WPA World Nine-ball Championship

The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual, international, professional nine-ball pool (pocket billiards) tournament, founded in 1990, sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), and principally sponsored and organised by Matchroom Sport (who provide the event's official website, under the less specific name World Pool Championship). It is divided into men's, women's and wheelchair Divisions. Since 2010, it is held in Doha, Qatar.

History

In the summer of 1989, the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) began plans for a world championship tournament. The group sent invitations, rules, sports regulations and by-laws. Reception was positive, and a provisional Board was created. These efforts culminated in February 1990.^[1]

In March 1990, the inaugural WPA World Nine-ball Championship was held in Bergheim, Germany. The playing field included 32 men and 16 women in separate divisions, and has since become an annual event. The event was organised solely by the WPA from this inauguration through 1999.^[2]

In July 1999, Matchroom Sport attempted to get involved with the organisation of the event, but their bid failed. The WPA event was played in Alicante, Spain, and won by Nick Varner of the United States. Broadcast on ESPN, it was the first pro nine-ball championship to be televised. Matchroom Sport, meanwhile, instead organised tournament called the "World Professional Pool Championship", a competing and non-WPA-sanctioned event in Cardiff, Wales, which was won by Efren Reyes of the Philippines.^[3]

In 2000, the Matchroom and WPA agreed that tournaments would merge into a single official world championship. The WPA also agreed to recognise the results of the 1999 Matchroom event, meaning that official listings show both Varner and Reyes as 1999 world champions. Matchroom changed its promotional name for the event to the "World Pool Championship", dropping the word "professional" from the title. The event remained in Cardiff through 2003.^[2]

In 2001, the number of competitors in the men's division was increased to 128 and a men's division first prize raised to $65,000.^[2][4]

The 2004 and 2005 events were held in Taiwan, with a men's division first prize of $75,000 as of 2004.^[2] The 2005 tournament saw two rules changes: last 64 and last 32 matches were extended to race-to-10 format, and the pockets on the tables were narrowed, to make the game more difficult.^[5]

In 2006, the Philippines became the host country for two years. All matches became alternating-break all the way from the group stages to the finals. Men's division first prize escalated to $100,000. In 2007, the event ran from 3–11 November, and Daryl Peach of the England was the victor. Because of the global late-2000s recession the championship did not reappear on the calendar in 2008. For some time neither Matchroom nor the WPA released any predictions regarding its reinstatement, and no 2009 event was held, either.^[6]

After this two-year hiatus, the tournament returned as the 2010 WPA World Nine-ball Championship in Doha, Qatar. Francisco Bustamante of the Philippines won the 2010 title.^[7]

The most recent, 2015 championship, was won by Ko Pin-yi, who defeated Shane Van Boening in the final.^[8]

Winners

Year	Dates	Location	Winner	Runner-up	Final score
1990		Bergheim, Germany	Earl Strickland	Jeff Carter
1991		Las Vegas, United States	Earl Strickland (2)	Nick Varner
1992		Taipei, Taiwan	Johnny Archer	Bobby Hunter
1993		Königswinter, Germany	Chao Fong-pang	Thomas Hasch
1994		Chicago, United States	Okumura Takeshi	Yasunari Itsuzaki
1995		Taipei, Taiwan	Oliver Ortmann	Dallas West
1996		Borlänge, Sweden	Ralf Souquet	Tom Storm
1997		Chicago, United States	Johnny Archer (2)	Kun-Fang Lee
1998		Taipei, Taiwan	Takahashi Kunihiko	Johnny Archer
1999 (A)	July 18–26	Cardiff, Wales	Efren Reyes	Chang Hao-ping	17–8
1999 (B)	December 5–12	Alicante, Spain	Nick Varner	Jeremy Jones	13–8
2000	July 1–9	Cardiff, Wales	Chao Fong-pang (2)	Ismael Paez	17–6
2001	July 14–22		Mika Immonen	Ralf Souquet	17–10
2002	July 13–21		Earl Strickland (3)	Francisco Bustamante	17–15
2003	July 12–20		Thorsten Hohmann	Alex Pagulayan	17–10
2004	July 10–18	Taipei, Taiwan	Alex Pagulayan	Chang Pei-wei	17–13
2005	July 2–10	Kaohsiung, Taiwan	Wu Chia-ching	Kuo Po-cheng	17–16
2006	November 4–12	Pasay, Philippines	Ronato Alcano	Ralf Souquet	17–11
2007	November 3–11	Quezon City, Philippines	Daryl Peach	Roberto Gomez	17–15
2008	Not held (late-2000s recession)
2009
2010	June 29 – July 5	Doha, Qatar	Francisco Bustamante	Kuo Po-cheng	13–7
2011	June 25 – July 1		Yukio Akagariyama	Ronato Alcano	13–11
2012	June 22–29		Darren Appleton	Li He-wen	13–12
2013	September 2–13		Thorsten Hohmann (2)	Antonio Gabica	13–7
2014	June 16–27		Niels Feijen	Albin Ouschan	13–10
2015	September 7–18		Ko Pin-yi	Shane Van Boening	13–11

References

1. World Pool-Billiard Association – WPA history
2. World Pool Championships – Men's 9-Ball
3. Reyes is world 9-ball champion! Philippine Balita Today – July 26, 1999
4. Admiral WPA World Pool Championship 2001
5. WPA World Pool Championship 2005
6. Economy Scratches Pool in the Side
7. Francisco Bustamante Wins World Crown
8. Pin-Yi makes it a World title double in Doha

External links

• World Pool-Billiard Association