2007 WPA Men's World Nine-ball Championship

The 2007 WPA Men's World Nine-ball Championship (billed in the host country as 2007 Philippines World Pool Championship) was the 18th annual international nine-ball pool tournament for men sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). It was held at the Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City, Metro Manila, Philippines from 3–11 November 2007. It was the second consecutive time the tournament has been held in the Philippines.

The tournament is sponsored by Matchroom Sport, which has sponsored the event since 1999. 128 participants from 46 WPA member countries competed for US$400,000 in total prize money, including defending champion Ronato Alcano of the Philippines. The overall winner received a purse of $100,000, the highest-ever payout for the tournament.

Format

The Format of qualifying used on 2006 was used for 2007. Several last-minute qualifying tournaments were held in the Metro Manila area a few weeks before the tournament starts.

All matches are in winner's break: the winner of the previous rack will break on the next rack, it was reverted from alternate break used in 2006.

There are 32 seeded players prior to the group stages; they are distributed 2 per group. The defending champion, Ronnie Alcano, is seeded #1.

Also, a double-elimination tournament will be used for the group stages; instead of 32 groups of 4, there will be 16 groups of eight, with the top four advancing. Each player will be seeded 1-8 in their groups, with a routine double-elimination tournament following the first round; however the player that wins twice will advance to the quarterfinals and will not take part in other group matches, in contrast if a player loses two games, he is eliminated. The top four players in each group therefore would had won twice. After the group stages, the routine 64-man single elimination tournament follows. The players are seeded in the round of 64 by basis of their group stage matches; the two players that won all of their games are seeded either #1 or #2, while the other two are seeded #3 and #4. The pairings are as follows:

• Group 1's #1 vs. Group 16's #4
• Group 1's #2 vs. Group 16's #3
• Group 1's #3 vs. Group 16's #2
• Group 1's #4 vs. Group 16's #1
• Group 8's #1 vs. Group 9's #4
• Group 8's #2 vs. Group 9's #3
• Group 8's #3 vs. Group 9's #2
• Group 8's #4 vs. Group 9's #1

and so on.

In the initial group stages the format consists of races to 9 racks. The last 64 play races to 10 racks. This is followed by the round of 16 (quarterfinals and semifinals) where the races are to 11 racks. The race in the finals jumps to 17 racks.^[1]

Notable occurrences

• On day 1, a group match (race to 9) between Charles Williams and Ricky Yang took over 2 and half hours to complete, with both players accused of playing too slowly. Calls were made for moves to outlaw overly-slow play in future years.
• On day 3, Jeremy Jones of the U.S. and Finland's Mika Immonen almost came to blows after Immonen eliminated Jones from contention, 9-6 at the group stages.^[2]
• There was high drama on day 4, Tuesday afternoon at the Big Dome when fire broke out in the lighting rig over Table 5 on the upper tier. Each of the outside tables has a light box with fluorescent tubes that light the table and a short circuit sent sparks flying and before long the box was ablaze. Matchroom Sport's John McDonald alerted venue staff and only his quick thinking saved the table as he and cameraman Lawrence 'Lol' Lustig covered it to stop debris and foam raining down onto the felt. Before long temporary lights were installed and play was able to commence at the designated time.
• On the quarterfinals, Francisco Bustamante, leading Daryl Peach 10-9 in a race to 11 match, failed to play position on the 3-ball and snookered himself behind the 9-ball. A kick shot struck both the 3 and 9 balls, fluking the 9 into a corner pocket. With the player and crowd celebrating the win, a lengthy inquiry began, in which the referee and tournament officials studied frame-by-frame replays of the shot, before concluding that the 9 had been struck first, and the shot was therefore a foul. After the lengthy break in play, in which Bustamante insisted the shot had been legal, Peach held his nerve amongst a partisan Filipino crowd to run the last two racks of the match to win 11-10, en route to his World Championship victory the following day.

