The Greek federation has no money

[Fox]

LIMA - Nikos Polychronopoulos is the third player in two days who has refused to play the World championship in Lima. The Greek player didn't confirm his participation, just like his compatriot and former world champion Filipos Kasidokostas did before. Both Greek players don't want to pay for the flight and the accommodation. The Greek federation has no money to show up for the costs.

Polychronopoulos is the third player in one day that refused playing on the Worlds after Kasidokostas and Jef Philipoom. The UMB (World Federation) has been published until now a list of 22 names of the UMB ranking. The other seeded players and the wildcards will be announced later.

 

[Fox]

The UMB (World Federation) has announced three substitutes for the players who have returned the invitation for the World championship in Lima. They are Kouji Funaki from Japan, Roland Forthomme from Belgium and Dong Gung Kang from Korea. They are the numbers 19, 20 and 21 on the list of participants, which will be further extended to 48.

This week the Greeks Filipos Kasidokostas and Nikos Polychronopoulos and the Belgian Jef Philipoom refused to accept the invitation, because they must pay all costs by themselves. The Greek and Belgian federation will not contribute to the cost.


The deadline was on Monday, after that day the UMB nominated the replacements.

To come to 46 players there are 22 players on the list now, 26 others come from the confederations CEB (12), CPB (8), ACR (4) and two wildcards from Peru.

The World championships in Lima are from 12 until July 16.

 

[Fox]

ATHENS - The World championship three-cushion in Peru, from July 12 to 16, will loose another great player on the list of participants after Jef Philipoom refused to play in Lima. Filipos Kasidokostas, the world champion of 2009 in Lausanne, also has cancelled his participation, because he has to pay for the flight and the hotel himself.

The Greek federation is in big financial distress and can not contribute to the trip and the hotel expenses. Kasidokostas was seeded as sixth for the tournament. The Belgian Jef Philipoom already decided on Monday night that he would'nt play for his country on the Worlds.

The 28-year-old Kasidokostas, who is a professional billiard player, has to live from the money he earns in his sport. He also has passed the deadline for the World championship, because there is not any chance that he will be payed for the trip. He has to be the third at least in the championship to get his money back. Nikos Polychronopoulos, the second Greek who is seeded, will travel on his own expense. He has a bar and restaurant in Athens, so he has other eIt's a maarnings for living.

The sporting situation in Greece suffers the severe economic crisis in the country. Alexander Balomenos, president of the national billiard federation, expresses his deep concern about the future of his sport. ,,The clubs that we have and which are members can not pay the fee, many clubs have closed their doors and there will be many to follow'', he says. ,,It is a matter of survival for everybody. I have paid the fee for the European federation out of my own pocket, together with George Sakkas and a few friends, but we can not continue doing like that.''

The sport is not the biggest concern. Balomenos: ,,It is very hard for the entire Greek society what happens here. Maybe we like billiards and we think it's terrible what happens with Filipos, but look at the older people in Greece, who are deducted with 40% n their pensions. For those people it is almost impossible to survive.''

The Greek president also points a finger at the international billiard federations. ,,Filipos Kasidokostas was world champion in 2009, the prize was 5000 euros. That's only slightly more what he must pay for the trip and the hotel for the World championship in Lima. The prize money in billiard is ridiculously low, we cannot stop concluding that.''

 

[PAIKTOURA]

It is very sad that Fillipos and Nikos will not play in Lima.But it is true that the prize money are very low.I have a question to the UMB. 3 Cushion top level players are amateurs or professionals? What are its plans for the future of the game? Yes of course here in Greece we have our economic problems but don't you think that most of these player are playing just for fun, for the flag and the glory? How many times they should play just for them?
(NOBODY SHOULD BELIEVE THAT WE ARE WEEK BECAUSE OF THE ECONOMIC ISSUES.WE HAVE HISTORY OF THOUSAND AND THOUSAND OF YEARS.WE WILL FIND THE WAY TO COME BACK AGAIN.WE DON'T WANT THE PITTY OF ANYONE.)