Ine Helvik

 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:)

Puuhh, I hope I got that right:) Tomorrow I am flying to Shenyang, China, for the third time. First time it was minus 20 degrees, then plus 30 and now it is about 23 degrees. I think this year will be good! Three times….

I am going with the intention of doing better this year than last year. That means that the quarterfinals is my goal. I have learned a lot since last year and will fight till the end. That is the good thing with pool, you never get to old to learn something new:)

Anyway, I will try to update and post something new every day. I am not sure if this site works in China though, I might be a bit cut off. If that is the case I will write a tournament report as soon as I get back home.

The tournament starts on thursday so I will have a few days to turn the hours around, practice and hang out with my friends. I think I will meet Caroline Roos from Sweden in Stockholm aiport  and we will fly together to Beijing. I am so looking forward to meet everybody again!

Have a good weekend, I will be on the plane until it is finished:)

Thanks for reading

Ine:)

I am now in third place  on the overall ranking and in route for the final eight.

Thank you for a good tournament everybody! And for those of you interestetd in the overall ranking you will find it here: http://svithunbiljardklubb.wordpress.com/stavanger-fury-cup/ranking-og-hc-liste/

Have a nice day!

Ine:)

Juhuu!! I got a spot for the worlds!! I am so relieved, I was not sure I would get one because of my performance in the European Championships.

Any way, the tournament is 22-25 september and I am really looking forward to it. I will post more details when I have it.  CHINA HERE I COME!!!

Ine:)