The Philippine International Convention Center (PICC)
Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP Complex)
Roxas Blvd.
1307 Pasay City
Metro Manila
Philippines
Tel: (632) 551-7920 / 551-7415 / 551-6917
Fax: (632) 551-6372
www.worldpoolchampionship.com
www.2006worldpool.com
4-12 November 2006
World pool Championships Qualifying Criteria Explained!
Matchroom Sport can announce the 117 players so far qualified to compete in the 2006 Philippines World Pool Championship which takes place at the Philippine International Convention Center from 4th to 12th November.
All named players have qualified via the Category System which was devised in 2005 and alongside their name are their country and the means by which they made their way into the starting line-up.
Click on "Read More..." for the list of confirmed players.
There are two players yet to be named by the AAPA in Africa , whose qualifying event takes place shortly.
The remaining nine spots will determined by the pre-event qualifier which takes place at Star Billiards outside Manila from Friday 27th October.
| Player | Country | Qualifying Category |
| Gustavo Espinosa | Argentina | South America Cat. 4 |
| Stuart Lawler | Australia | Oceania Cat. 4 |
| Lou Condo | Australia | Oceania Cat. 5 |
| David Reljic | Australia | Oceania Cat. 6 |
| Chris Calabresse | Australia | Oceania Cat. 6 |
| Prince Haji Billah | Brunei | Sponsor’s Wildcard |
| Edwin Montal | Canada | North America Cat.6 |
| Tyler Edey | Canada | North America Cat.6 |
| Harold Rousseau | Canada | North America Cat.6 |
| Nicolas Guimond | Canada | North America Cat.6 |
| Enrique Rojas | Chile | South America Cat. 4 |
| Alejandro Carvajal | Chile | South America Cat. 4 |
| Li He-wen | China | Asia Cat. 5 |
| Fu Jian-bo | China | Asia Cat. 10 |
| Xu Meng | China | Asia Cat. 10 |
| Wu Chia-ching | Chinese Taipei | Category 1 |
| Chang Pei-wei | Chinese Taipei | Category 2 |
| Kuo Po-cheng | Chinese Taipei | Category 2 |
| Huang Kun-chang | Chinese Taipei | Category 3 |
| Chang Jung-ling | Chinese Taipei | Category 3 |
| Chen Ying-chieh | Chinese Taipei | Category 3 |
| Wang Hung-hsiang | Chinese Taipei | Category 3 |
| Yang Ching-shun | Chinese Taipei | Asia Cat. 5 |
| Chao Fong-pang | Chinese Taipei | Asia Cat. 5 |
| Fu Che-wei | Chinese Taipei | Asia Cat. 5 |
| Lee Kun-fang | Chinese Taipei | Asia Cat. 9 |
| Liu Cheng-chuan | Chinese Taipei | Asia Cat. 9 |
| Philipp Stojanovic | Croatia | Europe Cat. 7 |
| Roman Hybler | Czech Republic | Category 3 |
| Imran Majid | England | Europe Cat. 4 |
| Darren Appleton | England | Europe Cat. 5 |
| Daryl Peach | England | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Andy Worthington | England | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Kevin Uzzell | England | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Steve Davis | England | Europe Cat. 8 |
| Raj Hundal | England | Europe Cat. 8 |
| Mika Immonen | Finland | Category 1 |
| Markus Juva | Finland | Europe Cat. 5 |
| Vincent Facquet | France | Europe Cat. 4 |
| Benjamin Belhassen | France | Europe Cat. 7 |
| Thorsten Hohmann | Germany | Category 1 |
| Oliver Ortmann | Germany | Europe Cat. 4 |
| Ralf Souquet | Germany | Europe Cat. 4 |
| Thomas Engert | Germany | Europe Cat. 5 |
| Andreas Roschkowsky | Germany | Europe Cat. 5 |
| Christian Reimering | Germany | Europe Cat. 5 |
| Jorn Kaplan | Germany | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Sven Pauritsch | Germany | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Michael Schmidt | Germany | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Evangelos Vettas | Greece | Europe Cat. 7 |
| Kong Man-ho | Hong Kong | Asia Cat. 11 |
| Vilmos Foldes | Hungary | Category 3 |
| Manan Chandra | India | Asia Cat. 11 |
| Dharminder Singh Lily | India | Asia Cat. 8 |
| Muhammad Zulfikri | Indonesia | Asia Cat. 9 |
| Ricky Yang | Indonesia | Asia Cat. 9 |
| Apsi Chaniago | Indonesia | Asia Cat.8 |
| Roy Apancho | Indonesia | Asia Cat.8 |
| John Wims | Ireland | Oceania Cat. 6 |
| Fabio Petroni | Italy | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Takeshi Okumura | Japan | Asia Cat. 4 |
