Qualification System for 2007 WPA World Pool Championship
The purpose of this category system is to give all serious billiards 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 2007 World Pool Championship as a Category 1 player, due to him winning the event in 2004 and gaining a five year exemption.
However, Alex could also fall into several other categories due to his achievements around the world over the 12 months between WPCs.
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 2007 that would be R Alcano, Wu CC, A Pagulayan, T Hohmann, E Strickland)
Category 2
Previous three beaten finalists at the WPA World Pool Championship (in 2007 they would be R Souquet, Kuo PC, Chang PW)
Category 3
Last 16 finisher at the previous WPA World Pool Championship (in 2007 they would be R Alcano, R Souquet, Li HW, Fu CW, Wu CC, Luong CD, Liu CC, R Luat, Kuo PC, P Holtz, J De Luna, S Tot, T Edey, K Stepanov, D Alcaide, S Davis)
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. Top 3 from this Qualifying Tournament will be entered into the Championship Tournament.
Category 9
Number One and Two Ranked players from the following countries:
Philippines
Taiwan
Japan
Indonesia
Category 10
Number One and Two Ranked players from the following countries:
Singapore
China
Korea
Malaysia
Vietnam
Category 11
Number One player from the following countries:
Thailand
India
Qatar
Iran
UAE
EUROPE
Category 4
The Top Eight players in the 9-Ball division at the 2007 European Pool Championships
The Gold Medallist in the Straight Pool division at the 2007 European Pool Championships
Category 5
Winner and runner-up of all Euro Tour events that take place between 1st May 2006 and 30th April 2007.
Category 6
The top 28 ranked European players on the EPBF Euro Tour Rankings up to 30th April 2007
Category 7
The next five players ranked between 29-50 on the EPBF Euro Tour Rankings up to 30th April 2007 representing five different European countries not represented in the Categories 4, 5 6.
Category 8
Team Europe representatives at the previous three Mosconi Cups.
Category 9
Winner and runner-up of qualifying event held in Europe after 30th April cut-off date. This shall be for players not already qualified and is open to any player regardless of nationality.
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 25th October and finishes on the 15th September on the year of the World Pool Championship.
Events to be used:
2006 US Open 9 Ball Championship
Super Billiards Expo
2006 Pro Tour Championships
BCA Open
World Summit of Pool
Category 5
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 6
The top 12 ranked North American players on the UPA Calendar rankings up to 15th September 2007.
Category 7
Team America representatives at the previous three Mosconi Cups (in the case of the 2007 Championship, they will be 2006, 2005, 2004)
OCEANIA
Category 4
National Champions of the following countries:
Australia
New Zealand (2006 Champion)
(Open)
Category 5
Winners of the following tournaments:
Oceania Championship
Trans Tasman Championship
(Nationals only)
Category 6
Next 2 highest ranked Oceanic players on Oceania Rankings.
(Nationals only)
SOUTH AMERICA
Category 4
The Top 3 players at the CPB (South Central American) Championship.
OTHERS
Sponsors’ Wildcards
There will be additional spots available which will be awarded at the promoter’s discretion and subject to availabilty.
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.