Jasmin Ouschan (German pronunciation:[ˈjasmɪnˈɔʊʃan]; born 10 January 1986[citation needed]) is an Austrian professional pool player from Klagenfurt, Carinthia. Her first professional competition occurred in 2002, but she did not officially become a professional member of the Women's Professional Billiards Association (WPBA) until 2007.[1] She is currently one of the top-ranked women in the world according to the 2010 prize money list and by the WPBA rankings.[2][3] At times, she has been ranked as the number one female player in the world. Since 2006, she has been listed among the top-ten women in the annual prize money rankings. Ouschan competes regularly with men on the Euro Tour and in 2008 became the first woman to earn a medal in an open world pool championship.
In international competition she has earned the World Games 2005gold medal and World Games 2009silver medal in nine-ball. As of 2013[update], she has earned a total of twenty-nine individual European Pool Championships gold medals (ten in eight-ball, ten in nine-ball, six in straight pool and three in ten-ball) since 1999, including eighteen (four in eight-ball, five in nine-ball, six in straight pool and three in ten-ball) since joining the open Women's division in 2005. She was the Youth European Champion in eight-ball six consecutive years from 1999–2004.
In the 2010 Pool & Billiard European Championship, held in Zagreb, Croatia, she became the first woman to sweep gold medals in all four disciplines contested (eight-ball, nine-ball, ten-ball and straight pool).[4] In 2010, she also won the Women's WPA World Ten-ball Championship.
Background
Born and raised in Klagenfurt, Ouschan began playing pool at a very early age because her parents owned a pool hall.[5] Although she had a miniature table of her own, she aspired to play on the regulation size table and started playing by standing on a box. She has trained with Michael Neumann since the age of six and continues to train with him to this day.[6] She is the older sister of Albin Ouschan.[6] She graduated from high school in 2004 and has since taken coursework to become an accredited pool trainer in Europe.[7]
Career
Ouschan at the European Championship 2008
Ouschan airborne during a hard break at the 2009 Women's World 10 Ball Championship
She has earned eight open European Championship titles in eight-ball (2006, 2008, 2009), nine-ball (2005, 2009), and straight pool (2005–2007) in the women's division.[8] She also won eleven Youth European Championship titles in eight-ball (1999–2004) and nine-ball (1999–2001, 2003, 2004).[8]
Pre-professional
In 1996, she entered at a tournament in Austria in which players like Allison Fisher, Gerda Hofstaetter and Franziska Stark participated and placed 4th place behind these three well established players.[6] In 1998, she earned a silver medal in eight-ball and a bronze medal in nine-ball at the Youth European Championship. Starting in 1999, she won gold medals in both events every year as a Youth until 2004 except in 2002 when she earned a silver in nine-ball.[8]
Ouschan during a post-match speech
Ouschan lines up a shot
Her first professional competition was the Florida Classic 2002.[1] In 2002, she had professional earnings of US$1,750 in prize money for taking first place in the 2002 WPBA Amateur Nationals.[9] In 2005, she had earnings of $1,700.[10] That year she became the World Games women's nine-ball champion.[5] She also moved up to the Women's division in the annual European Championships in 2005 and has earned at least one gold medal each year since.[8]
In 2006, she was ranked sixth among women in the prize money year-end rankings with a total of $36,251 in earnings.[11][12] That year, she won the May 14—20, 2006 BCA Open Nine-ball Championship women's division,[13] defeating the UK's Allison Fisher and earning $20,000.[14] She has competed in what have traditionally been regarded as men's tournaments, especially while participating in the EuroTour.[5] She placed 5th in the men's World Straight Pool Championship in 2006, which was won by Thorsten Hohmann.[6] She also finished 3rd in the women's World Pool 10-ball Championship in Manila, Philippines.[15]
Professional
In 2007, she joined the WPBA.[1] That year, she was ranked ninth among women in the prize money year-end rankings with a total of $23,000 in earnings.[16] Her best payday for the year was a second-place finish at the WPBA San Diego Classic for which she earned $8,300.[17][18] She competed again at the Men's World Straight Pool Championship in 2007 but lost to Warren Kiamco in the last 16 to finish in 9th place.[6]
Ouschan interviewed by a reporter
In 2008, she was ranked fourth among women in the prize money year-end rankings with a total of $44,059 in earnings.[19] During the season, she reached the top of the world rankings.[20][21] Her largest victory that year was the September 14 WPBA Carolina Classic 7–1 win over Jeanette Lee, which earned her $13,500.[13][22][23] In 2008, she reached the Men's World Straight Pool Championship semifinal by beating Mika Immonen and defending champion Oliver Ortmann, but then lost against Francisco Bustamante. However, her third-place finish resulted in the first medal won by any woman in an open world pool championship.[24]
In April 2009, she won the European Championship eight-ball competition.[25] She was also the world's top-ranked woman in early 2009.[26] On June 21, 2009, she earned $12,700 for winning the WPBA Great Lakes Classic.[7][27] On July 25, she earned a silver medal after losing to Allison Fisher at the 2009 World Games.[28][29] Ouschan also won the October 14–18, 2009 WPBA Pacific Coast Classic and the November 11–15, 2009 WPBA Nationals.[30][31] She finished third among women in 2009 with earnings of $58,578.[32]
In the March 2010, European Pool Championships she swept all four disciplines, including the newly contested ten-ball. First in straight pool she defeated fellow Austrian Gerda Hofstätter.[33] Then in ten-ball, she defeated German Ina Jentschura.[34] Next, she defeated Norwegian Line Kjorsvik in eight-ball.[35] Finally, she defeated Hofstatter again in the nine-ball championship.[36] She became the first woman to win more than two gold medals in a single competition.[4] In October in Manila, Philippines, she won the Yalin Women's World 10-ball championship.[37][38] During the year, she also won the WPBA September 23–26, 2010 Atlanta Classic held in Atlanta, Georgia.[39] Her 2010 total of $41,391 ranked second among women.[40]
In January 2011, she won the WPBA Masters by defeating Karen Corr at Mount Pleasant, Michigan for a prize of $7,500.00.[41] At the 2011 European Pool Championships, she won gold medals in straight pool, ten-ball and nine-ball, but did not medal in eight-ball. On March 26, she defeated Kjorsvik for the straight pool title 75–31.[42] Then, on April 1, she defeated Hofstatter, 7–2 in nine-ball.[43] On April 2, she defeated Nataliya Seroshtan 6–1 in ten-ball.[44] Her 2011 total of $31,300 ranked eighth among women.[45]
Her 2012 total of $30,470 ranked fifth among women.[46] At the European Championships, she won gold at the 10-ball competition,[47] and she placed in bronze in the other three individual events as well as the team competition.[48][49][50][51]
Her 2013 total of $26,048 ranked eighth among women.[52] At the European Championships, she won gold at both the straight pool and the 9-ball competitions,[53][54] and she placed in bronze in the other two individual events as well as the team competition.[55][56][57]
She shoots with Predator/MEZZ (regular with 314 shaft) and Predator BK2 (Break) cue sticks. She is sponsored by Kärnten Sport (Kaernten Sport) Kelag, Sportsunion, Predator, and Justis Cue Cases.[7] Her home club is the PBC Eintracht Klagenfurt.[1]
