With the field at the 2015 World 9-ball Championship now down to the final 32, it's clear that the sprint to the finish line is anyone's game.
(Doha, Qatar)– So you want to be the champion of the world? Well good because now comes the hard part.
After a day of weeding out the pretenders from the contenders at the Al Arabi Sports Club, and with the field having been halved from 64 to 32 players, the 2015 World 9-ball Championship is now headed for what will surely be a dramatic climax over the next two days. Thursday promises to offer up enough drama, nerves and memorable pool to last many years as anyone who has designs on 9-ball’s biggest prize will be put through the meat grinder, with the field being whittled down to just four players at the end of the day’s play.
The group of 32 remaining players offers pool fans a fascinating combination of champions, veterans, potential rising stars and a few newcomers all ready to do battle. Many had to pass stern tests in their round of 64 match ups today, with some players being taken to the very limit before barely getting over the finish line.
It would be difficult to say that there were any shocking results in any of today’s 32 matches. That’s because the lesson from this year’s World 9-ball Championship is that the talent level in professional pool has risen dramatically from all corners of the globe. Perhaps never before in pool history has there been so many top level players competing all at once. This has produced a parity that makes predicting winners extremely difficult.
Nowhere was this more clear than in an early match featuring one of the tournament’s favorites, Taiwan’s Ko Pin Yi. Ko, the current World 10-ball champion and a marvelous talent, found himself down 4-1 early to James Campbell from Australia. Australia? Yeah you read that right. The land down under hasn’t produced word beaters in a long time but the young Aussie looked cool as ice as he stayed even through the halfway point. Ko, however, had too much class and won 11-7, but not before taking a few solid hits.
Ko already knows to prepare himself for some major blows in his round of 32 match on Thursday. There he’ll face the man he barely beat in the finals of the World 10-ball championship in February, the Philippines Carlo Biado. Biado absolutely wiped the floor of the Al Arabi clean with fellow Filipino Lee Vann Corteza today. This matchup between two of the sport’s best young talents is about as good as pool can produce. Whoever wins between Ko and Biado could very well go all the way.
England’s Mark Gray is starting to feel that he too could have designs on the big prize, especially after making a great escape today against the legendary German Ralf Souquet. Gray trailed the entire match, but hung around and at 9-7 down he won three straight racks to move to the hill. Souquet countered to tie but Gray broke and ran for a very satisfying victory.
Afterward Gray seemed downright ebullient and for good reason. He knows his rock solid snooker-trained stroke can hold up as good as anyone’s under the immense pressure of championship pool. And since becoming a father last year, his new found positive attitude at the table has been a key to his stock rising once again.
“I’m not renowned for my stickability,” Gray said referring to his once shaky resiliency. “Sometimes I can get down on myself. But since I became a family man a couple of years ago, I realized that there’s more important things than pool. I just try to enjoy pool a lot more now. Ever since my little girl Sofia was born a couple of years ago, things seem to have happened for me on the pool table. I seem to be a lot more relaxed at the table, I hold myself together. And I seem to get rewarded for it.”
Gray will have all he can handle in his next match against one of pool’s fastest rising talents, John Morra. The Canadian pounded the UAE’s Omran Salem, 11-2.
Several other veterans produced fine victories in the early sessions today. Finland’s Mika Immonen, the 2001 World 9-ball Champion and a member of the Hall of Fame, continued his impressive form with an 11-2 win over Singapore’s Goh ChinTeck. The Philippines’ Warren Kiamco outlasted countryman Raymund Faraon 11—7. And Wu Jia Qing, who won the World 9-ball title exactly 10 years ago at the age of 16 years old, crushed Indonesia’s Irsan Nasution, 11-3. Wu will now feature in a hardcore match against world number 1, Albin Ouschan of Austria, who outlasted Japan’s Satoshi Kawabata, 11-8.
Today’s matches also showcased some terrific young talents, and fans will now get a chance to see them matchup.
