Qatar Billiards & Snooker Federation
Al Sadd Sports Club
Al Sadd Street
Sport Roundabout
Doha
Qatar
www.qbsf.net - group brackets - livescore
www.olympic.qa
www.wpa-pool.com
www.al-saddclub.com
18 - 29 June 2012
32 PLAYERS ADVANCE TO THE KNOCKOUT STAGE AS CLIFFHANGERS ABOUND AT THE WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP IN QATAR
There was something special in the air throughout the day today at the Al Sadd Sports Club in Doha, and it wasn’t the crisp cool air conditioning offering comfort to fans and players alike.
It was an intangible, what we used to call on the east coast of the USA, “that certain something,” an unknowable, hard to describe feeling, when you know something is good, but you can’t quite figure out why. You just know it’s good, and it’s only going to get better. You just know it.
Perhaps it was the sheer volume of high quality and tight matches that took place, the incredible talent on display that is as good as has ever been seen in pool, all combined with the fact that on Day 3 of the 2012 World 9-balll Championship, the gravity of the moment, of the stakes involved, started to dawn on players and fans alike.
This part of the tournament is all about getting through to the next round. 32 players did just that today as they cashed in their chips to the next stage, the single elimination knockout round of 64 which will begin on Wednesday June 27. Some had it easy, others not so much. But all who made it breathed a massive sigh of relief. Just get through, wipe the slate clean, and start fresh on Wednesday.
“It’s like a battle field out there,” said a England’s Darren Appleton, clearly relieved after beating Saudi Arabia’s Abdul Rahman Al Amar and advancing. “You just want to get through. There’s a lot of great, great, great players in this event. In years past you kind of knew who would get through. But not anymore. There’s a lot of surprises, but no shocks. I’m just happy. These tournaments are getting tougher and tougher.”
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With 17 Filipinos in the field of 128 players, including the legendary Efren Reyes, and Francisco Bustamante, the venue is never short of large and vocal crowds of Filipino overseas workers and this certainly spices up the already pressure filled atmosphere. They came out in force today as the winners of each group faced off for a quick chance out of the danger zone of the group stage and into the final 64, including Reyes who played in the first session.
Reyes did his part as he easily defeated Kuwait’s Badr Al Awadi 9-2 to advance to the next round. Afterward Reyes offered his patented line for why he won.
“I get lucky,” he said with his toothless grin. “He’s a good player but the break is against him, he never get a shot. Me I always get a shot after the break.”
Several players clearly stepped up their game early on. Malta’s popular Tony Drago sprinted past the Philippines Ramil Gallego, 9-6. Afterward, pool’s version of Speed Racer said he’s primed and ready to wreak havoc in the coming days and welcomes the pressure that is sure to come.
“I’m playing fantastic,” Drago said. “I’m enjoying myself. I like coming to the Middle East. The people are fantastic. I know pressure, and I know how to handle pressure. So I’m ready.”
2003 World 9-ball Champion Thorsten Hohmann put in a solid performance, as did France’s Vincent Faquet, who fought back from 4-2 down to beat the Philippines very tough Jundel Mazon, 9 – 5. Scotland’s Jason Shaw, a former English 8-ball World Champion, smothered China’s Fu Jian Bo, 9-5.
A great story has developed out of New Zealand as 24 year old Matthew Edwards continued his fine run in this year’s tournament, advancing to the knockout stage with an impressive 9-5 win over Malaj Nikolaos of Albania. Edwards, who’s playing in his first world championship, first took down the USA’s Shane Van Boening. He now becomes the first ever Kiwi to make it this far in a world championship.
“Nobody’s an easy player,” Edwards said. “This whole tournament is everything I thought it would be. There’s a lot of excitement here.”
As the day wore on the matches just got better, tighter and more pressure packed. World 8-ball Champion Chang Jung Lin came back from 8-6 down to Naouki Ohi of Japan, and won 9-8. 2007 World 9-ball Champion Daryl Peach of England was 5-0 down to Croatian Bozo Primic but clawed back to win a thriller, 9-8. Taiwan’s Chang Yu Lung and Austria’s Albin Ouschan, the brother of women’s star Jasmine Ouschan, went all the way with Chang prevailing 9-8. The USA’s Hunter Lombardo had the Philippines Ronnie Alcano on the ropes, but lost a cliff hanger 9-8.
One of the more entertaining matches happened between Greece’s Nick Ekonomopoulos and China’s Liu Haitao, two very solid rising talents. Ekonomopoulos was down 7-2 but ended up winning 9-8. The confident Greek, who’s playing in his first world championship, looks to be an interesting dark horse in this event. He recently won the Austrian Open on the Euro Tour. He was so confident in his abilities that he flew to Qatar without an entry into the tournament and entered the brutally tough qualifiers, where he won one event and made it into the main draw. With the pressure way too intense late his match with Liu, he looked positively deadly.
Also advancing today were Hall of Famer Ralf Souquet of Germany, the Netherland’s Nick Van den Berg, England’s Karl Boyes, Filipinos Francisco Bustamante, Lee Van Corteza, Carlo Biado and Antonio Gabica, Taiwan’s Fu Che Wei, and Russian Konstantin Stepanov, who beat defending champion Yukio Akagariyama.
The surprise of the evening was Dennis Orcullo going down to Hong Kong’s Andrew Kong, 9-5. Kong advances while Orcullo has to come back Tuesday for one last try.
