Pro9 - Europe's No.1 Pool Player Resource

WPA Etisalat World 8-Ball Championships 2010
Fujairah Tennis & Country Club
Fujairah
United Arab Emirates
www.ftcc-sim.ae
www.wpa-pool.com
www.world8ballchampionship.com
Download the brackets (small .xls file) - Updated with Day 3 results!
View the live score courtesy of AZ Billiards

4-10 April 2010

Mika Immonen - Finland
Eliminations Complete for Round of Thirty-Two

The final day for qualifying in to the round of 32 in Fujairah bore few surprises but some impressive comebacks. Marcus Chamat trailed 5-0 to Won Sik Ham but reached deep to come out 8-6 on top. World #1 Mika Immonen was also in bad trouble early as he trailed Mohammed Hosani 5-1 and was still able to mount an 8-7 victory. Scott Higgins led his match most of the way but still had a tough one as he barely escaped Saeed Al Mutawe 8-7 and John Morra enjoyed the easiest road in the first round as he bested Vincent Facquet 8-3.

The second round of the day found heartbreak for one player. Mehde Rasheki played as tough as a bull to pul ahead of Vecenancio Tanio by a game but Tanio fought back and they wound up at double-hill. Rasheki clawed his way through a very tough layout to get a good shot at the eight in the side for the win. But his arm sensed the severity of the moment and betrayed him. The eight caught the nose of the side pocket and hung there, refusing to fall. Tanio ran through the table and took the eight ball for the win and Rasheki was relegated to the long wait for next year.

"Read More..." for the details.

Mateusz Sniegocki - Poland
Chang Pei-Wei and Dennis Orcullo had easier times of it with Chang eliminating Sandlie Madlala 8-5 and Orcullo ruining things for Ismail Yaqab 8-3. David Alcaide led his match 5-3 against Oliver Medenillia but then Medenillia kicked it up a notch and stormed back to win the match 8-6.

Round #3 saw a pair of near walkovers. Ko Pin-Yi demolished Kim Aquino 8-1 and Francis Crevier made easy work of Mustafa Hasan 8-3. Former World Champion Thorsten Hohmann found himself in a very tough match with Masaaki Tanaki that went to double-hill. Thorsten cleared his set of balls but then miscued on the eight and Tanaki took ball in hand to clear his set and then drop the eight for the win 8-7. Closing out this round Jeff de Luna defeated Kenny Kwok 8-3.

The last round found Marlon Manalo true to form as he easily got past Shaker Wahdan 8-3. Huijdi See had it a but closer as he wound up over Magid Al Azimi 8-6, Mattez Sniegocki won out over Rueben Bautista 8-4 and our final match found Basher Hussein besting Takhti Zarekani 8-5.

The single-elimination rounds begin tomorrow at 3PM local UAE time.

Stephan Cohen - France

Day Two of the WPA World 8 Ball Championships

Ruslan Chinakov - Russia
Day Two Complete at World 8-Ball Championships

Our second day of competition at the Etisalat World 8-Ball Championships in Fujairah, UAE, began with a round of winner�s side match-ups. The Russian powerhouse, Ruslan Chinakhov, got his day underway with a satisfying 8-6 victory over David Alcaide after Alcaide had led the match early at 3-0. Ronnie Alcano also trailed early in his match against Mohammed Hosani and at one point trailed 5-1 only to dig down deep and rally to an 8-6 win.

Ricky Yang made t look easy as he trampled one of the strongest players in the world, Pei-Wei Chang, 8-2 and in a match that saw a lot of its time consumed with racking issues Karl Boyes ate up Won Sik Ham 8-3. Yukio Akakariyama easily handled Mehdi Rasheki 8-4 and Joven Alba never broke a sweat as he dominated Scott Higgins 8-3. Raymond Faraon then beat Vincent Facquet 8-3 and Lee van Corteza finished the round by defeating Dennis Orcullo 8-5.

The second round, also winner�s side, had some great match-ups. Pin-Yi Ko vs. Shane van Boening, Thorsten Hohmann, vs. Andreas Roschkowksi, and Huijdi See vs. Antonio Gabica among them. Van Boening was the first to finish, cruising past Ko 8-4 in a marvelous display of position play. Shortly later Jalal Sarkesi booked his seat into the final 32 with an 8-5 win over Mustafa Hassan in a match that was tied at 5 games apiece before Sarkesi found his high gear.