Russia’s Ruslan Chinakov has been turning heads of late, and his 11-5 drubbing of the Philippines’ Antonio Gabica had fans singing the 23 year old’s praises. Since he appeared on the scene six years ago, Chinakov’s been known as a pool prodigy who didn’t like to practice much and didn’t have a head for pressure situations. But the Russian has recently redoubled his efforts in pool, even hiring renowned Dutch coach Johan Ruysink to help bring his game to championship level.
“I’m trying to get my game back to when I was 17 or 18 years old,” Chinakov said. “That’s when I played my best pool. This year has been good so far. Johan has helped me by telling me to keep my mind clear. It seems to be working.”
Chinakov will get a chance to test his new found confidence when he trades blows with Chinese rising star Wang Can, who took down Japan’s Tohru Kuribayashi, 11-7.
Singapore’s Aloisius Yapp and the Philippines Jeffrey Ignacio are two youngsters who have shown serious promise and will face off in the final 32. Yapp outlasted Japan’s Naoyuki Oi 11-9, while Ignacio routed Canada’s Jason Klatt, 11-5.
While Americans rightfully focus on the great Van Boening as their potential savior in 9-ball, Dechaine has exhibited all the tools so far this week to create serious waves. The 28 year old played a brilliant match today and his confidence level seems to be soaring.
“I’m playing great right now and I feel good,” Dechaine said after his high qualify match with Cheng. “I’ve got good concentration, focus, I’m breathing good. I’m not that nervous…yet. I think I’m playing rotation pool as good as anybody right now. I’m not going to put any pressure on myself. I’m not going to expect anything.”
England’s Darren Appleton had an easy time in his match against Mexico’s Reuben Bautista, winning 11-3. Appleton will now have a showdown with Greece’s Nick Ekonomopoulos, who outlasted Norway’s Matey Ullah, 11-7. Another Greek, Alexander Kazakis, pulled off his biggest win to date with a nervy 11-10 comeback victory over Taiwanese veteran and two time former world champion Fong Pang Chao.
Taiwan’s former world number 1 Chang Yu Lung looked like a monster with his 11-4 win over the Netherland’s Marc Bijsterbosch. Another Taiwanese, 19 year old Ko Pin Chung, who is the younger brother of Ko Pin Yi, looked positively brilliant with an 11-5 drubbing of Austria’s Mario He. The younger Ko will now be tested by the 2011 World 9-ball Champion, Yukio Akagariyama.
Spain brings two solid players in the final 32. Davide Alcaide came back to defeat Tawainese veteran Yang Ching Shun. Francisco Diaz Pizarro, the current European 9-ball champion, barely beat China’s very formidable Dang Jing Hu, 11-10.
Qatar’s last remaining hope never stood a chance, as debutante Mishel Turkey fell to the Philippines’ Dennis Orcollo, 11-1.
The field will be reduced to four players by the end of play on Thursday. The semi-finals and finals will be played on Friday.
**The 2015 WPA World 9-ball Championship takes place at the Al Arabi Sports Club Sports Club in Doha, Qatar from September 7-18, 2015. The winner of the 2015 World 9-ball Championship will receive $30,000. The runner up will receive $15,000. The total prize fund is $200,000.
The players will be competing on Wiraka New Model Tables with Simonis 860 Cloth, Electric Blue Color and using Aramith Super Pro TV Balls.
The Qatar Billiard and Snooker Federation(QBSF), which is once again hosting and organizing the World 9-ball Championship, will be providing free live streaming of the entire tournament, in cooperation with Kozoom. Fans can watch the action live on the QBSF website at, http://live.qbsf.qa/. With all 14 tables streamed live, fans can select which table they want to watch and switch between tables at their convenience.
Complete up to date brackets can be found here: http://competition.kozoom.com/en/home/qatar/
The WPA will be on hand in Doha throughout this year’s World 9-ball Championship providing up to the minute information, live scoring, photographs and in depth articles with insights and analysis from WPA Press Officer Ted Lerner.