| Masaki Tanaka | Japan | Asia Cat. 5 |
| Kunihiko Takahashi | Japan | Asia Cat. 9 |
| Jeong Young-hwa | Korea | Asia Cat. 10 |
| Ryu Seong-woo | Korea | Asia Cat. 10 |
| Patrick Ooi Fook Yuen | Malaysia | Asia Cat. 10 |
| Ibrahim bin Amir | Malaysia | Asia Cat. 10 |
| Tony Drago | Malta | Europe Cat. 4 |
| Ernesto Dominguez | Mexico | South America Cat. 4 |
| Nick van den Berg | Netherlands | Category 3 |
| Niels Feijen | Netherlands | Europe Cat. 4 |
| Huidji See | Netherlands | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Marcel Martens | Netherlands | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Alex Lely | Netherlands | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Ceri Worts | New Zealand | Oceania Cat. 4 |
| Roger Lysholm | Norway | Europe Cat. 7 |
| Jose Parica | Philippines | North America Cat. 4 |
| Marlon Manalo | Philippines | Category 3 |
| Alex Pagulayan | Philippines | Category 1 |
| Efren Reyes | Philippines | Asia Cat. 5 |
| Francisco Bustamante | Philippines | Asia Cat. 5 |
| Ramil Gallego | Philippines | Asia Cat. 5 |
| Rodolfo Luat | Philippines | Asia Cat. 5 |
| Gandy Valle | Philippines | Asia Cat. 9 |
| Jeff de Luna | Philippines | Sponsor’s Wildcard |
| Ronato Alcano | Philippines | Sponsor’s Wildcard |
| Dennis Orcollo | Philippines | Sponsor’s Wildcard |
| Roland Garcia | Philippines | Sponsor’s Wildcard |
| Radoslaw Babica | Poland | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Ahmed al Sada | Qatar | Asia Cat. 11 |
| Konstantin Stepanov | Russia | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Pat Holtz | Scotland | Sponsors WildCard |
| Sandor Tot | Serbia Montenegro | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Chang Keng-kwang | Singapore | Asia Cat. 10 |
| Toh Lian-han | Singapore | Asia Cat. 10 |
| Bernard Tey Choon Kiat | Singapore | Asia Cat. 10 |
| David Alcaide | Spain | Europe Cat. 6 |
| Marcus Chamat | Sweden | Category 3 |
| David Larsson | Sweden | Europe Cat. 4 |
| Marco Tschudi | Switzerland | Europe Cat. 4 |
| Tepwin Arunnath | Thailand | Asia Cat. 11 |
| Earl Strickland | USA | Category 1 |
| Rodney Morris | USA | Category 3 |
| Jeremy Jones | USA | Category 3 |
| Corey Deuel | USA | Category 3 |
| Johnny Archer | USA | North America Cat. 4 |
| Mike Davis | USA | North America Cat. 4 |
| Shawn Putnam | USA | North America Cat. 6 |
| Charlie Williams | USA | North America Cat. 6 |
| Troy Frank | USA | North America Cat. 6 |
| Rob Saez | USA | North America Cat. 6 |
| Charles Bryant | USA | North America Cat. 6 |
| Tony Crosby | USA | North America Cat. 6 |
| Gabe Owen | USA | North America Cat. 7 |
| Gregorio Sanchez | Venezuela | South America Cat. 4 |
| Thanh Nam Nguyen | Vietnam | Category 3 |
| Luong Chi Dung | Vietnam | Asia Cat. 10 |
QUALIFICATION SYSTEM FOR 2006 WPA WORLD POOL CHAMPIONSHIP
The purpose of this category system is to give all serious pool players in the world, the opportunity to compete in the World Pool Championship.
This system has been devised using professional golf tours as a model and it is a system that rewards achievement and ability.
Wherever possible, emerging pool nations have been accommodated to give the event the geographical spread it has enjoyed in past years.
There are a couple of major difference between this system and past years when a straightforward quota has been awarded to various continental associations.
The first is that this system is cross-bordered. That means that players from anywhere in the world can compete in events in other territories and qualify for the final stages of the World Pool Championship.
For example, if an American national decided to enter a Euro Tour event and was to win or come second, then that would give him a spot in the final 128. By the same token, if a European player won or came second in a UPA event in the US, then that too would gain him entrance.
The second major difference is that countries and or continents do not have a set allocation of players. This comes with rewarding success and achievement.
The first three categories are general and applicable to the six areas of Europe, Asia, North America, Oceania, Africa and Developing Pool Nations.
