The World Games 2022, Birmingham, AL

The sports program of the 2022 World Games has been announced. It includes four billiard events. (This was originally scheduled for 2021, but got pushed back to July of 2022 when the Summer Olympic Games were delayed by a year.)

There are 30 sports included and 207 events, including these four billiard events:



Here is the full program:

https://www.theworldgames.org/files/Governing_Documents/SportsProgramme_TWG2022.pdf

PoolPlayer4 said:

Bob,

I'm unfamiliar with the World Games. The website says it is held in the year after the Summer Olympics. Is it related in some way to the Olympics? Does it mean that pool could make it in as an Olympic sport? Or, is it an alternative for sports that can't make it in and doesn't bear on future prospects for entry into the Olympics? Looks like the WCBS is the federation for World Games and they have the Olympic Games icon on their website, suggesting some connection.

Thanks.

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The World Games is a multi-sport competition for those sports that have been recognized by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) but are not in the Summer Games. Participation in the World Games is considered a stepping stone to being in the Olympics.

The IOC recognizes many international sports federations that are not in the Olympic Games. The requirement is that the sport be well organized internationally (with lots of details). The IOC recognizes the WCBS as the World Governing Body for cue sports. The WCBS in turn recognizes the international federations for pool, snooker and carom, and those in turn recognize the national sports federations.

It is very hard for any new sport to get into the Summer Games. The total number of athletes is now over 10,000 and the IOC has said that they don't want to see an increase. Sports are generally unwilling to give up their spots voluntarily, so I think there has to be something wrong with the nature of the competition for a federation to lose its spot.

Baseball was in and then out and now it's going to be back in for 2021. I think a huge problem for baseball is that only nine countries participated for more than one year during the five years it was held. It is not really an international sport or at least not as much as many other sports. Another issue with baseball is that each team is a lot of players and coaches. If the 2021 Games were not in Tokyo, I doubt that it would have been put back in.

The first time cue sports were in the World Games was in 2001 in Akita, Japan. Jeanette Lee won gold in the women's 9-ball competition. In 2013 Darren Appleton won the men's event in Cali, Columbia. Kyren Wilson won the snooker in 2017 in Wrocław, Poland.

Here's a link that will get you to the other results:

https://www.theworldgames.org/sports/Billiards-Sports-43

iusedtoberich said:

Of the 30 sports on the list, Billiards has got to be the most played by people world-wide. That may even be true of the main Olympic sports, I haven't checked their list. Kind of a shame we haven't been able to take advantage of that.

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What, you don't go to a couple of dressage competitions a month?
How are your extended gaits?

Bob <-- thinks the horsey set has a great deal of money and influence

The International World Games Association has awarded Jayson Shaw the title of Athlete of the Month (December 2020). Here's the write-up:

Tickets for the Birmingham, Alabama World Games 2022 go on sale on July 7th, exactly a year before the events begin. Here is a link to the tickets:

Tickets are now on sale. The tickets for cue sports are $25 to $30 per session:

hang-the-9 said:

It's interesting they picked 9 ball instead of 8 ball for the Pool games, but aside from that, it's exactly what I though the Olympic cuesport category should be, 3C, Snooker and a Pool game but I would have gone with 8 ball since that is what most casual players know.

Also interesting the only Women event is 9 ball, they did not think they would find enough skilled 3C or Snooker women players?

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The World 9-Ball championship has a longer history than the 8-Ball championship. Also, for much of the world there would be confusion with blackball (English 8-ball) if American 8-Ball was the game. For that part of the world, "American pool" means 9-ball. Also there is no pro tour for 8-ball and there never has been, so far as I know.

Last time (2017, Poland) the snooker was open but the women finished low. A major problem is that few countries have good female players in either 3-C or snooker, and it is required that the competitors have wide international range.

The final full schedule of events is now available online. If you're planning to go, you may want to see some of the earlier events -- cue sports are the last five days of the ten days of competition.

The 2025 edition of the World Games will be in Chengdu China in August 2025. The total number of athletes and technical officials will be increased from 4200 to 5000.

sjm said:

Attending is definitely tempting, so I'm marking these dates on my calendar. Way too early to decide --- will see what next summer looks like.

Bob, do you have any idea what hotel(s) is/are close to the venue being used for the cue-sports disciplines?

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The cue sports will be in the Sheraton's ballroom. The Sheraton is in downtown Birmingham. The Convention Center which will host some other events including Bowling, DanceSport, Floorball, Gymnastics, Korfball and Powerlifting, is across the street.

I just checked and the Sheraton is sold out for the entire Games. If there's any chance you can go, it's a good idea to get a reservation now that has free cancellation. I just reserved about a 10-minute walk away. Short walks in Birmingham in July are OK if you have water.

(On booking.com I did find a motel that is within a short ride for $60 a night, but you gotta wonder....)