Fans can interact with us through the WPA’s official Facebook Page for the event at this link;https://www.facebook.com/wpaworld9ballchampionship
Saudi Arabia’s Abdulrahman Al Amar leads a crop of surprising players who have booked their spots in the Final 64 of the World 9-ball Championship.
(Doha, Qatar)–If the results of Day 3 at the 2015 World 9-ball Championship are any indication, change in the sport of pool is most definitely in the air.
Today’s three sessions were given over to all winners’ side matches in the 16 groups with 32 spots available in the coveted single elimination round of 64, which begins on Wednesday. Losers in Monday’s matches knew they’d be given another chance to advance on Tuesday so the brutal pressure of judgement day, where every match is do-or-die, wasn’t quite as bad. Still, five former World 9-ball champions and the current defending champion all had chances to advance today. All lost and will have to come back again for one final go on Tuesday.
It was an excellent day for the Philippines, which sent five players through, as well as China and Taiwan, which each saw four of their players advance to the knockout rounds.
With the absence this year of legends Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante, Filipino overseas workers in Qatar haven’t turned out in quite the numbers that they have in the past to watch their fellow countrymen do battle. Still, Filipino fans are starting to warm up to the superb talents that are clearly ready to take their own place on the big stage.
Dennis Orcollo has won tournaments around the globe, and is a threat to win any event he enters. Orcollo faced a stingy opponent in Hosain Sayeem from Bangladesh, but overcame several errors to cruise, 9-6. Carlo Biado, another highly touted Filipino, has been knocking on the door of big time success for two years now. Biado looked impressive in his 9 – 5 win over Italy’s Daniele Corrieri.
Two young guns from the Philippines who aren’t that well known to local Pinoys, but very well could be in the coming days, are Jeffrey Ingacio and Raymond Faraon. Both youngsters possess scary-good games and they showed it today as they advanced with solid wins.
Easily the most popular Filipino at the moment in Qatar is veteran Antonio Gabica. The superbly talented Gabica moved to Qatar several years ago and works as a coach for the Qatar national pool team. Two years ago Gabica electrified both local Filipinos and Qataris when he made an incredible march to the finals, only to fall short to eventual championThorsten Hohmann. Gabica won his second straight match today to advance to the Final 64.
It’s been ten years since China’s Wu Jia Qing, then known as Wu Chia Ching and playing for Taiwan, stunned the pool world by winning the World 9-ball Championship at just 16 years old. Wu grabbed a spot in the final 64 today, easily defeating one of the Philippines best unknown players, Oliver Medenilla, 9-2.
Joining Wu in the Final 64 is one of China’s most promising young talents, Wang Can, who defeated the Netherlands’ Marc Bijsterbosch, 9 -4. Dang Jin Hu and Lee Hei Wen, two other members of the China’s government funded national pool team, advanced to the knockout stage with victories.
Taiwan’s Ko Pin Yi, the current World 10-ball champion, is one of the top five favorites to win the World 9-ball Championship this year. Ko advanced today with his second straight win, beating Norway’s Matey Ullah, 9-6.
As good as the 26 year old Ko is, his younger brother, 19 year old Ko Ping Chung, has talent that is simply off the charts. The rail thin and baby faced Ping Chung seems to go hardly noticed in the arena and his unfortunate opponents tend to pay the price for thinking he can barely hold a cue. The younger Ko booked his spot in the Final 64 today with an easy win over Peru’s Christopher Teves, 9 -2.
Also making it to the Final 64 for Taiwan was last year’s semi-finalist and former world number one, Chang Yu Lung, and Wu Kun Lin.
Part of the fun of this year’s World 9-ball Championship has been witnessing the rise of some great new talents from unlikely places who are ready to make a name for themselves. Greece’s Alexander Kazakis jumped out to a 4-0 lead over defending champion Niels Feijen only to see the Dutch great claw back into the match and take it to down to a one rack decider. But the 24 year old Greek held his nerve to stave off Feijen’s fight back, and book his spot in the knockout rounds.