Ralf Souquet - Germany
Ralf Souquet continued his winning ways with an 8-1 victory over Reuben Batista while Antonio Gabica kept it a bit closer in his 8-5 win over Huidji See. Niels Feijen bested Shaker Wahdan 8-5 while Stephan Cohen ended his match with an 8-4 win over Basher Hussein. Andreas Roschkowski came back from a 6-5 deficit against Thorsten Hohmann to win his match 8-6. Darren Appleton closed the round out with an 8-2 victory over Kenny Kwok.

This brought us to the do or die rounds on the one-loss side. Any loss here means your efforts are over and you can only look forward to being a spectator for the remainder of the event. The nerves begin to cook your arm. Marcus Chamat seemed impervious to the heat. He destroyed Ali Nashi 8-0 to begin the round. Neither did Mika Immonen break a sweat as he easily got past Lee Chen Man 8-2. Oliver Medenilla had more of a struggle then the score shows but took advantage of the opportunities when they came and won 8-3 over Majid Sultan.

Other matches were closer. Ismail Yaqob defeated Moein Khefri 8-5 and Saeed Al Mutawe beat Mohamed Al Assel by the same margin. Vincenancio Tanio slid by Khaled Sebata 8-6 while John Morra escaped a match that had seen many ties to win 8-5. Finally, Sandile Madlala lived for at least one more round when he inched past Hussin Sayeem 8-7.

The last group of the evening found Matteuz Sniegnocki defeating Sumit Talwar 8-4, Magid Al Azmi over Kang Lee 8-2, Kim Aquino beating Abdulatif Fawal 8-4, Francis Crevier over Abdullah Yousef 8-2 and Jeff de Luna besting Lu Hui Chan 8-6. Finally, Takhti Zarekani defeated Amin Fekry 8-6 while our last two matches went hill-hill. Marlon Manalo took Salah Al Remwy 8-7 and then Masaaki Tanaki defeated Omran Salem, also 8-7.

Niels Feijen - Netherlands

Ricky Yang - Indonesia

Day One of the WPA World 8 Ball Championships

Vincent Facquet - France
First Round of Play in the UAE

The first round of the elimination stages began today at the Etisalat WPA World 8-Ball Championships in Fujairah, UAE in the beautiful Fujairah tennis club. In the very first group to go out Joven Alba set what must be a record for finishing a race to eight in 8-Ball. He defeated Ali Nasih 8-0 in under thirty minutes!

Our first upset of the tournament occurred in the same round when Vincent Facquet defeated world ranked number 1 Mika Immonen. Facquet went out to an early 3-1 lead but Immonen held steady and brought the math back to even at 3. Then Facquet again surged to a 6-3 lead and again the Iceman was able to bring the score line level at 6. From there the hard-working Frenchman gave no quarter and never allowed Immonen to see another eight ball as he closed out the win 8-6 to send Immonen over to the sudden-death side of the charts.

Other matches of note found Scott Higgins defeating Marcus Chamat 8-6 and Karl Boyes winning 8-5 over Saeed Al Mutawe. Also Ronnie Alcano slaughtered Radoslaw Babica 8-1, Raymund Faraon beating Lee Chenman 8-4, Won Sik Ham (please say that name out loud) beating Mohamed Al Assel 8-5 and Mohammed Hosani slipping past John Morra 8-7.

Thorsten Hohmann - Germany
Round two was a bit more predictable. Ruslan Chinakhov won his match 8-1 over Moein Khedri. Ricky Yang dismantled Khaled Sebata 8-0, Dennis Orcullo took down Oliver Mednilla 8-2, Mehdi Rasheki ran over Sandile Madlala 8-2 and Hussin Sayeem fell to Yukio Akakariyama 8-3. Predator International champion David Alcaide won his match 8-3 over Ismail Yaqob, Lee Van Corteza survived a late-round surge by Majid Sultan to survive 8-5 and Pei-Wei Chang defeated Khaled Sebata 8-3.

The first man to finish in round three was Shane Van Boening. The very confident-looking Van Boening wasted little time in beating Masaki Tanaka 8-3 even though he very uncharacteristically actually scratched early in the match with ball in hand. (Makes you feel a little better about your game, yes?) Three-time World Juniors Champion Pin-Yi Ko knocked the pins out from under Omran Salem 8-1 and Andreas Roschkowsky nearly duplicated that with his 8-2 drubbing of Kim Aquino. The drought on close scores continued when Jalal Sarkeski upset Lu Hui Chan 8-3 and worsened when Thorsten Hohmann handed the 8-0 doughnut to Abdulatif Fawal.

The other matches were closer. Darren Appleton got by Francis Crevier 8-6 and Jeff de Luna was upset by Mustafa Hassan 8-5 in a match that never saw de Luna catch a gear or even get his famous break working. Finally, Kenny Kwok and Abdullah Yousef had a close battle throughout that ended with Kwok on top 8-6.

