Chinese Taipei 9-ball stars Yang Ching-shun and Liu Shin-mei have advanced without much of a challenge into the quarterfinals of the World Games men's and women's 9-ball tournament, but the 'Little Monster,' Kuo Po-cheng, was knocked out in a tense match. Billiards, and especially the 9-ball game, is popular in the host country, and local fans are hopeful the event will generate several medals for the Chinese Taipei World Games team. Yang, a two-time Asian Games champion and semifinalist at the 2002 9-ball World Championships shot his way past Ivica Putnik of Croatia 11-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the men's 9-ball event Thursday. Nicknamed the 'son of pool, ' the Kaohsiung native won the 2001 World Games 9-ball gold medal, and after missing the 2005 tournament felt he could not pass up returning to the event staged in his hometown. He was joined there by Sweden's Marcus Chamat, nicknamed Napoleon, who reached the semifinals of the 9-Ball World Championships in 2004. Chamat defeated Alejandro Carvajal of Chile 11-8. On the women's side, Chinese Taipei's Liu, the 1999 world 9-ball champion, advanced to the quarterfinals with a 9-4 win over Japan's Akio Otani, despite not being at her best. Liu struggled to a 5-4 lead before winning the final four games. She will now face the 'Duchess of Doom, ' Great Britain's Allison Fisher, in what has to be the marquee match-up of the quarterfinals. Fisher, who has won four 9-ball world championships and was nominated in June to be inducted into the Billiard Congress of America Hall of Fame, set up the showdown with a 9-3 win over Aspra Indurjeeth Panchoo of South Africa. Also reaching the final eight of the women's draw was 2008 world 9-ball champion Lin Yuan-chun of Chinese Taipei, who brushed aside compatriot Tsai Pei-chen 9-2. In later matches, Kuo, the 2005 9-ball World Championship runner-up, was locked in a struggle the diminutive 'Little Monster' stayed with American No. 1 Shane van Boening for much of the match before stumbling on the last rack to lose 11-10. But 'Hitman' and 2003 9-ball world champion Thorsten Hohmann had no problem advancing, defeating Chi Dung Luong of Vietnam 11-4. Although Kuo lost, another local favorite Wy Yu-lun got the local crowd going with an upset of second seed Ricky Walden of Great Britain. Walden was the only player ranked in the top 20 in snooker entered in the World Games tournament. After players complained Wednesday that the venue felt like a freezer, the temperature at the Chung Cheng Martial Arts Stadium rose from 20 degrees to a still chilly 22 degrees. But Yang later said the cool temperature bothered him far less than a bout of nerves early in his match. 