歡迎光臨高雄市新聞局

San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour　　　
Written by Jammie Lin　Photos by Jung-Hui Pao

　　After achieving the right to host the 2009 World Games, Kaohsiung City Government hopes that physical education can help to promote Kaohsiung onto the international world stage. Hence, Kaohsiung City will endeavor to create a healthy image in the year 2005. In addition to actively constructing a healthy living environment, the city government hopes citizens can bring exercise into their daily lives. San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour, which is going to be held in the Kaohsiung Business Exhibition Center from April 29th to May 1st, provides people in southern Taiwan with a chance to get a glimpse of the excellent skills of billiard experts throughout the world.
　　In the field of billiards, good players abound in Kaohsiung. San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour is an international sports tournament. It has become the top billiards competition in Asia since first beginning in 2003.

　　The honor of hosting the international games not only provides citizens with a chance to enjoy it, but also reflects on Kaohsiung's ability to hold such an event.

 　　San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour will be held in four cities. The first round will be held in Singapore from 4th to 6th March. The second round will be held from 1st to 3rd April in Djakarta, Indonesia. The third round will be held in Kaohsiung on April 29 and continue until May 1st. The final round will be held in Manila, Philippines, from 3rd to 5th June. The award for each round will be US$50,000. The first prize for every round will be US$10,000; the second, US$5,000; the third, US$3,000. Every player in the first round will receive US$750 as a prize for attendance. The total prize for the game will be US$200,000, attracting 32 excellent professional players from 12 Asian countries, such as former world champions, Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante. There are also good players like Ching-shun Yang and Fong-pang Chao from Taiwan who will be competing.

  　　Importantly, players, whose score the highest cumulative amount of points, will be allowed to enter the World Pool Championship, which will be held in July. The World Pool-Billiards Association holds this championship, which offer the largest known world prize.

　　According to history, the game of billiards originated in Europe in the 16th century, and was regarded as a sign of distinctive only the rich and powerful played this game. It was not until the mid-seventeenth century that billiards began to be played on a table. Billiards was just aristocrats' entertainment in the mid-eighteenth century, only later becoming popular with the general public. Today, billiard players can Go abroad to compete and win championships, to return home with honor.

　　There are two methods of playing 9-Ball. The first way is to hit balls into pockets attached to the billiard tables in a certain order; the second is to make any ball hit number nine ball into a pocket. Both ways can be viewed as the finish of a game. The format for this year's San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour is the same as last year. All matches feature alternate breaks. All matches through to the quarterfinals are races to 9 while the semi-finals and final are races to 11.