WOMEN can beat men, in some sports at least.

Charlene Chai proved that last week when she became the first woman to win the Open event at the Martell VSOP National nine-ball Championships.

She beat top male players here, like Eric Tan, Simon Ong and eventually, Toh Lian Han - a nine-ball pool doubles silver medallist at the 2007 SEA Games - in the final game.

Chai, a 28-year-old marketing executive, picked up the sport only six years ago. Aside from her latest trophy, she has won bronze medals at the South-east Asia (SEA) Games and Asian Indoor Games, and is aiming for a SEA Games gold in December in Laos.

She said: 'Most guys don't take me seriously as a pool player or don't want to play against me just because I am female. That gave me more motivation to prove them wrong.'

Her coach Ricky Chew said: 'In pool, both women and men actually have a fair shot at winning because the game is like chess. A lot depends on tactical and strategic play, instead of brute force.'

Chai's case is not an isolated one.

Even though men have dominated most sports in the past century, there have been numerous instances where female athletes triumphed over their male counterparts (see sidebar).

Advantage

While there are no conclusive studies comparing the mental strength of men and women in sports, Andrea Furst believes that female athletes can have a slight advantage over their male counterparts.

Furst is head of sports psychology at the Singapore Sports Council (SSC).

She said: 'Traditionally, men have had more opportunities than women in competitive sports worldwide, but in more developed countries, this has changed considerably.

'Nations such as Singapore are now catching up and as such, we will start to see more women participating in competitive sports in the future.

'This may mean that women who are currently in competitive sports in these developing countries are more persistent, and have a drive that pushes them to participate in a field where women traditionally don't take part in.'

Since independence, Singapore's Olympic contingents have always seen more male athletes. That is, till the Athens 2004 Games.

That year, 10 of the 16 athletes who made their way to Greece were women, marking the first reverse in the gender ratio in Singapore's Olympic contingents.

This was repeated at the Beijing Olympics last year too, when 14 of our 25 athletes were female.

But it has to be noted that in both cases, there was a strong presence of naturalised foreign-born women athletes, compared to previous Team Singapore contingents at the Olympics.

Persistence is not the only advantage that women can have over men.

SSC's exercise physiologist Daniel Plews said: 'Theoretically, women should be able to run more efficiently than men because of their narrower hips, but studies on this are inconclusive.'

The British Medical Journal reported that women can excel in ultra-endurance events like long-distance running and swimming, because of improved fat metabolism and tolerance of temperature extremes.

But Plews believes that because of the differences in physiology, women can only beat men in certain types of sports.

Stronger

'Men are built to be stronger and larger than women. If you compare upper body strength for example, men are 40 per cent stronger and because of the level of testosterone, the male body can repair muscles a lot quicker,' said Plews, who works primarily with endurance sports such as rowing, cycling and triathlon.

He added: 'If you pit an average man against an average woman, men will naturally have an advantage in physical activities because of inherent physiological factors.

'But in some sports where technique and the economy of movement take priority over physical strength, there is a definite possibility of women narrowing the gap.'

These sports include swimming, bowling, pool, equestrian events, auto-racing and even ultra-endurance marathons.

Still, it is impossible for women to beat men at the highest sporting level, our interviewees said.

'I've been playing snooker and pool for 30 years and in my experience, there have been no upsets by women at the highest international level,' said Chew, a former national champion.

Even Chai, who created a stir when she defeated her male opponents, admitted that it will be tough to succeed in the international men's scene.

'It's just not possible for me now. I'll need to compete in the women's international pool competitions first, before thinking that far ahead,' she said.

I took her lightly

IT IS a lose-lose situation for men when they face women in sports, said Toh Lian Han.

'If we win, it would not be as satisfying because we are expected to beat them,' said the 36-year-old, who lost to Charlene Chai in the Open final of the Martell VSOP National nine-ball Championships last Sunday.

'But if we lose, then people will say things like 'you can't even beat a female player'.'

Although Toh admitted Chai had to have the skills to do well in the Open event, he claims that luck and complacency played a significant role in her victory as well.

'You just cannot bring yourself to be serious when you play against a female player,' said Toh, who won a nine-ball pool doubles silver at the 2007 SEA Games.

'It is such a weird feeling. We would be complacent in the first few rounds, and then it would be too late to catch up.'

But he warned that the male players will not underestimate Chai in future competitions.

'We will be more careful when we meet her at the National Championships next time,' he said. 'We will not take her lightly again.'

This article was first published in The New Paper on Jan 24, 2009.