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'Female Assassin' struggles in Amway Cup

Taiwan's top ranked player, Lin Yuan-chun, was off to a rough start yesterday after losing both of her opening matches on the first day of the Amway Cup women's 9-ball tournament in Taipei on Wednesday.

"I wore a short-sleeved shirt yesterday and the temperature in the gymnasium was too cold, which made it difficult to play," Lin said about her first loss.

She blamed her second loss on over-coaching, saying a crowd of supporters and friends had filled her head with what turned out to be detrimental comments, rattling her confidence as she lost her next match.

Facing an early elimination from a tournament she was expected to dominate, Lin, nicknamed the "Female Assassin," showed her steely nerves and came back from a large deficit to win 5:4 over an opponent yesterday afternoon, before eventually falling 3:5 to the UK's Valerie Finnie, making it next to impossible for Lin to advance to the final 24 single-elimination tournament.

Yesterday also saw the Czech Republic's Veronika Hubrtova and South Africa's Nishami Surajlall and Linda Marthinez trying to recover from first-day losses.

Despite stiff competition, especially Marthinez's 5:0 loss to top player Monica Webb, all three players remained upbeat and confident as they enjoyed a cigarette break outside the gymnasium.

Hubrtova is the youngest of the group, just 5 years out of high school. She has an infectious optimism and love for the game which is hard to find amongst older players.

She also has a distinctive haircut, just a few inches in length, culminating in a spiky top, with razor stripes at the edges.

As it turns out, this haircut started with a bet, and after doing better than expected on a high-school test, she had no choice but to cut her then waist-length hair.

"I've had this hair style for many years now. I like it because I don't have to do much, just put some water in it," she said.

She says there will inevitably come a day when she has to grow up and adopt a more conservative hair style, but for now, she is enjoying her freedom.

Hubrtova has a no-frills type of style that favors flat shoes, sports shirts adorned with sponsorship logos and an upbeat, infectious enthusiasm for the sport, playing pool every other day because of her working schedule.

As it turns out, she is a waitress at a pool hall in the Czech Republic, where she is kept busy serving drinks and food to local customers rather than honing her skills on the table.

"I teach a few children pool lessons, but I can't take on too many students, because I have to save time for my practice," she said.

She says her favorite players are Oliver "The Machine" Ortmann and Allison Fisher. However, she has focused on developing her own style of play, mastering difficult skills such as jump shots and controlling her emotions during tournament play.
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