Categories 4 and upwards are different in each territory.
Players will always take their position from the HIGHER category. For example; Alex Pagulayan would enter the 2006 World Pool Championship as a Category 1 player, due to him winning the event in 2004.
However, Alex would also fall into several other categories due to his achievements around the world over the past 12 months.
The fact that he is a Category 1 player DOES NOT free up spots to other players in the other categories he could qualify under. Be aware of this as it is a basic principle of this system.
Categories 1 – 3
Category 1
Previous five winners of the WPA World Pool Championship (in 2006 that would be Wu CC, A Pagulayan, T Hohmann, E Strickland, M Immonen)
Category 2
Previous three beaten finalists at the WPA World Pool Championship (in 2006 they would be Kuo PC, Chang PW, A Pagulayan)
Category 3
Last 16 finisher at the previous WPA World Pool Championship (in 2006 they would be Wu CC, Kuo PC, R Morris, M Manalo, Huang KC, N van den Berg, T Hohmann, M Immonen, R Hybler, TN Nguyen, Chang JL, V Foldes, M Chamat, J Jones, Chen YC, C Deuel)
AFRICA
Category 4
Continental Champion and runner-up ( 2 players )
ASIA
Category 4
Champion and beaten finalist from the All Japan Championship: 2 spots can be Asians or non-Asians
Category 5
APBU – ESPN Asian Tour Ranking 1-10
Category 6
Top 5 of APBU ranking
Category 7
APBU Asian Championship Champion and the beaten finalist
Category 8
APBU Qualifying Tournament for those countries who are not yet nominated through Category 1-7. Each of these countries can send 2 players to this qualifying tournament. Top 5 from this Qualifying Tournament will be entered into the Championship Tournament.
Category 9
National Champions and Runners Up from the following countries
Philippines
Taiwan
Japan
Indonesia
Category 10
National Champions and Runners Up from the following countries
Singapore
China
Korea
Malaysia
Vietnam
Category 11
National Champions in the following countries
Thailand
India
Qatar
Hong Kong
EUROPE
Category 4
The Top Eight players in the 9-Ball division at the 2006 European Pool Championships
The Gold Medallist in the Straight Pool division at the 2006 European Pool Championships
Category 5
Winner and runner-up of all Euro Tour events that take place between 1st May 2005 and 30th April 2006.
Category 6
The top 28 ranked European players on the EPBF Euro Tour Rankings up to 30th April 2006
Category 7
The next five players ranked between 29-50 representing five different European countries not represented in the above six categories from the EPBF Euro Tour Rankings up to 30th April 2006
Category 8
Team Europe representatives at the previous three Mosconi Cups.
NORTH AMERICA
Category 4
Winner and runner-up of all UPA-sanctioned 9 ball events having a field of 48 or more players, that take place within a period that commences immediately after the previous year’s cut-off date (May 15 05) and finishes on the 15th May on the year of the World Pool Championship. This can be extended to 29th May to include the BCA Open (as was) and the Predator Florida Open.
Category 5
The winner and runner-up in the following events having taken place in the 12 months period (May 15 05 – May 28 06) prior to the World Pool Championship: the US Open 9-Ball Championship, the BCA Open 9-Ball Championship
Category 6
The top two highest finishing players at the 2005 Canadian National 9-Ball Championship and the top two highest ranked players on the Stan James Canadian Tour
Category 7
The top 12 ranked North American players on the UPA Calendar rankings up to 28th May.
Category 8
Team America representatives at the previous three Mosconi Cups (in the case of the 2006 Championship, they will be 2005, 2004, 2003)
OCEANIA
Category 4
National Champions of the following countries:
Australia
New Zealand
Category 5
Winners of the following tournaments:
Oceania Championship
Trans Tasman Championship
Category 6
Next 2 highest ranked players on Oceania Rankings
SOUTH AMERICA
Category 4
The Top 5 players at the CPB (South Central American) Championship.
OTHERS
Sponsors’ Wildcards
There will be up to an additional 10 spots available which will be awarded at the promoter’s discretion.
Qualification Tournament
There will be less than 128 names so to make up a full field, a qualifying event will take place in the host city in the week before the Championship. The exact number of spots will only be known in the September.
It will also form the basis of the waiting list in the event of any players not being able to attend.
RELATED ARTICLES AT WWW.PRO9.CO.UK
The World Pool Championships Qualifying Criteria Explained
An exclusive invitation for Pro9.co.uk members from Edwin Reyes!
2006 Philippines World Pool Championship Qualifying Tournament
MatchroomSports announce confirmed players for 2006 WPC
The 2006 World Pool Championships