Doha : Ten Qatari players have been seeded directly into the main draw of the Sixth World 9-Ball Pool Championship, which will get under way today at the Al Arabi Indoor Hall.
The Ten-day championship, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and the Asian Pocket Billiard Union (APBU) will be held in two stages and is contested by players from 43 countries.
Besides hosts Qatar, players from USA, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, Bangladesh, Austria, Australia, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Syria, UK, Taiwan, Japan, China, Iran, Bahrain, Algeria, Egypt, Comoros, Switzerland, Spain, Russia, Poland, Lithuania, Italy, Venezuela, Chile, Peru, Albania, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Finland, Portugal, Kuwait, Lebanon, India, Philippines, Hungary, and Canada are taking part in the championship.
The preliminary rounds, Stage 1, which will begin today, will be contested by 133 players and will end on September 5.
The second stage, Stage 2, to be contested by 128 players, will begin on September 7 and will end with the final on September 11.
Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation (QBSF) Players Affairs Committee Head Mubarak Hamad Al Khayareen said being the host nation Qatar will field ten players in Stage 2.
“We are have set a target of at least one player from Qatar qualifying for the last sixteen round of the tournament,” said the QBSF official.
The ten Qatari players who feature in Stage 2 are Bashar Hussain, Mohammedd Al Bin Ali, Abdulatif Al Fawal, Khamis Al Obaidly, Ali Al Obaidly, Mohd Al Buainain, Mohanna Al Obaidly, Waleed Majed, Israel Rota and Antonio Gabica.
At the Stage 1 competition, 22 players from Qatar will vie for the qualifying spots in the main draw.
Twelve players will gain entry to the second stage through the qualifiers, while the defending champion and the top 24 players in the WPA ranking system are guaranteed spots in the main draw.
The Stage 2 of the event will have players who have won wild cards from the WPA and the organisers.
In the second stage, the players are divided into 16 groups of 8 players each. Four players from each group advance into the Last 64 final round.
The final Round of Last 64 to the Final, the competition will follow the single elimination with race to 11, while the final will be race to 13.
Stage 1 qualifying tournaments will follow the single elimination, race to 7, alternate break format.
The winner of the event will get $36,000 and the runner-up $18,000. The losing semi-finalists will each get $10,000, while fifth to eight place winners will $6,000 each.
The total prize money for the entire tournament is $250,000 which World No.1 Darren Appleton won last year.
The Englishman had pulled off a thrilling 13-12 victory over China’s Lee He Wen in last year’s final.
Appleton, former champions Japan’s Yukio Akagariyama, Dennis Orcollo and Efren Reyes of the Philippines, as well as Germany’s Ralf Souquet are some of the other big names in the fray.
Leading American pool equipment manufacturer Diamond Billiards Products Inc will provide the tables for the tournament, which will have Simonis 860 Cloth.
“The Diamond tables, with extremely tight pockets, had come in for special praise from players. Our facilities are truly world-class. Players have always enjoyed our hospitality and we want to keep raising the bar,” informed Al Khayareen.
The QSBF has signed an agreement with WPA by virtue of which Qatar have the right to host the championship till 2017.
Today’s preliminary round qualifying Stage 1 action begins at 10am.
The following are the Qatari players who will feature in today’s Stage 1 competition: Meshaal Turkey, Mohammad Saeed Mohammad Alzahid, Salem Alanzi, Ali Saeed, Ghazi Mohammad, Abdullah Alsewid, Bader Al Mansor, Abdulazz Hashem, Muzzamil Hussain, Taher Husain, Tajamel Hussain, Mohammad Gaber, Mohammad Alkhaldi, Alaa Bata, Abdullah Alhajri, Hatem Osama, Abdulla Al Ailali, Mohammad Sultan, Mohammed Alyazeedi, Yazed Turki, Fahad Alsaadi, Salem Mohammad, and Ali Al Marri.
The Peninsula