Our final round of the day began with Huijdi See demolishing Sumit talwar 8-2. Stephan Cohen treated Salah Al Remwy no better and won by the same score. The quick-game massacres continued with Niels Feijen defeating Takhti Zarekani 8-3 and Ralf Souquet rolling past Kang Lee also 8-3.

Antonio Gabica looked in fine form and never appeared to feel any pressure as he methodically dismantled Matteuz Sniegocki 8-4. Rueben Bautista then ended his day on a positive note by taking out Majid Al Azmi 8-5 and at about the same time Marlon Manalo and Bashar Hussein took their match to double hill, tied at seven games apiece. Manalo took a break to gather his thoughts. But he scratched on the break to give the ball in hand advantage to Hussein. Hussein took the rack and sent Manalo over to the desperation side of the charts.

Finally, the day came to an end when Shaker Wahdan ran the last table he saw and went home the victor over Amin Fekry 8-5.

A special word of thanks must go out to Knight Shot, one of the primary sponsors of this event. Not only are they supplying the tables they are also providing 24-hour technical support for the players. According to their representative they are the only WPA-approved supplier in the region with this capability. Tournaments of this caliber rely on sponsors such as this to make these events possible.

Huidji See - Netherlands

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE GROUPS
Group 1 Mika Immonen (FIN) Vincent Facquet (FR) Lee Chen Man (HKG) Raymund Faraon (PHI) Mohammed Hosani (UAE) John Morra (CAN) Ronnie Alcano (PHI) Radislaw Babica (POL)	Group 2 Karl Boyes (GBR) Saeed Al Mutawe (UAE) Won Sik Ham (KOR) Mohamed Al Assel (Egypt) Joven Alba (PHI) Ali Nasih (Maldives) Scott Higgins (GBR) Marcus Chamat (SWE)
Group 3 Ricky Yang (INO) Khaled Sebata (UAE) Chang Pei Wei (TPE) Vicenancio Tanio ( PHI) Sandile Madlala (SA) Mehdi Rasheki (IRI) Hussin Sayeem (BAN) Yukio Akakariyama (JPN)	Group 4 David Alcaide (ESP) Ismail Yaqob (UAE) Ruslan Chinakov (RUS) Moein Khedri (IRI) Oliver Medenilla (PHI) Dennis Orcullo (PHI) Majid Sultan (UAE) Lee Van Corteza (PHI)
Group 5 Darren Appleton (GBR) Francis Crevier (CAN) Kenny Kwok (HKG) Abdullah Yousef (KUW) Jeff de Luna (PHI) Mustafa Hassan (IRQ) Jalal Sarkesi (JOR) Lu Hui Chan (TPE)	Group 6 Shane Van Boening (USA) Masaaki Tanaki (JPN) Omran Salem (UAE) Ko Pin Yi (TPE) Kim Aquino (PHI) Andreas Roschkowski (GER) Abdulatif Fawal (QAT) Thorsten Hohmann (GER)
Group 7 Niels Feijen (NED) Takhti Zarekani (IRI) Amin Fekry (UAE) Shaker Wahdan (JOR) Stephan Cohen (FR) Salah Al Remwy (UAE) Bashar Hussein (QAT) Marlon Manalo (PHI)	Group 8 Antonio Gabica (PHI) Matteusz Sniegocki (POL) Huidji See (NED) Sumit Talwar (IND) Magid Al Azmi (KUW) Ruben Bautista (MEX) Kang Lee (HKG) Ralf Souquet (GER)

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE LAST 16
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE QUARTER-FINALS
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE SEMI-FINALS
---	-vs-	---
---	-vs-	---

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE FINAL
---	-vs-	---

Ko Pin Yi - Chinese Taipei

WPA ETISALAT WORLD 8-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
THE PRIZE FUND
1st	$ 17,000	$ 17,000
2nd	$ 12,000	$ 12,000
3rd	$ 8,000	$ 8,000
4th	$ 6,000	$ 6,000
5th-8th	$ 3,750	$ 15,000
9th-16th	$ 2,250	$ 18,000
17th-32nd	$ 1,000	$ 16,000
33rd-48th	$ 500	$ 8,000
49th-64th	$ 300	$ 4,800
TOTAL PRIZE FUND = US $104,800

Enjoy the article? Now try this...

Chat about this tournament in our forums.
Visit The Pro Shop to see what's new in cues and gadgets.
Check out the Pro9.co.uk calendar for details of more events.

Comments