I think Mark Griffin (BCAPL, USAPL and CSI) hold the legal rights to the "USA 8,9,10, 1pkt and 14.1" Championships. And they are not OPEN. You must be a USA citizen and win a qualifier to get your spot in one of these Championships.
HOLD ON Tom, Serious correction!
NCS series is NOT Open! Never claimed to be! It's a National Championship Series. Never claimed to be US Open anything. And yes, you're right, one has to qualify by competing in authorized tournaments to win a spot, but NCS as expended it's qualification to "Legal" US residents.
Jose Parika is current NCS 10 Ball Champion and Santos Sambajon, Jr. is current NCS 9 Ball Champion.
Here is the press release on behalf:
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CueSports International
National Championship Series (NCS) Player Eligibility Expanded
CueSports International (CSI) would like to announce the following National Championship Series (NCS) player eligibility change which will take effect immediately: the NCS is open to all U.S Citizens and to U.S Permanent Resident Aliens who have resided full time in the U.S for a minimum of 12 consecutive months prior to winning a qualifying spot at an NCS national event.
The previous policy, which required players be eligible to hold a U.S passport, was with the goal of meeting eligibility to represent the U.S in a WPA World Championship. However, after discussion with representatives of the WPA, the NCS is able to expand its previous policy to include long term U.S residents who do not however have U.S citizenship.
Players who win a spot(s) to any NCS national event will receive a welcome packet which includes important information pertaining to the NCS national event for which they qualified. The NCS is a series of five U.S national championships in the follow five cue disciplines: 8-Ball, 9-Ball, 10-Ball, 14.1 Continuous and One Pocket.
The NCS 14.1 Continuous National Championship is scheduled July 31-August 2, 2009 at Comet Billiards in Parsippany, NJ. The top two finishers at the 14.1 NCS national event will represent the U.S to the 2009 World 14.1 Championship scheduled August 24-29 in East Brunswick, NJ and will be streamed online by Accu-Stats.
The NCS 9-Ball and 10-Ball National Championships will be held together over a 5 day event at the historical and award winning Golden Nugget in Las Vegas, NV September 3-7, 2009. TAR will be streaming both events. Players must participate and win a spot in an NCS qualifier to be able to play in an NCS national event.
The NCS is sponsored by Diamond Billiard Products, OB Cues, DELTA-13 Rack and Aramith. For a complete listing of qualifiers please visit the NCS calendar at
www.playcsipool.com, call the CSI office at 702-719-7665 or email
holly@playcsipool.com.
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Mark Griffin/ CSI also produces US Open Bar Table Championships and it is "Open" To any sex and any citizen.
Darren Appleton of UK is current US Bar Table Champion for 10 Ball.
**** Food for thought*****
In May 2010, CSI is producing US Open 10 Ball Championship in Vegas during BCAPL Nationals. This event is OPEN to all sex and nationals.
S.