They filled-up the qualifiers for sure. Its is their back yard so its not surprising.
2019 WPA World 9 Ball - Qatar
- Thread starter Joe_Jaguar
- Start date
I’d like to see one of the Mid-East guys win a major....
...the game might get an influx of oil money.
Being here in Kiev I can't say that much about the equipment and so on. I've watched Joshua vs Casper match from 4:3 Filler. Yes, at that rack he missed one of the easiest 8-ball I've seen from him the last years. It did look like something wrong happened ...it appeared to become a turning point in the match. Casper capitalized on every mistake Josh did and had better rolls after his breaks when Josh did not look like I used to see him. I knew him as trying to stay positive till the very end whatever happens in the match. It was not the case this time and at the end Casper deserved that win.
I don't like to discuss how good or bad the equipment is because it is useless whatever it is just the same for everybody and usually the better players are those who adapt better too. Why complain about something you can't change. You either try to overcome it or give up and go home. That's it.
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Darren Appleton is back
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Wow, looks like I snoozed the first few days of this event while I was out of town visiting a friend in Connecticut.
With 32 left, I can see that of the five guys we, at AZB, tend to view as the five best players in the world (in no particular order, JL Chang, Josh Filler, Shane Van Boening, Wu Jiaqing and Jayson Shaw), only JL Chang remains, so the stage is set for a Cinderella run here. Of course, there are plenty of very fine players left, so snapping this title off won't be easy.
To have spent two full days to reduce the field from 96 to 64 seems a bit ridiculous to this fan, but at least now the tournament has some momentum.
Good luck to the 32 fine players still vying for the title. May the best man win.
With 32 left, I can see that of the five guys we, at AZB, tend to view as the five best players in the world (in no particular order, JL Chang, Josh Filler, Shane Van Boening, Wu Jiaqing and Jayson Shaw), only JL Chang remains, so the stage is set for a Cinderella run here. Of course, there are plenty of very fine players left, so snapping this title off won't be easy.
To have spent two full days to reduce the field from 96 to 64 seems a bit ridiculous to this fan, but at least now the tournament has some momentum.
Good luck to the 32 fine players still vying for the title. May the best man win.
That would really be a new world record
Yes, it was a nefarious WPA scheme -- schedule overlapping men's and women's 9-Ball championships 6,000 miles apart to split up the KillerFillers. Well, it worked. Joshua didn't win. I predict Pia doesn't either.
[maybe Joshua can fly to China quickly to help]
What a great couple living a great life. They deserve it, wish them the best.
Actually, it was last year in which Biado came within a whisker of defending his title.
The modern edition of the World 9-ball Championships began in 1997, and winning two in a row is a far more difficult feat than that accomplished by Earl in 1990-91. At that time, pool had barely spread to Europe and the Asian invasion into international pro pool was just getting started.
In these times in which widespread elite pool is played on at least three continents, it's so difficult to win even one world nine ball championship today that I really wonder whether anyone will ever win two in a row. If so, it will be an accomplishment for the ages.
That was a weird qualifying segment. The players who got a bye only had to win one match (winner or loser side) to make the final 64. They might as well have just played DE until there were sixteen left on the winners side and sixteen on the losers side and let the final 32 play SE. It wouldn't have taken any longer and been far more definitive. Notice the first round losers (round of 64) receive only $500 and the final 32 are guaranteed $2,000. A pretty big rift there. If they had done it the way I just suggested the players finishing 33-48 could have each received $1,000. That makes more sense to me. Half the field is still in the money and a thousand looks and feels a lot better than a measly five bills.
Agree. Folks vastly underestimate the difficulty of even winning one of the majors (W9B, W10B, US Open, International Open, China Open) these days.
It is no coincidence that the elites club/ first favourites at the top of the game now are those who have won a major in recent years.
Bizarre. Those ranked 33 to 96 have to start in middle and play Round 1 . But if you win, you have to win one more against the top 32 seeds or if you lose you have to win one more on losers side. So if you win round 1, you have to win 2 to qualify for last 64. On other hand, if you lose Round 1, you just have to win one on losers side to qualify.
In other words, you are “rewarded” if you lose Round 1 cos then only need to win one and play less matches and also play weaker players on losers side.
Well at least it’s a 2 match guarantee but yep those with the bye can only slip up in their first game while those without it arguably have a little longer to get up to speed. I’d still be taking the bye though.
Agree about DE to last 32 then SE. DE to last 8 or 16 is working well in the US Open any many English pool events. They would be better in this event to play slightly shorter races DE to last 16 and then go to SE. Hopefully Matchroom will get hold of this tournament when the contract is up.
... In other words, you are “rewarded” if you lose Round 1 cos then only need to win one and play less matches and also play weaker players on losers side.
I don't think so. Which position would you rather be in after your first match -- must win your next match to get to the Last 64, or have 2 chances to win 1 match to get to the Last 64?
Only about 5 players who lost their first-round match made it to the Last 64.
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I've always said the mark of a true champion is one who can overcome the obstacles, to include equipment.
Seasoned players adjust fast to new equipment. Young'ns are used to certain brands and can't adjust fast enough in a tournament setting, no matter how good their pool-playing skills are.
That said, every champion has a streak of greatness, some longer than others. In USA, Earl's streak of greatness lasted decades. Kaci and Filler are the new kids on the block, Europe's young guns, and it will be interesting to see how long they can stay on top.
I overheard Keith telling somebody yesterday on the phone that Shane is a great player, but if you were to take away his break, he may not hold up as well as he does in those long challenge matches. Keith was referring to gambling, though, not tournaments. The alternate-break setting for Shane isn't good for him.
I used to be a huge fan of Kaci, still am, but in my most humble opinion, I think the distractions of being a pool celebrity may have tarnished his armor.
As far as Joshua Filler, everybody loses now and then. You can't win them all. Let's see how he does next time around, with or without Pia. The two of them together do seem to provide strength and comfort to them on the road, and rightly so.
Nice win for Thorpe over Biado 11-10.
21 of 21 successful breaks.
B&R's -- 8 of 11 for Thorpe, 7 of 10 for Biado.
Billy missed twice, fouled once, made a couple bad safeties, and got bad position off a successful jump shot. But all in all -- terrific match for him.
21 of 21 successful breaks.
B&R's -- 8 of 11 for Thorpe, 7 of 10 for Biado.
Billy missed twice, fouled once, made a couple bad safeties, and got bad position off a successful jump shot. But all in all -- terrific match for him.
All good points.
As I see it last year Josh came to the WC in much better form mentally first of all. In a good way he was very hungry after Marcus had not picked him to play in MC. This year I'm sorry he appeared in that situation in the team where he had to deal with all that responsibility on his shoulders for team Europe to meet euro fan's expectations. Only him, Pia, coach and some really close friends know how all those nitty-gritty details in the MC had affected mentally on him.
I still believe in his talent and that he may come back even stronger. That is how the real champions do. We'll see at the DCC and US-Open.
When it comes to the WC 9-ball I'm sure it would be a much better and so different event just with single change - the shot'clock rule. It would benefit in so many ways especially for the sport and with that amount of pressure added with a shot'clock we could see much different results at the end (imho).