16-year-old World Champion

2005 World Pool Championship > Last night we got the world champion here in Taiwan! Two players from Taiwan:Po-cheng Kuo & Chia-ching Wu battled for the trophy. (Well..I hate the translation of name. It's even hard for me as a Chinese to recognize! Why they just can't put their English names, just like...Peter, John, Tom....something like that? It's also easier to remember for a foreigner. Isn't it?) No matter who wins in the final, the trophy will stay in Taiwan, and I feel proud of that! 128 players come from all over the world, but they go back with nothing. (Okay, maybe some experiences and a little acquaintance of Kaohsiung,Taiwan) But the glory stay with Taiwan!

It was a really exciting final. Kuo was close to be the champion, 16-12 ahead with just one set remained, but he made an error when playing a safty and he had no chance to go to the table again after that. Wu, a 16-year-old boy, seized the opportunity with fearless mind. He dedicated this glory to his grandmom who raised him. In the picture, his grandmom was busy on organizing his collar and trying to ask him not to cry when he was being interviewed and photographed. (I have to say...it's touching, but a little bit embarrassing. It's impolite to the interviewer! How could she just break in?) On the other hand, Kuo failed to give the best birthday present to his girlfriend. He is a calm player though with baby face. I thought he would win the title! It's a pity for him.

Last night after I watched the long game, I was really excited. I wanted to post this right away. However, I just couldn't find any coverage or any photo through media on the Internet. There were some information about the tournament on ESPN website, but it hadn't been updated for 2 days. Soon I felt a little frustrated. It's world champion!! The youngest ever world champion!! Come on!! Is it because the tournament is held inTaiwan? Taiwan is not international enough I know. The ceremony actually was lousy. Poor arrangement, poor interview, poor English, even poor trophy(What happened to the stand!! Look at the picture. It's apart from the trophy! Embarrassing!) Even more, poor audience. When the presenters were being introduced to come in, what were the two players doing? They were busy on signing for the fans!! Oh my God. No wonder Taiwan can't gain the attention of international media! It's still a long way for Taiwan to host a really international tournament.