All Japan Championship (pool) explained

The All Japan Championship (also known as the All Japan Open or All Japan Open Championship) is an annual pool event in the discipline of nine-ball. It has sometimes been called the Japan Open for short, though this was also the name of a short-lived competing event. From 2012 to 2015, the men's tournament was played in the discipline of ten-ball. In some years, the event was held twice, the earlier event as All Japan Championship and the later one as [All] Japan Open. The most successful players, with a tie at four wins each, are Ko Pin-yi (July and November 2011, November 2013, and November 2016),[1] and Efren Reyes (November 1990, November 1999, November 2003, and March 2005)[2] Akimi Kajitani has won the women's tournament the most times, twice (2000 and 2013).

Tournament history

[3]

Men's

YearLocationWinnerScoreRunner-upSemi-finalists
2000Tokyo Antonio Lining11-6 Chao Fong-PangThomas Engert
Moritaka Hadani
2001Amagasaki Corey Deuel11-10 Mika Immonen Warren Kiamco
Lee Kun-Fang
2002 Francisco Bustamante11-8 Mika Immonen Akikumo Toshikawa
Charlie Williams
2003 Efren Reyes11-7 Tasuko Nishio Thorsten Hohmann
Jeong Young Hwa
2004 Ralf Soquet11-9 Mika Immonen Chao Fong-Pang
2005Unknown Takeshi Okumura11-5 Mika Immonen Hisashi Kusano
Xia Wei-Kui
2007 Wu Jia-qing11-3 Tōru Kuribayashi Ralf Soquet
Hayato Hijikata
2008Amagasaki Mika Immonen11-2 Ronato Alcano Antonio Gabica
Naoyuki Ōi
2009 Francisco Bustamante11-7 Antonio Lining Kuo Po Cheng
Chang Shu Han
2010 Thorsten Hohmann11-8 Ko Ping-chung Yukio Akakariyama
Mika Immonen
2011 Ko Pin-yi10-4 Wu Jia-qing Chang Yu-lung
Hiroshi Takenaka
2012 Chang Jung-lin11-7 Yang Ching-shun Johann Chua
Fu Che-wei
2013 Ko Pin-yi11:10 Chang Jung-lin Thorsten Hohmann
Johann Chua
2014 Raymund Faraon11:8 Naoyuki Ōi Li Hewen
Chang Yu-lung
2015 Johann Chua11:7 Ronato Alcano Shane Van Boening
Han Haoxiang
2016 Ko Pin-yi11:3 Jeff de Luna Thorsten Hohmann
Cheng Yu-hsuan
2017 Johann Chua11:2 Jundel Mazon  Liu Hao Tao
Chang Yu-Lung
2018 Tomoo Takano11:6 Toru Kuribayashi Carlo Biado
Ko Ping Chung
2019 Liu Cheng Chieh11-10 Johann Chua Anton Raga
Kwon Ho-Jun

Ladies

YearLocationWinnerScoreRunner-upSemi-finalist
2000Tokyo Akimi Kajitani Kyoko Sone Chung Young-sook
Setsuko Kubota
2001Amagasaki Liu Shin-mei Allison Fisherunknown
unknown
2005Unknown Zhou Mengmeng Miyuki Fukeunknown
unknown
2007 Chang Shu-han Akio Otani Fu Xiaofang
Han Yu
2008Amagasaki Pan Xiaoting Chou Chieh-yu Chang Shu-han
Chihiro Kawahara
2010 Lin Hsiao-chi Keiko Yukawa Chihiro Kawahara
Maki Kimura
2011 Chen Siming Junko Mitsuoka Chan Ya-ting
Akimi Kajitani
2012 Chou Chieh-yu Tan Ho-yun Maki Kimura
Li Jia
2013 Akimi Kajitani9:7 Chihiro Kawahara Chou Chieh-yu
Tsai Pei-jen
2014 Wu Zhi-ting9:3 Liu Shasha Tsai Pei-jen
Chihiro Kawahara
2015 Kim Ga-young9:2 Chihiro Kawahara Maki Kimura
Makiko Takagi
2016 Chen Ho-yun9:8 Chihiro Kawahara Wei Tzu-chen
Chen Siming

Other Japan Open

In addition to the All Japan Open another tournament known as the Japan Open was held in 2009 and 2010 in the New Pia Hall.[4] [5]

Winners of this tournament were the Philippines Francisco Bustamante and Ramil Gallego in the men's event[6] [7] as well as the Taiwanese women Tan Hsiang-ling and Chou Chieh-yu were winners of the women's event.[8] [9] Chou Chieh-yu is the only player to have won both events.

The prize money of the Japan Open was significantly lower than that of the All Japan Open. During 2010, at the All Japan Open men's event, the prize purse was a total of $82,000 of which the winner received about $24,000,[10] The winner of the Japan Open 2010 received only $17,000 in prize money, at just under $42,000 in total prize money. In the women's at the Japan Open 2010 about $11,000 were distributed, with the winner receiving $4,400, at the All Japan Open the same year, however, were distributed over $21,000, of which the winner received about $7,000.[11]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ko Pin-Yi . Billiard Walker . 25 November 2023.
  2. Web site: Efren Reyes . Billiard Walker . 25 November 2023.
  3. Web site: All Japan Open Championship – Event Results . 2018 . AZBilliards . https://web.archive.org/web/20190608114936/https://www.azbilliards.com/tours_and_events/118-all-japan-championship/results/ . 8 June 2019 . 15 November 2015.
  4. Web site: Japan Open . AZBilliards . 15 November 2015.
  5. Web site: Japan Open – Event Results . AZBilliards . 15 November 2015.
  6. Web site: Japan Open 2009 Men's Division. AZBilliards . 15 November 2015.
  7. Web site: Japan Open 2010 Men's Division . AZBilliards . 15 November 2015.
  8. Web site: Japan Open 2009 Women's Division . AZBilliards . 15 November 2015.
  9. Web site: Japan Open 2010 Women's Division . AZBilliards . 15 November 2015.
  10. Web site: All Japan Open 2010 Men's Division . AZBilliards . 15 November 2015.
  11. Web site: All Japan Open 2010 Women's Division . AZBilliards . 15 November 2015.