WPA World Nine-ball Championship
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023 WPA World Nine-ball Championship
SportPool
Founded1990
FounderWorld Pool-Billiard Association
Most recent
champion(s)		Francisco Sánchez Ruíz
(2023)
Related
competitions		Eight-ball, Ten-ball
Official websitematchroompool.com

The WPA World Nine-ball Championship is an annual professional nine-ball pool tournament contested since 1990. The championship is sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and principally sponsored and organised by Matchroom Sport, who provide the event's official website branded as World Pool Championship. The championship is divided into men's, women's and wheelchair divisions.

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.[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, Matchroom and the 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]

Two-time champion Albin Ouschan

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 the 2006 event, 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 November 3–11, 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 a 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 event was then held annually in Doha through 2019.[8] After not being contested in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the championship resumed in 2021 in Milton Keynes, England. The 2022 edition is scheduled for April 6–10 in Milton Keynes.[9]

Winners

[10]

Year Dates Location Winner Runner-up Final score
1990 March 3-7 Bergheim, Germany United States Earl Strickland United States Jeff Carter 3–1 (sets)
1991 May 29 – June 5 Las Vegas, United States United States Earl Strickland (2) United States Nick Varner 9–7
1992 April 1-5 Taipei, Taiwan United States Johnny Archer United States Bobby Hunter 13–12
1993 December 7-12 Königswinter, Germany Chinese Taipei Chao Fong-pang Germany Thomas Hasch 2–0 (sets)
1994 November 2-6 Chicago, United States Japan Takeshi Okumura Japan Yasunari Itsuzaki 9–6
1995 November 15-19 Taipei, Taiwan Germany Oliver Ortmann United States Dallas West 11–9
1996 October 23-27 Borlänge, Sweden Germany Ralf Souquet Sweden Tom Storm 11–1
1997 October 1–5 Chicago, United States United States Johnny Archer (2) Chinese Taipei Lee Kun-fang 9–3
1998 November 11–15 Taipei, Taiwan Japan Kunihiko Takahashi United States Johnny Archer 13–3
1999 July 18–26 Cardiff, Wales Philippines Efren Reyes Chinese Taipei Chang Hao-ping 17–8
1999 December 5–12 Alicante, Spain United States Nick Varner United States Jeremy Jones 13–8
2000 July 1–9 Cardiff, Wales Chinese Taipei Chao Fong-pang (2) Mexico Ismael Paez 17–6
2001 July 14–22 Finland Mika Immonen Germany Ralf Souquet 17–10
2002 July 13–21 United States Earl Strickland (3) Philippines Francisco Bustamante 17–15
2003 July 12–20 Germany Thorsten Hohmann Canada Alex Pagulayan 17–10
2004 July 10–18 Taipei, Taiwan Canada Alex Pagulayan Chinese Taipei Chang Pei-wei 17–13
2005 July 2–10 Kaohsiung, Taiwan Chinese Taipei Wu Jiaqing Chinese Taipei Kuo Po-cheng 17–16
2006 November 4–12 Pasay, Philippines Philippines Ronnie Alcano Germany Ralf Souquet 17–11
2007 November 3–11 Quezon City, Philippines England Daryl Peach Philippines Roberto Gomez 17–15
2008 Not held due to the financial crisis of 2007–2008
2009
2010 June 29 – July 5 Doha, Qatar Philippines Francisco Bustamante Chinese Taipei Kuo Po-cheng 13–7
2011 June 25 – July 1 Japan Yukio Akakariyama Philippines Ronnie Alcano 13–11
2012 June 22–29 England Darren Appleton China Li Hewen 13–12
2013 September 2–13 Germany Thorsten Hohmann (2) Philippines Antonio Gabica 13–7
2014 June 16–27 Netherlands Niels Feijen Austria Albin Ouschan 13–10
2015 September 7–18 Chinese Taipei Ko Pin-yi United States Shane Van Boening 13–11
2016 August 1–4 Austria Albin Ouschan United States Shane Van Boening 13–6
2017 December 5–14 Philippines Carlo Biado Philippines Roland Garcia 13–5
2018 December 10–20 Germany Joshua Filler Philippines Carlo Biado 13–10
2019 December 13–17 Russia Fedor Gorst Chinese Taipei Chang Jung-lin 13–11
2020 Not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic
2021 June 6–10 Milton Keynes, England Austria Albin Ouschan (2) Kuwait Omar Al-Shaheen 13–9
2022 April 6–10 United States Shane Van Boening Austria Albin Ouschan 13–6
2023 February 1–5 Kielce, Poland Spain Francisco Sanchez Ruiz Syria Mohammad Soufi 13–10

