official statement from the WPA: "Mike Sigel is not a World 9-ball Champion"
Ok, the statement doesn't say exactly that Mike Sigel is not a World 9-ball Champion, but they say that players who has not won a wpa-sanctioned World Championships are not considered to be World Champions.
I tend to agree with WPA about this subject, but what I found more interesting is that in the article it says that EPBF has penalized Dominic Jentsch for playing in the 10-ball tournament of Charlie Williams. When EPBF can't produce enough interesting tournaments for youth in Europe, how can they penalize them for playing in tournaments outside Europe??? This is just crazy...
Below is the article from the mainpage of AZBilliards.
Pretenders to the Title
The following is an open letter received by AzBilliards from Thomas Overbeck - WPA Vice President/Sports Director...
Since 1988, the WPA has been giving structure to the World of Pool and Billiards and has enjoyed quite some success in doing so. The WPA hosts regular World Championships in all of the major disciplines, participates in the World Games and is acknowledged by the IOC.
Prior to the formation of the WPA just anyone could name his event ?World Championship, a move that was self-glorious and that did not elevate the fidelity of the game. We at the WPA take the tile ?World Champion? very seriously and you can find a complete list of all World Champions on our website at: http://www.wpapool.com/index.asp?content=champ. Anyone who is not mentioned here is not considered to be a World Champion!
It was the WPA that took upon itself the task to find organizers, sponsors and federations to work with and to create an international network of organizations in order to take the sport where we feel it belongs. Nowadays, we have members in every continent. When we organize World Championships we issue fair quotas and invite players from all around the World to find the true champion. This is how we feel it should be done.
Therefore, we at the WPA must take exception to the recent headline on AZBilliards titled: ?Jentsch and Lovely have become World Champions in Ten-Ball?. Indeed, they have not. For your information: This event is not considered to be an official World Championships. A private organizer invited players of his own choice and named the event without the authorization of the WPA. We do not acknowledge the title of this event or the titles for the players. We feel that the time has not yet arrived to begin a Junior 10-Ball World Championships. For your information: Jentsch has been penalized by his home federation (the EPBF) for participating in an unsanctioned event.
It is our hope that all promoters and organizers might rethink their attitude as concerns the naming of future events. This would be for the betterment of the sport, the players, and especially it would be a tribute to those players who truly are World Champions. It gives their title the necessary respect and dignity that we feel it deserves.
By AzB Staff - 2008-08-11
Ok, the statement doesn't say exactly that Mike Sigel is not a World 9-ball Champion, but they say that players who has not won a wpa-sanctioned World Championships are not considered to be World Champions.
I tend to agree with WPA about this subject, but what I found more interesting is that in the article it says that EPBF has penalized Dominic Jentsch for playing in the 10-ball tournament of Charlie Williams. When EPBF can't produce enough interesting tournaments for youth in Europe, how can they penalize them for playing in tournaments outside Europe??? This is just crazy...
Below is the article from the mainpage of AZBilliards.
Pretenders to the Title
The following is an open letter received by AzBilliards from Thomas Overbeck - WPA Vice President/Sports Director...
Since 1988, the WPA has been giving structure to the World of Pool and Billiards and has enjoyed quite some success in doing so. The WPA hosts regular World Championships in all of the major disciplines, participates in the World Games and is acknowledged by the IOC.
Prior to the formation of the WPA just anyone could name his event ?World Championship, a move that was self-glorious and that did not elevate the fidelity of the game. We at the WPA take the tile ?World Champion? very seriously and you can find a complete list of all World Champions on our website at: http://www.wpapool.com/index.asp?content=champ. Anyone who is not mentioned here is not considered to be a World Champion!
It was the WPA that took upon itself the task to find organizers, sponsors and federations to work with and to create an international network of organizations in order to take the sport where we feel it belongs. Nowadays, we have members in every continent. When we organize World Championships we issue fair quotas and invite players from all around the World to find the true champion. This is how we feel it should be done.
Therefore, we at the WPA must take exception to the recent headline on AZBilliards titled: ?Jentsch and Lovely have become World Champions in Ten-Ball?. Indeed, they have not. For your information: This event is not considered to be an official World Championships. A private organizer invited players of his own choice and named the event without the authorization of the WPA. We do not acknowledge the title of this event or the titles for the players. We feel that the time has not yet arrived to begin a Junior 10-Ball World Championships. For your information: Jentsch has been penalized by his home federation (the EPBF) for participating in an unsanctioned event.
It is our hope that all promoters and organizers might rethink their attitude as concerns the naming of future events. This would be for the betterment of the sport, the players, and especially it would be a tribute to those players who truly are World Champions. It gives their title the necessary respect and dignity that we feel it deserves.
By AzB Staff - 2008-08-11
