Ine Helvik

I is good to be home. It always feels bad when you do not perform your best during a tournament. And it feels even worse after travelling half way around the world. That said, I have done very good the two previous years and I did try my best and made all the right preparations. I always try to see the positive side and I just have to take this as a learning process. And I had a really good time with my friends! I also made some new friends, I met Alison Chang among others, and that was all together a positive experience:)

The only thing I did after my last post was going to the banquet. This was a tiresome event, but important for all the sponsors and officials. They served us a 25 course meal and I think that says it all. The new world champion and all the Chinese players was there, and some of us western players. Alison got me one of the posters with the picture of Line and me and I collected autographs for once to hang on the wall in the poolhall.

Final top players:

World Champion: Bi Zhu Qing (CHN)

Runner up: Chen Siming (CHN) Now world no 1

Third place: Han YU (CHN) I beat her in  the first round last year:)

Fourth place: Fu Xiaofang (CHN) 2010 champion

Norwegian players: Line Kjørsvik, 17th place  Ine Helvik 49th place

Best western player: Monica Webb (US) and Brittany Bryant ( CAN) 9th place

We might go back to Shenyang next year, they want another two years of having the tournament. I would be happy to see it being held somewhere in the western world, I think that would change the odds a bit. We just have to wait and see what happens.

More pictures:

Banquet: 25 courses... way to much food!

Banquet: The entertainment.. Pink cowboys:)

Eating dumplings! We made some new chinese friends

Photo: Alison Chang. Me signing the board at the Red Carpet show

Photo: Alison Chang. The Press Conference

Photo: Alison Chang. Tamara Peeters and I on the opening banquet

Sorry for the lack of new posts. When you loose you get kind of fed up with everything, but I should write something earlier. I lost both my first day matches and that felt really bad after all that preparation. I had some really bad rolls and from that Thats life. 2009: 17th place 2010: 9th place 2011: 49th place…

I was joined by some pretty good players though. Allison Fisher was two and out. Kelly Fisher was out in the group stages. Caroline Roos was two and out. Lyndall Hulley was out in the group stages.  Marika Poikkijoki was  out n the group stages. Kynthia Orfanidis was out in the group stages….. The list is long.

The last 32 did not have that many western players left and after the first round in the single elimination we were destroyed…Line Kjørsvik, Tamara Peeters, Eylül Kibaroglü, Jasmin Ouschan, Monica Webb, Brittany Bryant and Kamila Khodjaeva all made it to the last 32. When the last round of the day was over we had only Monica Webb and Brittany Bryant left. After the last 16 round we had none. They both lost their matches 8-9. Last 8 had 7 Chinese and 1 Taiwan player. Last four is down to 4 Chinese and Fu Xiaofang, last years champion, just got beaten in the semis by a Chinese we have not heard of before..  The government funded poll in China is really producing a lot of good players.

Tomorrow I will go back home and I am really looking forward to that. First we have the the finals and the banquet tonight, I might post some pictures from that when I come back home.

Here is some pictures from the last couple of days and there is also a pictures to be found on wpa-pool.com. Allison Chang has done a great job! And thank you Allison for getting me the poster:) She has also taken a lot of photos from the tournament that I will post later.

Thanks for taking the time to read!

Have a good day

Ine:)

Jasmin Playing Fu Xiaofang on the tv table, last 32

Line playing in the last 32 against Bi Shu-Qing (fiinallist)

The draw for the last 32. Really formal:)

Marika on the tv table

This will be a short one, I am going to bed now. It has been a long day with practice at 0900 until 1100, press-conference at 1600 and then welcome party and draw. We were finished with the draw at 2100. You get tired of sitting there listening to chinese:)

We are divided into 8 groups with 2 seeded players in each group, double elimination. In my group from the top are: Lim Yun Mi (KOR), Indira Gowda (IND), Irirs Ranola (PHI), Pan Xiaoting (CHN), Lin Hsiao Chi (TPE), Ine Helvik (NOR), Marika Poikkijoki (FIN) and Chen Siming (CHN). I play Lin Hsiao Chi my first round at 1600.

Line Kjørsvik was seeded number 16 and she plays at 1000 against Mirjana Grujicic (VEN). Caroline Roos plays at 1000 against Yu Ram Cha and Lyndall Hulley at 1200 against Viktoria Nagorna (UKR)

The website is http://www.my147.com, but it is all in Chinese for th emoment. http://www.wpa-pool.com should also have information soon.

Have a good night, tournament updattes and pictures will come tomorrow:)

Ine:)

 Getting ready involves several things. I am working on getting used to the tables and the cloth (Andy), I am trying to get over the jetlag, I am working on the mental side of the tournament and I am working on relaxing. All of the above is equally important if I want to play at my very best on thursday.

Today we have been lucky to get an hour extra of practice time on the tables. They ( the hotel employees) are very insistent on following the rules they have been told form the organizers: Only one hour of practice pr day, even if the table is empty… that calls for some luck and some inventiveness.  The four of us, Caroline Roos (SWE), Marika Poikkijoki (FIN) and Lyndall hulley (AUS) aand I have joined together to get as much play as possiblle and it is working:) I feel I am not far from knowing the table properly, and that feels good!

Caroline Roos at one of the four practice tables

Yesterday Caroline and I went to the old Empire Palace and spent most of the day there and downtown after practicing. The Chinese culture is really something else. They have put so much work an honour into these old buildings. This particular palace was the first empire palace in China and it is build between 1625 and 1637. It is extraordinary. There are two empire palaces in China, the other one is the more famous “Forbidden City” in Beijing.

Empire Palace

Empire Palace

We ended the day by going to a local dumpling restaurant. “We” means Lyndall and her mum Margareth, Caroline, Marika and Alison Chen. Going out to eat we face some small challenges. Caroline is a vegetarian an mum does not eat garlic or onion. No meat, garlic or onion…. It took Alison about 20 minutes to order us the food (thank god she was with us and speak chinese). The dumplings arrived, pork and vegetable, and we ate for a while. Suddenly Caroline looks at me and say: Whats is this!!” and it is a shrimp in the vegetable dumpling. Actually it is a lot of shrimp. Alison turns to the waiter and says something in chinese and when she turns she looks stunned. She asked about the shrimp and the water answers. But shrimp IS a vegetable! Whar can you do but laugh. Even Caroline laughed:)

Now it is time for bed. We have practice at 0900 in the morning and press conference, dinner and draw tomorrow.

Have a good night and thanks for reading.

Ine:)

25 hours of travelling and finally arrived. I met Caroline Roos in Stockholm and  Jasmin Ouschan and Mike in the shuttle from the airport. Seems we are the only ones arrived. For me at least three days of normal sleep before the tournament is a must, I only hope they have finished the practice area tomorrow so we can try the tables. The STAR table in the lobby suggest that they are the table sponsor this  year and I have not played on them before.

Sadly I do not get facebook to work, but wordpress does. I know wordpress will automatically post both on facebook and twitter, and then twitter back to facebook, but there is nothing I can do with the double post. At least I get to update you:)

I am told that 147.com and my147.com have details about the tournament, but my google translator will not translate so  I am kind of lost. I will let you know if something useful pops up. Wpa does not have any information yet either.

Tomorrow Marika Poikkijokki,  Monica Webb and Line Kjørsvik arrives, I hope the hotel will fill up so I can see the players since they are not listed anywhere;)

Hopefully I will get some good pictures tomorrow as well.

Have a nice day, i am now looking forward to a long nights sleep

Ine:)