Records

  • Earl Strickland holds the record for winning the WPA World Nine-ball Championship the most times: three. (1990, 1991, 2002).
  • Earl Strickland holds the record for the most consecutive wins: two. (1990, 1991).
  • Albin Ouschan holds the record for the most final appearances: four. (2014, 2016, 2021, 2022).
  • The oldest pool player to ever win the tournament to date is Nick Varner of the United States, at 51 years old at the time of his victory, The youngest is Wu Jiaqing of Chinese Taipei, aged 16 years old at the time of his victory.

Top performers

[10]

Name Nationality Winner Runner-up Finals Semi-final
or better		 Final stage
appearances
Earl Strickland United States30356
Albin Ouschan Austria22448
Johnny Archer United States13510
Chao Fong-pang Chinese Taipei0235
Thorsten Hohmann Germany26
Ralf Souquet Germany123611
Shane Van Boening United States48
Alex Pagulayan Canada1237
Francisco Bustamante Philippines
Carlo Biado Philippines6
Nick Varner United States3
Ronnie Alcano Philippines2
Efren Reyes Philippines017
Takeshi Okumura Japan5
Wu Jiaqing China
Ko Pin-yi Chinese Taipei19
Mika Immonen Finland
Oliver Ortmann Germany6
Kunihiko Takahashi Japan5
Niels Feijen Netherlands
Darren Appleton England4
Daryl Peach England3
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz Spain
Joshua Filler Germany
Fedor Gorst Russia1
Yukio Akakariyama Japan
Kuo Po-cheng Chinese Taipei0225
Lee Kun-fang Chinese Taipei13
Li Hewen China
Tom Storm Sweden
Chang Jung-lin Chinese Taipei15
Antonio Gabica Philippines4
Dallas West United States
Jeremy Jones United States
Omar Al-Shaheen Kuwait
Chang Hao-ping Chinese Taipei2
Roberto Gomez Philippines
Bobby Hunter United States1
Chang Pei-wei Chinese Taipei
Ismael Paez Mexico
Jeff Carter United States
Mohammad Soufi Syria
Roland Garcia Philippines
Thomas Hasch Germany
Yasunari Itsuzaki Japan
  • Active participants are shown in bold.
  • Only players who reached the final are included.
  • Final stage appearances relates to players who reach the last 16 players of the event.
  • In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by first name.

See also

References

  1. ↑ World Pool-Billiard Association – WPA history Archived January 31, 2016, at the Wayback Machine
  2. 1 2 3 4 World Pool Championships – Men's 9-Ball Archived September 29, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Reyes is world 9-ball champion! Archived January 22, 2011, at the Portuguese Web Archive Philippine Balita Today – July 26, 1999
  4. ↑ Admiral WPA World Pool Championship 2001 Archived July 26, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ WPA World Pool Championship 2005 Archived September 23, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ↑ Economy Scratches Pool in the Side Archived September 30, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ Francisco Bustamante Wins World Crown Archived September 30, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  8. ↑ Pin-Yi makes it a World title double in Doha Archived September 30, 2015, at the Wayback Machine
  9. ↑ "WPA World Pool Championship 2022". azbilliards.com. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
  10. 1 2 "World 9-Ball Championship". azbilliards.com. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
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