9-Ball
Topic: WPC Qualifiers in Manila

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.