Jasmin Ouschan
Encyclopedia
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n professional pool
Pocket billiards
Pool, also more formally known as pocket billiards or pool billiards , is the family of cue sports and games played on a pool table having six receptacles called pockets along the , into which balls are deposited as the main goal of play. Popular versions include eight-ball and nine-ball...
player from Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt
-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...
, Carinthia
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
. 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. She is currently one of the top-ranked women in the world according to the 2010 prize money list and by the WPBA rankings. 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 EuroTour 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 2005
World Games 2005
The World Games of 2005 took place in Duisburg, Germany from 14 July 2005 until 24th July 2005.More than 3000 athletes competed in 39 non-Olympic sports:-Sports:Official sportsInvitational sports*Aikido The World Games of 2005 took place in Duisburg, Germany from 14 July 2005 until 24th July...
gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
and World Games 2009
World Games 2009
The World Games of 2009 took place in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, from July 16, 2009 to July 26, 2009. The games featured sports that are not contested in the Olympic Games....
silver medal
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....
in nine-ball. She has earned a total of twenty-three European Championship gold medals (nine in eight-ball, seven in nine-ball and three in straight pool
Straight Pool
Straight pool, also called 14.1 continuous or simply 14.1, is a pocket billiards game, and was the common sport of championship competition until overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball...
) since 1999, including twelve (four in eight-ball, three in nine-ball, four in straight pool and one 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 and is the current three-time defending Women's European Champion in the event as well as the two-time defending champion in nine-ball.
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). In 2010, she also won the Women's World 10-Ball Championship.
Background
Born and raised in Klagenfurt, Ouschan began playing pool at a very early age because her parents owned a pool hallPool hall
A billiard/billiards, pool or snooker hall is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards...
. 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. She has a younger brother named Albin. She graduated from high school
High school
High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....
in 2004 and has since taken coursework to become an accredited pool trainer
Athletic trainer
An athletic trainer is a certified, health care professional who practices in the field of sports medicine. Athletic training has been recognized by the American Medical Association as an allied health care profession since 1990....
in Europe.
Career
She has earned eight open European Championship titles in eight-ball (2006, 2008, 2009), nine-ball (2005, 2009), and straight poolStraight Pool
Straight pool, also called 14.1 continuous or simply 14.1, is a pocket billiards game, and was the common sport of championship competition until overtaken by faster-playing games like nine-ball...
(2005–2007) in the women's division. She also won eleven Youth European Championship titles in eight-ball (1999–2004) and nine-ball (1999–2001, 2003, 2004).
Pre-professional
In 1996, she entered at a tournament in Austria in which players like Allison FisherAllison Fisher
Allison Fisher is an English professional pool player.-Biography:Fisher grew up in Hadlow, Kent. She won her first world title at the age of 17. To date, she has won over 80 national titles and 11 world titles in total. She even entered the men's snooker rankings, but never progressed into the...
, Gerda Hofstaetter and Franziska Stark participated and placed 4th place behind these three well established players. 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.
Her first professional competition was the Florida Classic 2002. In 2002, she had professional earnings of US$1,750 in prize money
Prize money
Prize money has a distinct meaning in warfare, especially naval warfare, where it was a monetary reward paid out to the crew of a ship for capturing an enemy vessel...
for taking first place in the 2002 WPBA Amateur Nationals. In 2005, she had earnings of $1,700. That year she became the World Games
Billiards at the 2005 World Games
The cue sports competition at the World Games 2005 took place from 20 to 24 July, at the Saalbau Bottrop in Duisburg, Germany.-Medal table:-Medals summary:...
women's nine-ball champion. 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.
In 2006, she was ranked sixth among women in the prize money year-end rankings with a total of $36,251 in earnings. That year, she won the May 14—20, 2006 BCA Open Nine-ball Championship women's division, defeating the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's Allison Fisher
Allison Fisher
Allison Fisher is an English professional pool player.-Biography:Fisher grew up in Hadlow, Kent. She won her first world title at the age of 17. To date, she has won over 80 national titles and 11 world titles in total. She even entered the men's snooker rankings, but never progressed into the...
and earning $20,000. She has competed in what have traditionally been regarded as men's tournaments, especially while participating in the EuroTour. She placed 5th in the men's World Straight Pool Championship
World Straight Pool Championship
The World Straight Pool Championship is an annual pocket billiards competition held in New Brunswick, New Jersey, since 2006. It is the current global professional title for straight pool , and is organized by Dragon Promotions, in part to restore the game's popularity in the United States...
in 2006, which was won by Thorsten Hohmann. She also finished 3rd in the women's World Pool 10-ball Championship in Manila, Philippines.