Players

By nation

The WPA considered the home nations of England and Scotland as separate entities for the tournament and the codes of "ENG" and "SCO" was subsequently shown in the TV broadcast instead of "GBR."^[3]

	Champion
	Runner-up
	Semifinals
	Quarterfinals
	Last 16
	Last 32
	Last 64
	Group stages

• 15 players: Philippines
• 14 players: Chinese Taipei (Taiwan)
• 11 players: United States
• 7 players: Germany
• 6 players: Canada and England
• 5 players: Japan
• 4 players: Australia
• 3 players: China, Holland (Netherlands), Indonesia, Italy, Poland, Scotland, Serbia and Singapore.
• 2 players: Chile, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Spain and Vietnam.
• 1 player: Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Eritrea, Finland, Hungary, India, Iran, Ireland, Malta, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Qatar, Russia, Slovenia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey and UAE

Seeded

Seed Name Previous titles 2007 finish 1 Ronato Alcano 1 (2006) Last 64 2 Ralf Souquet 1 (1996) Last 32 3 Wu Chia-ching 1 (2005) Last 32 4 Yang Ching-shun none Last 64 5 Thorsten Hohmann 1 (2003) Group stage 6 Efren Reyes 1 (1999) Last 64 7 Chang Jung-lin none Last 32 8 Alex Pagulayan 1 (2004) Last 16 9 Francisco Bustamante none Quarterfinals 10 Thomas Engert none Last 64 11 Konstantin Stepanov none Last 16 12 Mika Immonen 1 (2001) Quarterfinals 13 Shane Van Boening none Last 32 14 Li He-wen none Group stage 15 Johnny Archer 2 (1992, 1997) Group stage 16 Niels Feijen none Last 16

Seed Name Previous titles 2007 finish 17 Daryl Peach none Champion 18 Chao Fong-pang 2 (1993, 2000) Last 32 19 Fabio Petroni none Last 64 20 Dennis Orcollo none Last 64 21 Lee Van Corteza none Last 64 22 Rodney Morris none Group stage 23 Imran Majid none Last 64 24 Corey Deuel none Last 16 25 David Alcaide none Last 64 26 Christian Reimering none Withdrew 27 Tony Drago none Last 32 28 Fu Che-wei none Last 64 29 Jonni Fulcher none Group stage 30 Luong Chi Dung none Last 32 31 Ronnie Wiseman none Group stage 32 Ricky Yang none Group stage

Unseeded players who advanced to the round of 64

Player boldfaced made it to the final.

Group 1: Charles Williams Alex Lely Harald Stolka Group 2: Leonardo Andam James Delahunty Raj Hundal Group 3: Vilmos Földes Radoslaw Babica Group 4: Lu Hui-chan Joven Bustamante Antonio Gabica

Group 5: Ko Pin-yi Jeff de Luna Edwin Montal Sandor Tot Group 6: Kenichi Uchigaki Alain Martel Group 7: Ramil Gallego Nick van den Berg Chan Kwen-Kwang Group 8: Muhammad Zulfikri Philipp Stojanovic

Group 9: Oliver Ortmann Phan Tuan Ngoc Group 10: Louis Condo Kuo Po-cheng Group 11: Marco Tschudi Bahram Lofty Rye Seung-Woo Group 12: Karl Boyes Goran Mladenovic

Group 13: Satoshi Kawabata Marcus Chamat Group 14: Marlon Manalo Dejan Dabovic Group 15: Lee Kung-fang Naoyuki Oi Wu Yun-lin Group 16: Roberto Gomez Matjaz Erculj

Group stage

Group 1

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Ronnie Alcano	9
									Saeed Ahmed Al-Mutawa	3
					Saeed Ahmed Al-Mutawa	3							Ronnie Alcano	9
	Alex Lely	9			Alex Lely	9							Harold Stolka	1
	Ricky Yang	8							Alex Lely	8
									Harald Stolka	9
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Xu Meng	6
	Brady Gollan	3							Charles Williams	9
	Harold Stolka	9			Xu Meng	3							Charles Williams	9
					Brady Gollan	9							Ricky Yang	8
									Ricky Yang	9
									Brady Gollan	4
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 2