“I’m feeling great,” a clearly pumped Kazakis said after his win. “In the game of pool anything can happen. Even the underdog can win, especially in alternate break, just a race to 9. So it’s nice. I’m lucky for now. This win really helps my confidence. We’ll see what happens from here.”
Venezuela’s Jalal Yousef has been around the pro ranks for nearly a decade but his match today against two time World 9-ball champion Thorsten Hohmann was probably the biggest of his career. Yousef prepared himself for war and after jumping out to a sizeable lead on the German, that’s exactly what he got as the match went straight to the cliff and a one rack decider. Yousef held on for the career best victory.
“He wasn’t too lucky,” Yousef said afterwards. “ I caught the chance and I played my game and thanks to God I won. We are talking about Thorsten Hohmann. When you beat this guy in a tough match like that and you are playing your A game, that is the kind of match that gives you a lot confidence moving forward.”
Mexico will see its first player in over a decade in the Final 64 as Rueben Bautista held off Poland’s Radislaw Babica in a 9-8 thriller to advance. This is the 26 year old Mexico City native’s first World 9-ball Championship but the youngster is not short of experience. He’s been traveling the world for the last two years, including spending two months in the Philippines, honing his game.
One of the biggest surprises of the day came from a country not normally associated with producing world class pool talents. Abdulrahman Al Amar, a 27 year old from Saudi Arabia, played a brilliant match against the Philippines and world number 12 Johan Chua. Al Amar, who is ranked number one in Saudi, and third in the Middle East, battled toe to toe with the Filipino and outfoxed Chua at the end to win 9-7. It’s only the second time ever that a player from Saudi Arabia has advanced to the Final 64.
“I played very good today,” Al Amar said. But I was really nervous. For one month I was practicing very hard. My goal was to get a good finish in the tournament so I’m very happy to qualify for the final 64. From here I will do my best. Just one game at a time.”
For the first time in many years, the USA will have two players in the knockout rounds. Mike Dechaine, playing in his first World 9-ball Championship, took down former world champion Daryl Peach, 9-5. Shane Van Boening also won going away, beating Great Britain’s Richard Jones by the same score.
“My break is working really well,” Van Boening said afterward. ”I need to work on a few shots to be more comfortable. I need to go practice more.
“This is the only tournament on my belt that I haven’t won yet. I’ve pretty much won every tournament there is to win, except this. It would mean a lot to me. If I win the World 9-ball then I can just say to myself, ‘mission accomplished.’”
Several former champions made it through as Mika Immonen continued to impress with a 9-5 win over Germany’s Oliver Ortmann. Japan’s Yukio Akagariyama looked good in his 9-6 win over Taiwan’s Yang Ching Shun.
Play continues on Tuesday with the final round of the group stages. All matches will be do or die as players vie for the last 32 spots in the single elimination round of 64, which begins on Wednesday. The semi-finals and finals will be held on Friday September 18th.
**The 2015 WPA World 9-ball Championship takes place at the Al Arabi Sports Club Sports Club in Doha, Qatar from September 7-18, 2015. The winner of the 2015 World 9-ball Championship will receive $30,000. The runner up will receive $15,000. The total prize fund is $200,000.
The players will be competing on Wiraka New Model Tables with Simonis 860 Cloth, Electric Blue Color and using Aramith Super Pro TV Balls.
The Qatar Billiard and Snooker Federation(QBSF), which is once again hosting and organizing the World 9-ball Championship, will be providing free live streaming of the entire tournament, in cooperation with Kozoom. Fans can watch the action live on the QBSF website at, http://live.qbsf.qa/. With all 14 tables streamed live, fans can select which table they want to watch and switch between tables at their convenience.
