2005 World Pool Championship Press Release

Press Release2005 World Pool Championship For 2005 and beyond, Matchroom Sport, in association with the WPA, is implementing a brand new system to determine who gets to play in the annual WPA World Pool Championship for Men. Loosely based on the system used in golf’s Majors, the purpose of this category classification is to give all serious pool players in the world a fair opportunity to compete in the World Pool Championship. The major differences from previous years are that continental associations do not have a set allocation of players, and that it is possible for players to qualify in territories other than their home one. This is to reward success and achievement and to recognise the global nature of tournament pool. 2005 WPA World Pool Championship Entry Criteria Universal Categories | Africa | Asia | Europe | North AmericaOceania | South America | OthersFor 2005 and beyond, Matchroom Sport, in association with the WPA, is implementing a brand new system to determine who gets to play in the annual WPA World Pool Championship for Men. Loosely based on the system used in golf’s Majors, the purpose of this category classification is to give all serious pool players in the world a fair opportunity to compete in the World Pool Championship. The major differences from previous years are that continental associations do not have a set allocation of players, and that it is possible for players to qualify in territories other than their home one. The major reasons for these changes are to reward success and achievement and to recognise the global nature of tournament pool. May 15th is generally used as a cut-off date in order to create the necessary time to collate all the players who have already qualified and determine how many additional spots will be available for any qualification tournament. The first three categories are general and applicable to the six groupings of Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania 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, defending champion Alex Pagulayan falls into Categories 1, 2 and 3 but would enter the 2005 World Pool Championship as a Category 1 player, his highest category. one of the basic principles of this system is that if a player goes forward to the Championship via his highest category, this does NOT free up additional spots within the lower category. For example, it is fair to say that many of the players in Category 5 Europe (winners and runners up on all Euro Tour events within a preceding twelve month period) will also fall into Category 6 Europe (the top 16 ranked players on the EPBF Euro Tour Rankings up to 1 st May 2005). As the relevant players will go through in the higher category, that does not mean that Category 6 will extend beyond the top 16.In the event of a player qualifying in categories in more than one territory, he would go through in the category in his home territory. UNIVERSAL CATEGORIES (1 – 3) Category 1 Previous five winners of the WPA World Pool Championship – 2004: A Pagulayan, 2003: T Hohmann, 2002: E Strickland, 2001: M Immonen, 2000: FP ChaoCategory 2 Previous three beaten finalists at the WPA World Pool Championship – 2004: PW Chang, 2003: A. Pagulayan, 2002: F Bustamante Category 3 Last 16 finishers at the previous year's WPA World Pool Championship - FP Chao, I Majid, A Pagulayan, CC Huang, CC Kang, R Luat, PC Kuo, E Strickland, M Chamat, T Schober, M Manalo, E Reyes, PW Chang, D Orcollo, J Archer, N BergendorffAFRICA 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 Top 10 APBU – ESPN SMB Asian Tour Ranking 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 World Pool Championship. Category 9 National Champions and Runners Up from the following countries Philippines Taiwan Korea Japan Category 10 National Champions and Runners Up from the following countries Indonesia Singapore China Category 11 National Champions in the following countries Malaysia Vietnam Thailand India UAE EUROPE Category 4 The Gold, Silver and two Bronze Medallists in the 9-Ball division at the European Pool Championships The Gold Medallist in the Straight Pool division at the European Pool Championships Category 5 Winner and runner-up of all Euro Tour events that take place between 1st June 2004 and 1st May 2005 Category 6 The top 16 ranked players on the EPBF Euro Tour Rankings up to 1st May 2005. Category 7 The next ten players representing ten different countries on the EPBF Euro Tour Rankings up to 1st May 2005, not above ranking of 50 Category 8 Six UK national players, qualifying from a tournament featuring the top players on both the BPPPA Tour and the Pro 9 Ball Tour. Category 9 Team Europe representatives at the previous three Mosconi Cups (2004, 2003, 2002) Category 10 European players ranked 17 onwards who have shown consistent performance in international events over the past five years but otherwise fail to qualify via Categories 1 - 9 NORTH AMERICA Category 4 Winner and runner-up of all UPA-sanctioned events having a field of 48 or more players, which take place within a period that commences immediately after the previous year’s championship and finishes on the 15th May on the year of the World Pool Championship. In following years, the relevant period will revert to a 12 months cycle from 16th May to 15th May the following year. Category 5 The winner and runner-up in the following events having taken place in the 12 months prior to the World Pool Championship: the US Open 9-Ball Championship, the BCA Open 9-Ball Championship Category 6 The top four highest finishing players at the 2004 Canadian National 9-Ball Championship Category 7 The top 12 ranked North American players on the UPA Calendar rankings up to 15 th May. Category 8 Team America representatives at the previous three Mosconi Cups (2004, 2003, 2002) 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 8 players at the CPB (South/Central American) Championship. OTHERS Sponsors’ Wildcards There will be up to an additional 5 spots available which will be awarded at the promoter’s discretion. WPA Wildcards There will be up to an additional 3 spots available which will be awarded at the WPA’s discretion. Qualification Tournament By 15th May prior to the Championship, all names players from all relevant categories should be delivered to the tournament organisers.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 after the 15th May.This tournament will also form the basis of the waiting list in the event of any players not being able to attend. For full details, please go to www.worldpoolchampionship.com Luke RichesMatchroom Sport +44 1277 359912+44 7785 395688

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