Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports


Date : 09 May 2009

Asian C'ship: Ratchapol, Mei Xiwen in Final

	Thai veteran Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm has a tradition of winning a crack at the Asian Championship top honours and he has not disappointed his fans in the Chinese city of Tangshan.

	Playing in front of a large local crowd, Ratchapol displayed great form to beat Au Chi Wai of Hong China 6-4 to stroll into his fourth Asian Championship final in as many appearances. His final opponent will be on-song Mei Xiwen of the host country who defeated Shi Hanqing 6-3 in an all-Chinese semifinal on May 9. Ratchapol, better known around the world as James Wattana, took the Asian snooker scene by a storm when he won the 1986 crown as a teenager in Colombo. He then finished runner-up the following year and won the back the title again in 1988 in the same city as his first triumph. The Thai then went to win the 1988 IBSF World Championship in Australia and turned professional for more than a decade, winning three world ranking tournaments. Ratchapol, given his experience, was a pre-match favourite, but he faced a tough resistance from Au Chi Wai, himself a seasoned campaigner of many years. The two carried the frame score to 4-4 before Ratchapol took the ninth frame and then outwitted his opponent in the 10th following a close battle. The upshot means that Ratchapol is now heading back to the World Snooker Main Tour, the top flight of professional snooker, after dropping out at the end of the 2007-2008 season. The Main Tour gets underway in the United Kingdom on August 3. The best-of-13 frame final will be played in Tangshan on May 10. Semifinal Frame Scores Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm (Thailand) beat Au Chi Wai (Hong Kong China) 6-4 (67-35, 38-57, 79(61)-0, 66-45, 56-27, 43-59, 31-64, 22-54, 73-21, 71-51) Mei Xiwen (China) beat Shi Hanqing (China) 6-3 (58-31, 71(62)-24, 35-65, 68-11, 69-44, 55-64, 71-62, 33-83, 77-40) Picture: Au Chi Wai (left) and Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm with the match referee. Please *click here* for latest knockout chart Please *click here* for the list high breaks in the tournament so far

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