New Champions Crowned at the 2009 WPA World Junior Championships

The WPA World Junior 9-Ball Championship was held on November 3-8, 2009 in Managua, Nicaragua, and now two new champions have been crowned.

Young pool players from around the world gathered in Managua to represent their countries, including a team of seven players from the U.S.A, who qualified through the BEF Junior National Championships.  Included in that team were Landon Shuffett, Liz Lovely, Brendan Crockett, Briana Miller, Jesse Engel, Nick Tafoya, and Nicole Jaynes.

Although they may be young in age, many of these players are already receiving high-level seasoning.  Liz Lovely, as well as 2008 World Champion, Brittany Bryant, are already appearing on the WPBA, with Bryant currently ranked #23 on the tour.  Brendan Crockett has already competed in the US Open, along with Landon Shuffett, who has played in numerous pro events including the Derby City Classic.

But, it was Ruslan Chinakhov of Russia who would stand above the competition, along with the girl’s division winner, Keng-Chun Lin of Taipei.  However, USA’s Liz Lovely did make her presence known, going all the way to the semifinals for a third place finish.

Read on for more details in the press release by Jerry Forsyth.

Ruslan Chinakhov of Russia and Keng-Chun Lin of Taipei are the new WPA World Junior Champions. The final day of play began with Anja Wagner (GER) defeating Konishi Samia (JPN) 9-7. Then Keng-Chun Lin ended the winning streak of Liz Lovely (USA) by that same 9-7 margin.

This set up the semi-final match between Liz Lovely and Anja Wagner as Keng-Chun Lin waited for the victor to play the championship round. That would be Anja Wagner as she found momentum first and carried her margin to ever-larger numbers that resulted in her winning out 9-5. However, the power that Wagner displayed would not be enough to overcome the skills of Lin. Keng-Chun Lin defeated Ms. Wagner 9-6 to stand atop the podium and receive the gold.  Watch out, Ga-Young, Jasmin and Allison. Those footsteps you hear are sure and confident.

This brought the young men out for their final contests. First up were the two undefeated players, Nolle Stefan (GER) and Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS). Chinakhov found his true form and demolished the young German 11-1. The two players who had already suffered one loss were up next and had a much closer battle as Phil Burford (GBR) narrowly bested Kuei-Min Lin (TPE) 11-9.

As Chinakhov rested, Burford and Nolle hit the tables again to see who would face him. This one was a real nail-biter as the two men traded blows and neither faltered until the very end when Burford managed to squeak by with an 11-10 win to win the privilege of facing Chinakhov for the title. While Burford certainly gave a fine accounting of himself, there would be no doubt as to who the champion would be. Ruslan Chinakhov has announced himself with his 11-8 win as a player to be reckoned with on the world stage. Remember the name, you will be hearing it again.