The WPA will be on hand in Doha throughout this year’s World 9-ball Championship providing up to the minute information, live scoring, photographs and in depth articles with insights and analysis from WPA Press Officer Ted Lerner.
Amidst some of the toughest competition ever assembled, pool's best shine on day 1 of the World 9-ball Championship in Doha.
(Doha, Qatar)–Like all the top players, Canada’s John Morra just wanted to get out of the starting gates on Day 1 of the 2015 World 9-ball Championship with a win. A loss on the first day of group play can be a total downer as you’re now suddenly faced with a pressure packed, do-or-die match in the double elimination format. If you don’t get your head in the game and your game in gear, you can quickly be headed for the exits in a New York second, you’re dreams of pool glory gone for another 12 months.
That’s the prospect the 26 year old from Toronto surely faced as he found himself down 6-1 and then 7-3 and playing miserably in his opening race to 9 match against Austria’s tough Mario He. Morra, however, has built up a steady stream of high finishes in the last 18 months and understood that winning in championship pool often requires patience, a positive attitude, and the ability to pounce when you’re opponent shows even the slightest bit of weakness.
And so when the big Austrian made a few mistakes, and showed his disgust with himself, Morra took it as his cue that he had life remaining. Slowly Morra fought back, gained confidence, while He became more frustrated with the mounting mistakes. Tied at 8-8 Morra had the Austrian by the throat, played a lockdown safety, and won the match 9-8.
“I was down 7-3, I just couldn’t find my stroke,” a clearly pumped Morra said after match. “I was getting some bad rolls and that’s expected when you’re not playing well. I just clawed my way back game by game. I was saying to myself ‘you’re going to get your opportunities so just stay calm.’ I started breaking well and I trusted my instincts under the pressure and just committed to each shot. Every little mistake he made gave me energy because he was getting upset with himself. I just fed off of that.”
Having turned near failure into opportunity and success, the talented Canadian suddenly feels the experience bodes well for his chances this year.
“I feel like I have a new life now. I was facing defeat and then maybe elimination if I lose my next one so that would’ve been a lot of pressure. But I managed to come back and win. So now I can just come out and play without pressure because I had my back against the ropes and I didn’t expect to win that one but I did.”
Morra’s gritty victory was easily the comeback of the day as the 2015 World 9-ball Championship got under way with 36 matches played out over four sessions at the sparkling Al Arabi Sports Club in Doha. Fans used to stunning upsets in the early going in this event got nothing of the sort. What they did get was a quick reminder of the sheer amount of incredible talent from all corners of the globe and that over the next week, we are surely going to be treated to some of the highest level of pool ever seen.
Defending champion Niels Feijen found himself down 3-0 early to Qatar-based Filipino Francisco Felicilda, who has recently been playing some of the best pool in the Middle East. But the Dutchman stormed back and played brilliantly, routing the talented Pinoy 9 – 4. Only one player in history, Earl Strickland, has ever won back to back World 9-ball titles. Feijen’s opening salvo today showed he has every intention of trying to become the second player to accomplish the feat.
Plenty of other top names and favorites looked exceptional today as well. Mika Immonen has been showing his old Hall of Fame form in the last few weeks. The Finn put in a terrific performance today against another solid Qatar based Filipino, Amir Rota, winning handily 9-4. Last year’s runner-up Albin Ouschan of Austria won handily. Taiwan’s Ko Pin Yi, the current World 10-ball champion, won easily over Estonia’s Denis Grabe, 9-2. Ko’s 19 year old brother Ko Pin Chung looked solid in defeating Sweden’s Marcus Chamat. Former 9-ball champion and legend Ralf Souquet squeaked by Taiwan’s Chang Jung Lin, 9-8. American Shane Van Boeing struggled against the UAE’s Omran Salem but eventually prevailed 9-6. The Philippines’ Carlo Biado, who has been knocking on the door of big time success in the last two years, also saw victory today.
