IMHO, in todays sad world of pool, any talk of dumping, dogging, or whatever behind the scene deals going on during a world class event is thinkable almost ONLY when American players are involved.
Before ya'll jump all over me, don't take this as a cheap shot at American players........................it's more of a cheap shot at the industry. I may be out of the know, and may have much to learn, but only on the US pool scene can dumping the chance at taking a major title lead to more promising financial rewards in the end. I'm sure it doesn't happen most of the time, but I would bet that it can and does happen, and most likely only with American players. There's just not enough to be gained by winning a major from an American players point of view. On the other hand, from the point of view of players from other countries, winning a major event leads to much more than not winning it.
Especially with the Asian players where the players are respected as the world class athletes that they are by the every day average person that has never held a pool cue.
Example: Pull a kid off the street in Manila and ask him if he knows who Efren Reyes is. Then pull a kid off the street in the US and ask him if he knows who Johnny Archer is.
"nuff said,
dave