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Ralf Souquet	5
									Leonardo Andam	9
					Ralf Souquet	9							Leonardo Andam	9
	Ralf Souquet	9			Bernard Tey Choon Kiat	6							Raj Hundal	8
	Ronnie Wiseman	3							Bernard Tey Choon Kiat	4
									Raj Hundal	9
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Mike Davis	5
	Mike Davis	5							James Delahunty	9
	Raj Hundal	9			Mike Davis	9							James Delahunty	9
					Tepwin Arunnath	5							Ronnie Wiseman	8
									Ronnie Wiseman	9
									Tepwin Arunnath	7
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 3

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Wu Chia-ching	9
									Carlos Castro	4
					Carlos Castro	7							Wu Chia-ching	7
	Radoslaw Babica	9			Radoslaw Babica	9							Vilmos Foldes	9
	Chu Hung-ming	8							Radoslaw Babica	8
									Vilmos Foldes	9
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Chu Hung-ming	9
	Craig Osborne	4							Craig Osborne	8
	Wu Chia-ching	9			Craig Osborne	9							Chu Hung-ming	6
					Kusano Hisashi	8							Luong Chi-dung	9
									Luong Chi-dung	9
									Kusano Hisashi	8
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 4

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Yang Ching-shun	5
									Lu Hui-chan	4
					Yang Ching-shun	9							Lu Hui-chan	9
	Yang Ching-shun	9			Bruno Muratore	6							Antonio Gabica	3
	Jonni Fulcher	0							Bruno Muratore	1
									Antonio Gabica	9
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Ibrahim Bin Amir	8
	Ibrahim Bin Amir	6							Joven Bustamante	9
	Antonio Gabica	9			Ibrahim Bin Amir	9							Joven Bustamante	9
					Enrique Rojas	9							Jonni Fulcher	7
									Jonni Fulcher	9
									Enrique Rojas	3
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 5

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Thorsten Hohmann	3
									Ko Pin-yi	9
					Thorsten Hohmann	9							Ko Pin-yi	9
	Edwin Montal	1			Edwin Montal	6							Serge Das	3
	Fu Che-wei	9							Edwin Montal	3
									Serge Das	9
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Jeff De Luna	9
	Sandor Tot	4							Sandor Tot	5
	Serge Das	9			Sandor Tot	9							Jeff De Luna	9
					Vittorio De Falco	7							Fu Che-wei	1
									Fu Che-wei	9
									Vittorio De Falco	8
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 6

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Efren Reyes	2
									Kenichi Uchigaki	9
					Efren Reyes	9							Kenichi Uchigaki	9
	Efren Reyes	9			Liu Cheng-chuan	6							Alain Martel	3
	Tomasz Kaplan	4							Liu Cheng-chuan	3
									Alain Martel	9
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Tony Robles	0
	Ceri Worts	6							Tomasz Kaplan	9
	Alain Martel	9			Tony Robles	7							Tomasz Kaplan	4
					Ceri Worts	9							Tony Drago	9
									Tony Drago	9
									Ceri Worts	7
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 7

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Chang Jung-ling	9
									Alwi	6
					Alwi	5							Chang Jung-ling	1
	Chan Keng Kwang	9			Chan Keng Kwang	9							Ramil Gallego	9
	Dang Jinhu	4							Chan Keng Kwang	4
									Ramil Gallego	9
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Nick van den Berg	9
	Kazuo Furuta	6							John Morra	7
	Chang Jung-ling	9			John Morra	2							Nick van den Berg	9
					Kazuo Furuta	9							Dang Jinhu	3
									Dang Jinhu	9
									Kazuo Furuta	3
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 8

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Alex Pagulayan	9
									Hamza Mohammed Saeed Ali	0
					Hamza Mohammed Saeed Ali	4							Alex Pagulayan	9
	Robb Saez	9			Robb Saez	9							Martin Kempter	6
	David Alcaide	4							Martin Kempter	9
									Robb Saez	1
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Muhammad Zulfikri	9
	Philipp Stojanovic	6							Philipp Stojanovic	5
	Martin Kempter	9			Philipp Stojanovic	9							Muhammad Zulfikri	9
					Stephen Capaldi	3							David Alcaide	1
									David Alcaide	9
									Stephen Capaldi	0
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 9

