World 10-Ball champion Ouschan, veteran Fisher to play in PHL Open

Reigning World Women’s Ten Ball champion Jasmin Ouschan of Austria and multi-titled Allison Fisher of the United Kingdom have confirmed their participation in the 2011 Philippine Open Pool Championships on April 6-11 at the Megatrade Hall of SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City. Ouschan, a crowd darling in several years of campaigning in the country, has decided to come back and compete in one of the Philippines’ two ranking tour events sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association. The Austrian lass is fresh from winning her biggest triumph in pool in November last year – the 2010 Women’s World Ten-Ball Championship. Accepting her champion’s trophy and top prize, she spoke of what a great honor it was to win the world title in “the Mecca of pool." Fisher has been the dominant figure during the past two decades in women’s pool. She is called “the Duchess of Doom" for her exploits. The British-born Fisher came to the pool world by way of the Women’s Professional Billiard Association (WPBA) tournaments in the US. Originally a snooker player from the United Kingdom, after attaining the highest levels of snooker excellence and simply running out of competition, Fisher turned to playing pool by joining the WPBA tours in 1995. Since then, she has amassed the most impressive collection of pool titles ever by any player (male or female) in the history of the sport -- totaling over 75 professional titles including; 4 World Championships (WPA), 8 US Nationals (WPBA), 39 Classic Tour Titles (WPBA) and 22 other world titles. The Guinness Book of World Records lists her as the most decorated pool player of all-time. The Duchess now sets her sights on spreading her dominance to Asia via The 2011 Philippine Open Pool Championships. “The Philippine Open is designed to bring out the best from all competitors, regardless of their nationality or gender. Ms. Fisher’s participation testifies to the caliber of this competition, and will show that pool is not dominated by the men and that physical size, strength and speed are not necessarily the keys to win in this field," said JP Fenix, president of Raya Sports, the organizer of the Philippine Open. Regardless of her gender, Ouschan is Austria’s undisputed top cue-artist and is a two-time sportswoman of the year. Only 25, she has already won several titles, including the World Games Title, World Youth Championship, numerous Women’s European titles, and several WPBA Tournaments in the US. Since her Manila debut in the 2008 World 10-Ball Championship, Filipinos have admired Ouschan not only for her talent, but also for her professional style and cordial demeanor. She impressed a lot of Filipino aficionados with her triumphs over several male players, including the formidable high-ranking German player, Thomas Engert. - KY, RCJ, GMA News