That’ll happen on Tuesday, Judgement Day, when all matches will be do-or-die. As the action heats up inside the Al Sadd Sports Club, the nerves will surely start to fray, easy pots will become testers, and dreams will be made and shattered on the smallest turn of the balls.
Click the image to view the larger photo (courtesy of Thorsten Hohmann)
2012 WPA WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | |
DOHA - QATAR | |
THE PLAYERS | |
| 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 Vincent Facquet FRANCE 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 Richard Jones 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 Oliver Medanilla PHI-UAE 118 Ramil Gallego PHI 119 Joven Alba PHI-UAE 120 Chao Fong 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 |
2012 WPA WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | |
DOHA - QATAR | |
THE GROUPS | |
| GROUP 1 Huidji See Badr Al Awadi Efren Reyes Philipp Stojanovic Hwang Yong John Morra Mohammad Berjawi Joyme Vicente | GROUP 2 Mika Immonen Tony Drago Sundeep Gulati Ramil Gallego Thorsten Hohmann Hsu Kai Lun Ali Pordel Abdulwahed Al Awa |
| GROUP 3 Chris Melling Jundel Mazon Aloysius Yapp Vincent Faquet Shane Van Boening Matthew Edwards Abdulatif Fawal Malaj Nikolaos | GROUP 4 Lee He Wen Chao Fang Pang Edwin Montal Thomas Engert Carlo Biado Rajandran Nair Roman Hybler Waleed Majeed |
| GROUP 5 Fu Che Wei Do The Kien Carlo Dalmatin Mohd Buainain Fu Jianbo Marcus Chamat Takashi Uraoka Jayson Shaw | GROUP 6 Neils Feijen Aki Heikanen Khaled Al Mutairi Mohd Al Bin Ali Chang Jung Lin Dimitri Jungo Robby Foldvari Naoyuki Oi |
| GROUP 7 Chang Yu Lung Jalal Yousef Dang Jinghu Albin Ouschan Karl Boyes Ryu Seung Woo Hanni Alhowri Yang Ching Shun | GROUP 8 Mark Gray Hayato Hijikata Lee Chenman Manuel Gama Ko Pin Yi Luis Lemus Serge Das Omar Al Shahen |
| GROUP 9 Daryl Peach Mateusz Sniegocki Mazen Berjaoui Bozo Primic Lo Li Wen Francisco Bustamante Abdullah Al Yousef Oliver Medenilla | GROUP 10 Roberto Gomez Takhti Zarekani Mohammad Saeed Alaa Bata Yukio Akagariyama Dominic Jentsch Harvey Shognosh Konstantin Stepanov |
| GROUP 11 Darren Appleton Hamza Alsaeed Abdul Rahman Al Amar Bruno Muratore Bashas Hussain Kuo Yi Che Elver Casalang Han Hao Xiang | GROUP 12 Jasan Klatt Imran Majid Mohamed Elassal Ali Obaidly Liu Haitao Mario He Alok Kumar Nick Ekonomopoulos |
| GROUP 13 Ronnie Alcano Toh Lian Han Hunter Lombardo Al Masskini Antonio Gabica Andrea Klasovic Salaheldeen Alrimawi Denis Grabe | GROUP 14 Tohru Kuribayashi Ceri Worts Nguyen Anh Tuan Majed Alazmi Lee Van Corteza Ivica Putnik Francisco Diaz-Pizarro Marlon Caneda |
| GROUP 15 Dennis Orcollo Ali Saeed Alsuwaidi Hori Ryouji Kong Andrew Oliver Ortmann Richard Jones Jonny Martinez Raymound Faraon | GROUP 16 Nick Van Den Berg Joven Alba David N. Anderson Henrique Correia Ralf Souquet Israel Rota Nayf Abdel Afou Lee Wan Su |
2012 WPA WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | |
DOHA - QATAR | |
THE PRIZE FUND | |
1st | $ 40,000 |
2nd | $ 20,000 |
3rd ~ 4th | $ 12,000 |
5th ~ 8th | $ 8,000 |
9th ~ 16th | $ 5,000 |
17th ~ 32nd | $ 3,000 |
33rd ~ 64th | $ 2,000 |
65th ~ 96th | $ 1,000 |
97th ~ 128th | $ 0 |
WPA WORLD 9-BALL CHAMPIONSHIPS | ||||
THE WINNER'S LIST | ||||
1990 - 2011 | ||||
 | Earl Strickland |  | USA | |
| Earl Strickland | | USA | |
| Johnny Archer | | USA | |
| Fong-Pang Chao |  | TPE | |
| Takeshi Okumura |  | JPN | |
| Oliver Ortmann |  | GER | |
| Ralf Souquet | | GER | |
| Johnny Archer | | USA | |
| Kunihiko Takahashi | | JPN | |
| Nick Varner | | USA | |
| Efren Reyes |  | PHI | |
| Fong-Pang Chao | | TPE | |
| Mika Immonen |  | FIN | |
| Earl Strickland | | USA | |
| Thorsten Hohmann | | GER | |
| Alex Pagulayan |  | CAN | |
| Chia-Ching Wu | | TPE | |
| Ronnie Alcano | | PHI | |
| Daryl Peach |  | GBR | |
| *Not held |  | --- | |
| *Not held | | --- | |
| Francisco Bustamante | | PHI | |
| Yukio Akakariyama | | JPN | |