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Francisco Bustamante	9
									Zbynek Vaic	4
					Zbynek Vaic	4							Francisco Bustamante	9
	Antonio Lining	7			Antonio Lining	9							Jeong Young-hwa	0
	Corey Deuel	9							Jeong Young-hwa	9
									Antonio Lining	8
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Oliver Ortmann	9
	Pham Tuan Ngoc	9							Pham Tuan Ngoc	1
	Jeong Young-hwa	7			Pham Tuan Ngoc	9							Oliver Ortmann	9
					John Wims	3							Corey Deuel	6
									Corey Deuel	9
									John Wims	3
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 10

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Thomas Engert	9
									Al-Muhtadee Billah	2
					Al-Muhtadee Billah	4							Thomas Engert	9
	Lee Chenman	3			Lee Chenman	9							Roman Hybler	2
	Kuo Po-cheng	9							Roman Hybler	9
									Lee Chenman	7
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Kuo Po-cheng	9
	Imran Majid	9							David Alcoberro	3
	Roman Hybler	8			David Alcoberro	9							Kuo Po-cheng	4
					Imran Majid	3							Louis Condo	9
									Imran Majid	5
									Louis Condo	9
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 11

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Konstantin Stepanov	9
									Alejandro Carvajal	4
					Alejandro Carvajal	8							Konstantin Stepanov	9
	Bahram Lotfy	9			Bahram Lotfy	9							Rye Seung-woo	2
	Rodney Morris	4							Rye Seung-woo	9
									Bahram Lotfy	4
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Kuo Marco Tschudi	9
	David Reljic	6							Kevin Uzzell	4
	Rye Seung-woo	9			Kevin Uzzell	8							Marco Tschudi	9
					David Reljic	9							Rodney Morris	5
									Rodney Morris	9
									David Reljic	0
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Group 12

	2nd playoff round				1st playoff round				Preliminaries				Qualifiers
									Mika Immonen	9
									Fahad Mohammadi	3
					Fahad Mohammadi	0							Mika Immonen	9
	Tyler Edey	7			Tyler Edey	9							Jeremy Jones	6
	Goran Mladenovic	9							Tyler Edey	8
									Jeremy Jones	9
Losers' bracket									Winners' bracket
									Chang Pei-wei	6
	Lee Van Corteza	9							Karl Boyes	9
	Jeremy Jones	4			Chang Pei-wei	4							Karl Boyes	9
					Lee van Corteza	9							Goran Mladenovic	4
									Lee Van Corteza	7
									Goran Mladenovic	9
	Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers eliminated.				Losers eliminated.				Losers proceed to the 1st playoff round.				Winners advance to the round of 64. Losers proceed to the 2nd playoff round.

Knockout stages

Section 1

	Last 64 Race to 10 Nov 7					Last 32 Race to 10 Nov 8					Last 16 Race to 11 Nov 9					Quarterfinals Race to 11 Nov 10
	1	Alcano	6
	17	Peach	10
						17	Peach	10
							Lee	7
	Lee		10
	Hundal		6
											17	Peach	11
												Stolka	5
	Erculj		3
	Stolka		10
						Stolka		10
						Wu Y-L		2
	Andam		5
	Wu Y-L		10
																17	Peach	11
																9	F Bustamante	10
	9	F Bustamante	10
	25	Alcaide	1
						9	F Bustamante	10
							van den Berg	8
		van den Berg	10
	23	Majid	4
											9	F Bustamante	11
											8	Pagulayan	2
	8	Pagulayan	10
		Pham	6
						8	Pagulayan	10
							Condo	2
	Condo		10
	Kwang		2

