Asia and Europe were nicely balanced on the final day of the Ladies World Championship in Izmir, Turkey, both in the semifinals and in the final. Therese Klompenhouwer proved once again that she can do more than play well in the leagues. The Dutch woman overcame her strongest rival, Orie Hida, to win the world title for the third time. It must be said: Hida played the better tournament. But Klompenhouwer showed mental strength, did not get distracted by her less than fluent wins in the group stage and kept her eye on the big prize. It was a character win, and her emotions reflected that.
On the final day, the four ladies most likely to become world champion were all in the semifinals: Upcoming talent Sruong Pheavy from Cambodia, seasoned Ladies Cup winner Gülsen Degener from Turkey, four-time world champion Orie Hida from Japan and double world champion Therese Klompenhouwer from the Netherlands. Other than these four, 19-year old Bo Mi Kim from Korea also showed promise: she averaged 0,813 for the event.
Hida played both fortunate and very well against Pheavy in the first semi. A few flukes helped her, but she capitalized with great skill and scored an impressive win: 30–10 in only 17 innings. Hida had narrowly (25-24) lost to Pheavy in the group stage, but this time she was truly dominant. A 1,764 average in a ladies event, how impressive is that?
Klompenhouwer looked to run all over Degener in the other semi, when she built up a 20-6 lead after 14 innings. Then the rhythm was gone and Gülsen took over. Amazingly, 20-6 became 22-22. In the home stretch, both ladies nervous and playing defensive shots, Klompenhouwer had the steadier hand: 30-22 in 38.
The final went neck-and-neck to 14-14, but in the second half Therese was the more productive player. She left her opponent with a big task: to equalize from 30-22. Hida made two, then conceded her title: 30-24 in 30. It was the third crown for Klompenhouwer, who was world champion in 2014 (Sinop, Turkey) and 2016 (Guri, Korea). Hida will have to wait until 2019 (Valencia, Spain) to see if she can add a fifth title to her resume.
Final standing of Izmir:
1) Klompenhouwer 0,887
2) Hida 1,082
3) Pheavy 0,885
4) Degener 0,730
5) Bo Mi Kim 0,813
6) Karakasli 0,739
7) Fendi 0,450
8) Lalinde 0,615
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