The third annual World 8-Ball Championship (www.world8ballchampionship.com) is now underway in Fujairah, UAE. The gala opening ceremonies were held Thursday night and all but two matches of the opening round were completed on Friday. The opening ceremonies were highlighted by speeches from the organizers and from the Diamond Sponsor of the event, Damas, creators of fine fashion jewelry.
Sixty-four of the best 8-Ball players in the world began play on Friday and this field will be reduced to thirty-two players by Sunday evening. Held at the Al Bashton Hall, this first series of matches finds the players divided into groups of eight and battling to survive these opening rounds to make it into the final field.
With only a single match complete for each player, no one has as yet been eliminated, but many players are now ‘on the bubble' and must not lose another match or face an early trip home. One player who many would have expected not to be in this situation is Ralf Souquet, the former World 9-Ball Champion from Germany. But Souquet lost his match today 8-5 against Darrren Appleton of Great Britain and so must win his matches on Saturday and Sunday to remain in the field.
Defending Champion Chia-Ching Wu of Taipei is showing grand form, winning his match today against Carlos Alburez of Guatemala 8-0. Other internationally renowned players who had successful efforts today included Thomas Engert (GER), Oliver Ortmann (GER), Niels Feijen (NED), Thorsten Hohmann (GER), Hui-Kai Hsia (TPE), Nick Van Den Berg (NED), current World 9-Ball Champion Ronnie Alcano (PHI), Dennis Orcollo (PHI), Francisco Bustamante (PHI), and Marcus Chamat (SWE).
Play continues in Fujairah on Saturday beginning at 2PM. Complete results for the day are listed below.
Group A:
Chia-Ching Wu (TPE) def Carlos Alburez (GUA) 8-0
Thomas Damm (GER) def Kareem Al Gendi (EGY) 8-0
Jason Klatt (CAN) def Saeed Al Mutawe (UAE) 8-3
Elvis Calasang (PHI) def Naif Al Jeweni (KSA) 8-2
Group B:
Thomas Engert (GER) def Nasser Al Mujabal (KUW) 8-1
Goran Mladenovic (SCG) def Omran Salem (UAE) 8-1
Mario Tolentino (PHI) def Mohammed Aseel (EGY) 8-7
Niels Feijen (NED) def Günter Geisen (GER) 8-2
Group C:
Thorsten Hohmann (GER) def Joven Bustamante (PHI) 8-6
Serge Das (BEL) def Roberto Freitas (ANT) 8-2
Farhad Shaverdi (IRA) def Henrik Asperup (DEN) 8-7
Oliver Ortmann (GER) def Muhammed Al Hosani (UAE) 8-2
Group D:
Hui-Kai Hsia (TPE) def Kevin Becker (GER) 8-4
Alec Evriniadis (AUS) def Omar Al Serkal (UAE) 8-7
Nick van den Berg (NED) def Issa Al Boloshi (UAE) 8-4
Group E:
Ronnie Alcano (PHI) def Rafath Habib (IND) 8-3
Joven Alba (PHI) def Hani AL Howri (UAE) 8-4
Erik Hjorleifson (CAN) def Ben Nunan (AUS) 8-6
Swatoshi Kawabata (JPN) def Arif Allah (PAK) 8-3
Group F:
Dennis Orcollo (PHI) def Karl Boyes (GBR) 8-3
Francisco Bustamante (PHI) def Alexander Dremsizis (GER) 8-1
Aki Heiskanen (FIN) def Naoyuki Ohi (JPN) 8-4
James Ortega (PHI) def Saleh Al Rimawi (UAE) 8-5
Group G:
Marcus Chamat (SWE) def Hisashi Kusano (JPN) 8-2
Darren Appleton (GBR) def Ralf Souquet (GER) 8-4
Olaf Köster (GER) def Jobert Panga (PHI) 8-7
Group H:
Joybe Vincente (PHI) def Muhammed Benali (QAT) 8-3
Bashar Hussein (QAT) def Mubarak Al Juneebi (UAE) 8-2