Section 2

	Last 64 Race to 10 Nov 7					Last 32 Race to 10 Nov 8					Last 16 Race to 11 Nov 9					Quarterfinals Race to 11 Nov 10
	Ko		8
	Mladenovic		10
						Mladenovic		2
						Martel		10
	Tschudi		4
	Martel		10
												Martel	8
											12	Immonen	11
	12	Immonen	10
	28	Fu	5
						12	Immonen	10
						27	Drago	6
	27	Drago	10
		Lofty	7
																12	Immonen	7
																	Földes	11
	13	Van Boening	10
		Gabica	7
						13	Van Boening	8
							Földes	10
	Földes		10
	Dabovic		2
											Földes		11
											Lu		5
	Lu		10
	Chamat		6
						Lu		10
						Babica		3
	Manalo		1
	Babica		10

Section 3

	Last 64 Race to 10 Nov 7					Last 32 Race to 10 Nov 8					Last 16 Race to 11 Nov 9					Quarterfinals Race to 11 Nov 10
	30	Luong	10
		Strickland	8
						30	Luong	3
							Kawabata	10
		Kawabata	10
	4	Yang	3
											Kawabata		9
											J Bustamante		11
	19	Petroni	9
	3	Wu C-C	10
						3	Wu C-C	8
							J Bustamante	10
	J Bustamante		10
	Orcollo		6
																J Bustamante		8
																Boyes		11
	11	Stepanov	10
	6	Reyes	5
						11	Stepanov	10
							de Luna	4
		de Luna	10
	21	Corteza	7
											11	Stepanov	4
												Boyes	11
	Uchigaki		7
	Rye		10
						Rye		8
						Boyes		10
	Boyes		10
	Tot		6

Section 4

	Last 64 Race to 10 Nov 7					Last 32 Race to 10 Nov 8					Last 16 Race to 11 Nov 9					Quarterfinals Race to 11 Nov 10
	Gallego		5
	Kuo		10
						Kuo		10
						Ortmann		7
	Ortmann		10
	Stojanovic		7
												Kuo	11
											24	Deuel	7
	10	Engert	7
	7	Chang	10
						7	Chang	9
						24	Deuel	10
		Zulfikri	4
	24	Deuel	10
																	Kuo	4
																	Gomez	11
		Oi	8
	2	Souquet	10
						2	Souquet	2
						16	Feijen	10
		Williams	7
	16	Feijen	10
											16	Feijen	0
												Gomez	11
		Delahunty	0
	18	Chao	10
						18	Chao	2
							Gomez	10
	Gomez		10
	Lely		1

Semifinals and final

	Semi-finals Race to 11 Nov 10					Final Race to 17 Nov 11
	17	Peach	11
		Földes	2
						17	Peach	17
							Gomez	15
		Boyes	4
		Gomez	11

Country representation

Country	Last 64	Last 32	Last 16	Quarterfinals	Semifinals	Final
England	4	2	2	2	2	1
Philippines	13	5	4	3	1	1
Hungary	1	1	1	1	1	-
Chinese Taipei	10	7	2	1	-	-
Finland	1	1	1	1	-	-
Germany	4	3	1	-	-	-
United States	4	2	1	-	-	-
Netherlands	3	2	1	-	-	-
Japan	3	1	1	-	-	-
Canada	1	1	1	-	-	-
Russia	1	1	1	-	-	-
Serbia	3	1	-	-	-	-
Australia	2	1	-	-	-	-
Vietnam	2	1	-	-	-	-
Malta	1	1	-	-	-	-
Poland	1	1	-	-	-	-
South Korea	1	1	-	-	-	-
Other countries	9	-	-	-	-	-

Final

November 11

Daryl Peach

17–-15

Roberto Gomez

Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City Referee: Michaela Tabb

References

1. FSN New York broadcast of 2007 WPA Men's World Nine-ball Championship (aired January 3, 2008) (highlights from group 6). On screen diagram of race format. Viewed on January 3, 2008
2. Bustamante waltzes to Last 64 slot
3. 2007 World Pool Championship website -- note the use of "England" and "Scotland" instead of "Great Britain" or "United Kingdom"

External links

• Official website