By Ted Lerner
(Doha, Qatar)–The Big One is finally here.
The WPA 2012 World 9-ball Championship, considered perhaps the most prestigious title in men’s professional pool, has gotten underway at the beautiful Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.
The action over the next 8 days promises to be as scorching hot as the weather is outside, where searing hot winds sweeping in off the desert combine with the blazing Middle Eastern sun to send temperatures into the mid-40’s celcius.
Indeed the event has attracted 128 of the best pool players from over 50 countries, who are vying for $300,000 in prize money, with $40,000 going to the eventual winner.
The tournament is run in two stages. The first stage has the players divided up into 16 groups of 8. There the players will play a double elimination format, race to 9, alternate break. The top four players in each group, two from the winners side, and two from the losers side, will advance into the final 64, which begins on June 27th.
From there, the tournament becomes a straight knockout, with all matches single elimination race to 11, alternate break. The finals, which will be played on June 29th, will be race to 13, alternate break.
The list of names assembled here in Doha is a who’s who of the games top stars, with literally dozens of world championships and major victories among them. In all there are 10 current or former world 9-ball champions in the field, including defending champion Japan’s Yukio Akagariyama who won in this very venue last year.
Other world 9-ball champions include the Philippines Francisco Bustamante(2010), England’s Daryl Peach(2007), the Philippines Ronnie Alcano(2006), Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann(2003), Finland’s Mika Immonen(2001), Taiwan’s Fong Pang Chao(2000, 1993), the Philippines Efren “Bata” Reyes(1999), Germany’s Ralf Souquet(1996), Germany’s Oliver Ortmann(1995).
The list of pool champions in the field doesn’t include just 9-ball. Current World 8-ball champion Chang Jun Lin of Taiwan is here. Also vying for glory will be two time US Open Champion and former World 10-Ball Champion Darren Appleton of England, 2011 World 8-ball Champion Dennis Orcullo of the Philippines, 2010 World 8-ball champion Karl boyes of England, 2010 World 10-ball champion Huidji See of the Netherlands, and former US Open Champion and the USA’s number one player, Shane Van Boening.
But of course as in every World 9-ball Championship, part of the fun is witnessing the rise of new talents from across the globe, as the game of 9-ball has spread far and wide over the last ten years. Fans are guaranteed train loads of nerve jangling drama throughout the event, with plenty of upsets sure to rock the Al Sadd and the pool world.
Once again the Philippines has the most number of entries with 16 players. Last year, more than a quarter of the players in the final 64 were from the Philippines. Considering the numbers entered this year, and with the high standard of all the Filipino players, expect a similar scenario this week. It would even be a fair bet to say a Filipino will probably make it at least to the semi-finals.
In order to stop players from soft breaking, the WPA has instituted the Illegal Break rule this year. On the break shot, a player must get three balls past the head string, or get a combination of 3 balls past the head string and/or pocketed.
The 2012 World 9-ball Championship is being hosted by the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation. The official tables are once again Diamond Tables, and the pockets have been set extremely tight as befits a world championship.
This is now the third straight year that Qatar has hosted the World 9-ball Championship. Qatar, which has the world’s third largest natural gas reserves and one of the highest per capita incomes in the world, hosting the prestigious pool world championship is adding yet another milestone in its sporting achievements.
Qatar emerged as the leading centre for sports. The country has been a major hub for big time international sporting events, including the 2006 Asian Games, the 2011 Asian Cup Football Championships, and the MotoGP World Championship.
The small but oil-rich country will also host the 2022 FIFA World Cup of Football and the 2015 World IHF Handball Championship.
The WPA will be providing full up to the minute coverage of the 2012 World 9-ball Championship via its website at www.wpapool.com. There you can follow the action through our live scoring platform, articles with insights and analysis, and updated brackets. Fans can also get updates via the WPA Twitter page, @poolwpa.com.
The prize breakdown is as follows:
Champion – $40,000
Runner-up – $20,000
3- 4 – $12,000
5-8 -$8,000
9-16 -$5,000
17-32 – $3,500
33-64- $2,000
65-96 – $1000 (loser of 2nd round in the loser’s bracket of Stage 2)
Total – $300,000
FACT FILE
2012 WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP (W9BC) OF THE WORLD POOL-BILLIARD ASSOCIATION
Sponsored by – Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC)
Co-sponsored by – Simonis (cloth)
Organised by – Qatar Billiards & Snooker Federation (QBSF)
Sanctioned by – World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) & Asian Pocket
Billiard Union (APBU)
Official Hotel: Wyndham Grand Regency
EQUIPMENT:
Diamond Tables
Simonis 860 Cloth, Electric Blue Color.
