Nineball Asian Tour

jay helfert

jay helfert

Shoot Pool, not people
Gold Member
Silver Member
Matchroom has just announced their Nineball Asian Tour for 2023. They are co-promoting these events with Asian Pool Promotions. The tour will consist of nine events held in various locations throughout Asia and culminate in a $200,000 final tournament. Bravo to Matchroom for expanding their schedule to include the hotbed of pool talent that resides in Asia.
 
jay helfert said:
Matchroom has just announced their Nineball Asian Tour for 2023. They are co-promoting these events with Asian Pool Promotions. The tour will consist of nine events held in various locations throughout Asia and culminate in a $200,000 final tournament. Bravo to Matchroom for expanding their schedule to include the hotbed of pool talent that resides in Asia.
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This is absolutely wonderful news, Jay. Thanks for sharing it.

The trend of Matchroom expanding their affiliations with other events is a huge positive for pool. They're doing it in America, too (for example, the Sandcastle Open, Turning Stone, and the International).

I couldn't be happier for those that play their pro pool chiefly in Asia and wish the best of luck to everyone associated with this new tour.

Two things I hope (and believe) will come out of this will be increased internet coverage of pool in Asia and the ability to earn Matchroom 9ball ranking points in Asian play.

The steps that Matchroom is taking tend to unify pro pool through 9ball, and they are to be applauded for their efforts, but more importantly, for their vision.
 
Great news. Was the San Miguel tour the last one in Asia? Or was that Phillipines specific? It's been so long. I hope our top USA players go there for the Asian Open.
 
was it the APP that had a nineball ranking event this year? ko won, chua 2nd. if so, that was alright. alternate break kind of boring but i suppose also kind of needed in reasonably long races on generous tables.

couldn't be happier for this announcement, i think we will see new talents emerging and some known monsters that don't travel to US/europe. dennis, raga, bustie, maybe some of the chinese players such as wu jiaqing and zheng.
 
Any events planned for mainland China? It would be good to get their players back involved with pool instead of Chinese 8 ball (heyball) or snooker.
 
kling&allen said:
Any events planned for mainland China? It would be good to get their players back involved with pool instead of Chinese 8 ball (heyball) or snooker.
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as it seems, chinese 8 ball is stealing players from snooker as well as from pool, with their big prize funds. obviously good sponsors and big tv numbers. i think there are two competing and quarreling outfits, hence "heyball".
 
skogstokig said:
as it seems, chinese 8 ball is stealing players from snooker as well as from pool, with their big prize funds. obviously good sponsors and big tv numbers. i think there are two competing and quarreling outfits, hence "heyball".
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Chin.8b/Heyball has been shutdown since covid started. It such a niche game(hate to use 'gaffy' but it kinda is) in a niche sport that i just don't see it ever getting widespread popularity. I've tried to watch it and i find it pretty boring.
 
iusedtoberich said:
Great news. Was the San Miguel tour the last one in Asia? Or was that Phillipines specific? It's been so long. I hope our top USA players go there for the Asian Open.
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It was a South East Asian tour, sponsored initially by San Miguel and later by Guinness. Imho it was the best tour at the time. With the 200k final tournment (Asia/Asian Open?) we might see some non-Asian players entering some other events in the lead up to the main event.
 
garczar said:
Chin.8b/Heyball has been shutdown since covid started. It such a niche game(hate to use 'gaffy' but it kinda is) in a niche sport that i just don't see it ever getting widespread popularity. I've tried to watch it and i find it pretty boring.
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no, actually it's been ongoing for much of this period (which is why wu and others converted). it is niche but i guess when it comes to sponsors/viewers it's a numbers game. there lives a gazillion chinamen in china and most have TV and some have money. agree on it being boring (except for melling).
 
kling&allen said:
Any events planned for mainland China? It would be good to get their players back involved with pool instead of Chinese 8 ball (heyball) or snooker.
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China has been shut down all this time. Just a week ago they finally reversed their "Zero C Policy", after a year of mass protests and workers jumping out of factory windows to skip the lockdowns. Maybe their pool players will travel again in 2023.
 
skogstokig said:
no, actually it's been ongoing for much of this period (which is why wu and others converted). it is niche but i guess when it comes to sponsors/viewers it's a numbers game. there lives a gazillion chinamen in china and most have TV and some have money. agree on it being boring (except for melling).
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I've tried to watch it and have struggled. It seems quite popular (in China) with good tournaments. Perhaps nineball could steal some of its audience. Another 100 million pool players would do good for the sport.
 
iusedtoberich said:
China has been shut down all this time. Just a week ago they finally reversed their "Zero C Policy", after a year of mass protests and workers jumping out of factory windows to skip the lockdowns. Maybe their pool players will travel again in 2023.
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Yes, which is why I thought there might be an opening for nineball events in 2023 (or beyond).
 
Currently the Manny Paquiao Open is being played in General Santos City. Ten Ball with a decent prize fund totally funded by Manny. I believe first place pays 300,000P (about $6,000), but it may be higher than that. I will inquire later today. You can find it online at Pinoy Pool Masters or Manny Pacquiao Open on FB. Not sure about youtube. Live coverage is free. I watched Carlo Biado against Ronnie Alcano early this morning West Coast time.
 
Matchroom sent me a couple sample balls to be used in the upcoming 2023 Asian Tour. Behold:
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