that starts when you approach the table. There is no extra time to get a jump cue or extension. And at home we play that once you are down prior to the 10-second warning, you can take your time with practice strokes. That wasn’t the case here.”

“The shot clock is fast, and not really suitable to my style,” echoed Barretta.

With Villarreal catching her stride and Corr providing her typical consistency and solid play, Team West prevented Team Asia from running away and hiding by winning two of the day’s final three matches. Villarreal and Corr teamed with Laurence to win a critical trios match, 4-2, against Amit and the two Chens. It was one of only two matches that Amit would lose in the event. In fact, Amit rebounded with Siming Chen to dispatch Corr and Barretta in doubles to regain a four-match advantage at 7-3, before Team West closed out the second day with a 4-2 win in the team match.

Trailing by three, 7-4, on the final day in the race-to-10 event, Team West launched its final salvo. Aided by a creative rule that allowed the losing team’s captain to select both its own and its opponent’s players for several matches, the West was able to mount a comeback.

“That wrinkle worked well,” said Williams. “I was inspired by an event I played in Taiwan years ago that did something similar. It only happens at a certain stage in the event when one team is trailing.”

The rule allowed Laurance to front-load the first two matches of the final day, sending Team West’s best player, Corr, out against Park, Asia’s weakest link, in the opening single match. Laurance followed with the pairing of Corr and Barretta against Park and Jennifer Chen in doubles.

The maneuver worked to perfection, but not without a few nervous moments. Park jumped to a 2-0 lead in the singles match, but missed multiple shots over the next few racks, and Corr started to find her rhythm. A run-out by the “Irish Invader” knotted the match at 2-2, and Corr rolled on to a 4-2 decision. Corr and Barretta then teamed to play a perfect double match, trouncing Park and Jennifer Chen, 4-0, to pull within a match at 7-6. It was the second doubles win in three tries for the duo of Corr and Barretta.

“The highlight of this tournament was getting to play Scotch doubles with Karen Corr,” Barretta said later. “She is an inspiration to me, and we played a perfect set to get the score to 7-6.”

“[Team West] are all great players,” said Laurance of her strategy, “but, obviously we avoided Rubilen, who had the crowd going nuts, and Siming Chen.”
Having used up her lifelines, Laurance sent Corr back to the table for the third straight match. Team Asia countered with Siming Chen. The world No. 1 jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but Corr refused to buckle. Showing the resolve that earned her a place in the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame, Corr battled back to a 4-4 tie, then broke and ran out in the case game to send her teammates into a frenzy and knot the overall team score at 7-7.

Of course, Team West was not about to let Corr, who had a hand in six of the team’s seven wins, rest. She joined Villarreal and Laurence in a trios contest against Amit and the Chens with a chance for the West to take its first lead.

Instead, Team Asia made its own statement, rolling to an easy 4-1 victory to regain a one game advantage. The full squad came together to win the team match as well, and suddenly the resurgent Asians were on the hill, 9-7.

Amit, the clear crowd favorite and a calming influence for her charges, tabbed herself to close out the contest against the mercurial and always dangerous Villarreal. With the next match being the trailing captain’s choice (most likely Corr against Park), Amit knew the risk of slipping up.

“If I lost that match, I knew that it would mean we could very well end up tied, 9-9, with one team match to decide the event,” the two-time world champion admitted later. “Playing Vivian was like the finals. There was so much pressure it was crazy.”

Amit opened a 2-1 lead, but Villarreal was poised to knot the set, when she rattled an easy 9 ball. Amit quickly disposed of the remaining two balls to pull her squad to within a game of the title. She then carefully negotiated a tricky final rack to secure the Queens Cup title for her Team Asia mates.
As confetti fell from above, Amit (who finished with a sparkling 8-2 record), Park, Siming Chen and Jennifer Chen hugged and smiled, while the partisan crowd roared its approval.

“The home court advantage was huge,” Laurance conceded. “It was an incredible crowd. Very animated and knowledgeable.
“But I think we put so much effort into the comeback that once we tied it, 7-7, we ran out of steam. We had our chances.”
Whether the Queens Cup can become a must-see pool event, of course, remains to be seen. Players gushed about the Dragon Promotions event, which, for the most part, seemed to be a fun, albeit intense, exhibition. It may take one team getting tired of losing, or seeing the favorite get upset, however, before the Queens Cup evolves into a true rivalry.

“It was actually very intense,” countered Barretta, “even though photos show us smiling and laughing. We fought until the end.”
“It was a great experience, all the way around,” added Laurance.

Williams, meanwhile, couldn’t have been happier with the way the event unfolded.
“The 2015 Queens Cup was a roaring hit for us,” he said. “It was even more colorful than the first one. The West kept it close each day. The fans were excited. It was exactly the atmosphere we wanted to create.”

Top