Billiards star Jennifer Chen (
Chen began hosting a TV show about billiards in March on the Star TV channel, in which she shows off her billiards skills.
"Hosting the TV show is my only chance to make enough money to pay back my debts. If the TV station, in order to avoid harassment, fired me, I would have no other way to make money and pay off the debts," Chen said yesterday.
men in black
Chen said that, last week seven men clad in black appeared outside the TV station seeking to see her. They told the security guard at the TV station they would return again this week, Chen said.
Chen said she is afraid that she may lose her job if her creditors continue to send gangsters to harass her at her workplace.
The 30-year-old billiards star, nicknamed "Beautiful Baby," came to prominence in the 1990s. She became the Women's Professional Billiards Association's No. 1 player in the world in March 1999.
medal winner
Chen won a bronze medal for billiards at the 2001 World Games and a silver medal at the 2005 World Games.
Chen fled abroad last July after running up huge gambling debts, and returned to the country earlier this year to deal with her debts and face a prosecutorial investigation.
Banciao prosecutors in January gave Chen a suspended sentence.
Chen said she makes more than NT$200,000 (US$6,000) a month hosting the TV show. Two thirds of the money is used to pay the debts, she said.
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