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Kuwait Open 9-Ball Championship
Al Ardiya Youth Center
Al Thuraya City
Farwaniya
Kuwait
www.kuwaitopen.com
www.wpa-pool.com - twitter - facebook - brackets

24 October - 5 November 2016

All photography courtesy of �Takayama Takao / www.onthehill.jp used with permission.
BATTLE HARDENED HOHMANN SLUGS HIS WAY THROUGH

Two time World 9-ball Champion is all business as the Final 64 knockout rounds take shape at the Kuwait Open 9-ball Championship.

By Ted Lerner
WPA Press Officer

Photos By Takayama Takao

This Gulf nation of 4.2 million people is considered one of the richest countries on earth, a place where big business thrives. And big business is exactly what the Kuwait Open 9-ball Championship will be all about for the next two days, as the race to 9-ball pool�s biggest prize of the year kicks into high gear.

The stellar field of 128 of the world�s best players that began battle yesterday at the Al Ardiya Youth Center in Kuwait City has now been cut in half to 64. The always difficult and dreaded double elimination group stages are now history, and from here on in over the course of the next two days, all matches will be single elimination knockout. The player that wins six matches will take home this brand new title, and 50,000 tax fee US dollars.

With a total of $275,000 on offer, the inaugural Kuwait Open 9-ball naturally attracted a field that was as good as anyone will ever see in this game. Several big names bit the proverbial dust today, --among them Dennis Orcollo, Mika Immonen, Daryl Peach, Rodney Morris and Nick Van Den Berg. But the field that remains has some of the biggest names the game has to offer, along with plenty of rising stars, and upstarts who crashed this prestigious Middle Eastern pool party.

It all came into shape after yet another day of tense action, as all 64 matches today were played on the losers� side of the group stage brackets. That meant all matches were do or die, with one small roll of the ball possibly meaning either quick and brutal elimination, or perhaps a wild ride all the way to 9-ball glory. Pool is perhaps the cruelest and hardest sport to earn one�s living at, and paydays like this don�t come along every day. It�s no wonder the tension in the arena throughout today�s play was palpable.

Former World 9-ball Champion Mika Immonen had high hopes coming into the event this week. But after a stinging 9-8 loss to American Hunter Lumbardo yesterday, the flying Finn had to win two today. Immonen handily won his first match and was a prohibitive favorite against 18 year old debutante Aton Raga of the Philippines, who was playing in his very first international tournament.

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