Aramith Super Pro TV Ball
FULL PLAYERS LIST
1 Akagariyama Yukio JPN
2 Chang Jung Lin TPE
3 Chris Melling GBR
4 Fu Che Wei TPE
5 Huidji See NED
6 Dennis Orcollo PHI
7 Darren Appleton GBR
8 Lee Van Corteza PHI
9 Ronnie Alcano PHI
10 Ko Pin Yi TPE
11 Liu Haitao CHN
12 Carlo Biado PHI
13 Thorsten Hohmann GER
14 Ralf Souquet GER
15 Chang Yu Lung TPE
16 Daryl Peach GBR
17 Fu Jianbo CHN
18 Roberto Gomez PHI
19 Shane Van Boening USA
20 Mark Gray GBR
21 Mika Immonen FIN
22 Lo Li Wen TPE
23 Hwang Yong KOR
24 Alok Kumar IND
25 Sundeep Gulati IND
26 Kuribatashi Tohru JPN
27 Hori Ryouji JPN
28 Kuo Yi Che TPE
29 Hsu Kai Lun TPE
30 Ryu Seung Woo KOR
31 Lee Wan Su KOR
32 Toh Lian Han SIN
33 Aloysius Yapp SIN
34 Do The Kien VIE
35 Nguyen Anh Tuan VIE
36 Francisco Bustamante PHI
37 Jundel Mazon PHI
38 Efren Reyes PHI
39 Antonio Gabica PHI-QAT
40 Israel Rota PHI-QAT
41 Kong Andrew HKG
42 Lee Chenman HKG
43 Lee He Wen CHN
44 Han Hao Xiang CHN
45 Dan Jing Hu CHN
46 Edwin Montal CAN
47 Jason Klatt CAN
48 John Morra CAN
49 Harvey Shognosh CAN
50 Hunter Lombardo USA
51 Tony Drago MLT
52 Philipp Stojanovic CRO
53 Ivica Putnik CRO
54 Karlo Dalmatin CRO
55 Bozidar Primic CRO
56 Malaj Nikolaos ALB
57 Roman Hybler CZE
58 Vicent Facquet FRA
59 Francisco Diaz-Pizarro ESP
60 Andrea Klasovic SRB
61 Marus Chamat SWE
62 Aki Heiskanen FIN
63 Mario He AUT
64 Albin Ouschan AUT
65 Manuel Gama POR
66 Henrique Correia POR
67 Dimitri Jungo SUI
68 Nick Van Den Berg NED
69 Niels Feijen NED
70 Jason Shaw GBR
71 Imran Majid GBR
72 Jones Richard GBR
73 Karl Boyes GBR
74 Oliver Ortmann GER
75 Jentsch Dominic GER
76 Thomas Engert GER
77 Serge Das BEL
78 Sniegocki Mateusz POL
79 Konstantin Stepanov RUS
80 Bruno Muratore ITA
81 Denis Grabe EST
82 Luis Lemus GUA
83 Jonny Martinez VEN
84 Jalal Yousef VEN
85 Ceri Worts NZL
86 Matthew Edwards NZL
87 Robby Foldvari AUS
88 Mohammad Ali Berjaoui LIB
89 Mazen Berjaoui LIB
90 Takhti Zarekani IRI
91 Ali Pordel IRI
92 Badr Al Awadi KUW
93 Abdullah Al Yousef KUW
94 Abdulwahed Al Awad KSA
95 Abdul Rahman Al Amar KSA
96 Hanni Alhowri UAE
97 Salaheldeen Alrimawi UAE
98 Ali Saeed Alsuwaidi UAE
99 Nayf Abdel Afou JOR
100 Rajandran Nair RSA
101 David N. Anderson RSA
102 Hamza Alsaeed ERI
103 Mohamed Elassal EGY
104 Al Masskini MAR
105 Bashar Hussain QAT
106 Mohd Al Bin Ali QAT
107 Abdulatif Fawal QAT
108 Mohd Buainain QAT
109 Ali Obaidly QAT
110 Waleed Majeed QAT
111 Mohammad Saeed QAT
112 Hayato Hijikata JPN
113 Yang Ching Shun TPE
114 Joyme Vicente PHI-UAE
115 Nick Ekonomopoulos GRE
116 Naoyuki Ohi JPN
117 Olver Medanilla PHI-UAE
118 Ramil Gallego PHI
119 Joven Alba PHI-UAE
120 Chao Fang Pang TPE
121 Majed Alazmi KUW
122 Marlon Caneda PHI-KSA
123 Omar Al Shahen KUW
124 Takashi Uraoka JPN
125 Elvis Calasang PHI-UAE
126 Khaled Al Mutairi KUW
127 Raymound Faraon PHI-UAE
128 Alaa Bata QAT