Professional
In 2007, she joined the WPBA. That year, she was ranked ninth among women in the prize money year-end rankings with a total of $23,000 in earnings. Her best payday for the year was a second place finish at the WPBA San Diego Classic for which she earned $8,300. She competed again at the Men's World Straight Pool Championship in 2007 but lost to Warren KiamcoWarren Kiamco
Warren Kiamco is a Filipino professional pool player from Cebu, Philippines. He is known for his performances in the South East Asian and Asian Games....
in the last 16 to finish in 9th place.
In 2008, she was ranked fourth among women in the prize money year-end rankings with a total of $44,059 in earnings. During the season, she reached the top of the world rankings. Her largest victory that year was the September 14 WPBA Carolina Classic 7–1 win over Jeanette Lee, which earned her $13,500. In 2008, she reached the Men's World Straight Pool Championship semifinal by beating Mika Immonen
Mika Immonen
Mika Immonen is a Finnish professional pool player, nicknamed "the Ice Man."He won the WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Cardiff, Wales in 2001. That same year, he was the runner-up to Corey Deuel in the US Open Nine-ball ChampionshipHe has represented Team Europe on thirteen occasions in the...
and defending champion Oliver Ortmann
Oliver Ortmann
Oliver Ortmann is a German top professional pool player whose nickname is "The Machine". He is renowned not only as a World Champion in Nine-Ball but also in the resurgent discipline of 14.1 or straight pool....
, but then lost against Francisco Bustamante
Francisco Bustamante
Francisco Bustamante is a Filipino professional pocket billiards player from Tarlac, and the 2010 World Nine-ball Champion., nicknamed "Django", after the lead character of the film of the same name, and sometimes also called "Bustie", especially in the United States.-Early life:Bustamante is the...
. However, her third place finish resulted in the first medal won by any woman in an open world pool championship.
In April 2009, she won the European Championship eight-ball competition. She was also the world's top-ranked woman in early 2009. On June 21, 2009 she earned $12,700 for winning the WPBA Great Lakes Classic. On July 25, she earned a silver medal after losing to Allison Fisher
Allison Fisher
Allison Fisher is an English professional pool player.-Biography:Fisher grew up in Hadlow, Kent. She won her first world title at the age of 17. To date, she has won over 80 national titles and 11 world titles in total. She even entered the men's snooker rankings, but never progressed into the...
at the 2009 World games. Ouschan also won the October 14–18, 2009 WPBA Pacific Coast Classic and the November 11–15, 2009 WPBA Nationals. She finished third in 2009 earnings with earnings of $58,578.
In the March 2010, European Championships she swept all four disciplines, including the newly contested ten-ball. First in straight pool she defeated fellow Austrian Gerda Hofstatter
Gerda Hofstatter
Gerda Hofstatter , nicknamed "G-Force", is a professional pool player and nine-ball champion. She won the World Nine-ball Championship in 1995; She is European Champion ten times; 1997 U.S. National Champion; and won the Austrian Championship seventeen times...
. Then in ten-ball, she defeated German Ina Jentschura. Next, she defeated Norwegian Line Kjorsvik in eight-ball. Finally, she defeated Hofstatter again in the nine-ball championship. She became the first woman to win more than two gold medals in a single competition. In October in Manila, Philippines, she won the Yalin Women’s World 10-ball championship. During the year, she also won the WPBA September 23–26, 2010 Atlanta Classic held in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. SHE JUST WON THE WPBA 2011. :D
Equipment and sponsors
She shoots with Predator/MEZZ (regular with 314 shaft) and Predator BK2 (Break) cue stickCue stick
A cue stick , is an item of sporting equipment essential to the games of pool, snooker and carom billiards. It is used to strike a ball, usually the...
s. She is sponsored by Kärnten Sport(Kaernten Sport) Kelag, Sportsunion, Predator, and Justis Cue Cases. Her home club is the PBC Eintracht Klagenfurt.