International Stars Collide in Las Vegas at the WPA Players Championship — The inaugural WPA Players Championship is set to begin TODAY, Tuesday, April 16 at noon local time. The $50,000 added prize money event is being staged at Griff’s Billiards, where 48 champions gathered from around the world join the 16 who qualified in the earlier stages of the event.
The 64-player field will be one of the strongest in recent years for a USA-staged event. Europe will be represented by the likes of Niels Feijen, Alex Kazakis, Chris Melling, Jayson Shaw and also legends Ralf Souquet, Thorsten Hohmann, Mika Immonen and Darren Appleton.
Asia’s contingent will be led by Taiwan’s Ko brothers together with International Open winner Chang Jung-Lin.
America will have a strong presence led by favorites Shane Van Boening, Dennis Hatch, Corey Deuel, Justin Bergman and the recent Derby City Classic 2019 Master of the Table, Skyler Woodward.
Players will battle over four days, with the final match being scheduled on Friday the 19th at 6pm local time.
The format will be single elimination race to 7 (win by 2), with the semi-final and final being a race to 9 (win by 2). For those eliminated in the first round, a 32-player consolation event will be staged, with a race to 5 format – while the semis and final will be a race to 7. WPA Players Championship Payouts
1 – $10,000
2 – $7,000
3/4 – $5,000 ea.
5/8 – $3,000 ea.
9/16 – $1,500 ea.
17/32 – $400 ea. Consolation Tournament Payouts
1 – $1,500
2 – $1,000
3/4 – $500 ea.
5/8 – $250 ea.
9/16 – $150 ea. WPA Players Championship Main Event Players WPA Player Selections1. KAZAKIS, Alex (GRE)2. FEIJEN, Niels (NED)3. BIADO, Carlo (PHI)4. CHANG, Jung Lin (TPE)5. KO, Pin Yi (TPE)6. Van BOENING, Shane (USA)7. GORST, Fedor (RUS)8. SHAW, Jayson (GBR)9. MELLING, Chris (GBR)10. GRABE, Denis (EST)11. KACI, Eklent (ALB)12. KO, Ping Chun (TPE)13. WU, Kun Lin (TPE)14. HOHMANN, Thorsten (GER)15. SOUQUET, Ralf (GER)16. CHENG, Yu Hsuan (TPE)17. CHUA, Johann (PHI)18. APPLETON, Darren (GBR)19. THERON, Jason (RSA)20. HALLIDAY, Richard (RSA)21. ANDERSON, David (RSA)22. YIP, Kin Ling (HKG)23. CAPITO, Robbie (HKG)24. OI, Naoyuki (JPN)25. WALEED, Majid (QAT)26. HUSSAIN, Bashar (QAT)27. DO, The Kien (VIE)28. KURIBAYASHI, Toru (JPN)29. PAGULAYAN, Alex (CAN)30. MORRA, John (CAN)31. THORPE, Billy (USA)32. WOODWARD, Skyler (USA)33. BERGMAN, Justin (USA)34. HATCH, Dennis (USA)35. SHUFF, Brandon (USA)36. DEUEL, Corey (USA)37. TBD38. WILKIE, Shaun (USA)39. LOMBARDO, Hunter (USA)40. TEVEZ, Christopher (PER)41. MARTINEZ, Gerson (PER)42. BAUTISTA ESCALERA, Ruben (MEX)43. BIJSTERBOSCH, Marc (NED)44. SZEWCZYK, Wojciech (POL)45. BABICA, Radoslaw (POL)46. DUDANETS, Maksim (RUS)47. EDWARDS, Matt (NZL)48. IMMONEN, Mika (FIN) Stage 1 Qualified Players49. ARANAS, James (PHI)50. HSU, Kai-Lun (TPE)51. DE LEON, Nicholas (USA)52. HOANG, Duong Quoc (VIE)53. CHANG, Yu-Lung (TPE)54. YANG, Ching-Shun (TPE)55. LIU, Ri Teng (TPE)56. EBERLE, Max (USA)57. AL-SHAHEEN, Omar (KUW)58. ELLERMAN, Mitch (USA)59. IGNACIO, Jeffrey (PHI)60. MALAJ, Nick (GRC)61. TBD – Qualifier 4 April 1562. TBD – Qualifier 4 April 1563. TBD – Qualifier 4 April 1564. TBD – Qualifier 4 April 15 ONLINE BRACKETS
The online tournament brackets can be found at www.CTSonDemand.com.
WATCH LIVE
The entire event is being streamed live by CSI media, a division of CueSports International (CSI). The production, complete with full-time commentary led by former World 8-Ball Champion, Karl Boyes, begins each day at noon pacific time. To watch live, visit www.playcsipool.com/watch-live. The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) is the international governing body for pocket billiards and is comprised of six member federations representing North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. The WPA is the world-recognized body for sanctioning World Championship events. It is also one of the three member organizations of the World Confederation of Billiards Sports (WCBS), representing the billiard disciplines of pool, snooker and carom. For more information about the WPA, visit www.wpapool.com.