While Biado represents the best of the younger generation of great Pinoys, 45 year old Warren Kiamco is ably carrying the flag for the older generation of Filipino greats, especially with the absence of legends Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante. As expected Kiamco easily beat Norway’s Vegar Kristiansen today.
Filipino fans looking for one of their own to go far can surely look to the low key Kiamco to deliver the goods this week. The 20 year veteran has been playing the best pool of his long career this year, as evidenced by his win at the Derby City 9-ball event back in January and quarter final finish at the World 10-ball in February. Kiamco, who spends nearly five months out of the year honing his game in the US, says his recent resurgence in pool is a result of a renewed commitment to the sport.
“I’m dedicated to this game,” Kiamco said. “I’m still practicing hard for the tournaments and also I’m quite disciplined and focused on my game. I need it. I have to make a living. This is the job that I know. I am also a member of the Philippine national team so I need to practice hard.
“In 2006 I stopped playing pool for a while but I got a new interest in pool. And now I practice all the time because I really want to do well. But in the World 9-ball you need to not just play good, you also need luck. If I can win this tournament that would really mean a lot to me. This is one of my dreams to be a world champion some day. But it’s really tough. Too many good players, too many young players. And you have to be able to compete with all of them.”
Mike DechaineOne of those young players Kiamco could be referring to is the USA’s Mike Dechaine. Except for Shane Van Boening, top Americans have been scarce at the World 9-ball Championship for six years running, a sorry fact that nobody in pool wants to see continue. The 28 year old from the US state of Maine has been one of the USA’s best players for the last several years, and his recent string of near misses seems to indicate he is on to something big. This is the young American’s first ever time to play in the World 9-ball Championship. After defeating Chile’s Alejandro Carvajal today 9-4, Dechaine said he was thrilled with the experience and that it will be the first of many testing the waters overseas.
“I played Ok but not as good as I wanted to, probably 60 to 70 percent, but I’m just getting over my first World 9-ball Championship jitters,” Dechaine said. “I’m very pleased with the atmosphere, it’s incredible. You’ve got a big arena, every table is in perfect condition and they do it right here. The atmosphere is right. The jet leg is what hurts me but hopefully I’ll get past that and do well.
“I’m trying to expand my horizons. I want to start traveling a lot more overseas and getting more experience playing in different atmospheres and playing against different people who have different techniques. I think more of these trips are going to be in the future. I think I’m going to team up with Shane, maybe go to Moscow, go to Japan.
“I definitely think I can win this tournament. I play rotation pool with the best in the world. I think it comes down to the break. It’s very important that you get a shot after the break. That’s a little bit of luck. I just have to think positive and continue to make balls.”
The group stages continue on day 2 on Sunday at the Al Arabi Sports Club. Players in the remaining 4 groups will play their first round matches followed by losers bracket matches which will see two dozen players head for the exits.
**The 2015 WPA World 9-ball Championship takes place at the Al Arabi Sports Club Sports Club in Doha, Qatar from September 7-18, 2015. The winner of the 2015 World 9-ball Championship will receive $30,000. The runner up will receive $15,000. The total prize fund is $200,000.
The players will be competing on Wiraka New Model Tables with Simonis 860 Cloth, Electric Blue Color and using Aramith Super Pro TV Balls.
The Qatar Billiard and Snooker Federation(QBSF), which is once again hosting and organizing the World 9-ball Championship, will be providing free live streaming of the entire tournament, in cooperation with Kozoom. Fans can watch the action live on the QBSF website at, http://live.qbsf.qa/. With all 14 tables streamed live, fans can select which table they want to watch and switch between tables at their convenience.
The WPA will be on hand in Doha throughout this year’s World 9-ball Championship providing up to the minute information, live scoring, photographs and in depth articles with insights and analysis from WPA Press Officer Ted Lerner.
Fans can interact with us through the WPA’s official Facebook Page for the event at this link;https://www.facebook.com/wpaworld9ballchampionship
