they omitted top players by choice or by covid default?
i know wu and zheng should be there, but the chinese players can't travel atm. some mainland chinese players have turned to c8b because of this. ko brothers, kevin cheng, lee van, bustie, i do not know their reasons but i bet they are travel related or personal
to me those circumstances don't lower the credibility of the tournament
Yes, COVID is a factor but it's not the only factor. The field is way too small to include many of those capable of contending for this kind of title and no event having a field of 64 is a credible world championship. Invitations were handled in a way that adheres to WPA rules, but this year, those rules don't work because some have had a far greater opportunity than others to maintain a high WPA ranking.
Similarly, the Stage 2 seeding methodology discriminates against those whose WPA rankings plummeted due to their inability to play in the most recent big events on the WPA calendar, virtually all of which were contested in Europe. Hence, even for those who are in field, the methodology is ridiculous. Using WPA ranking for seeding this year does, in my opinion, delegitimize the process. That's how someone like Alex Pagulayan (Fargo 815), who was long stranded in Canada, ends up seeded below Yapp (800) , Oi (804), AlShaheen (781), Thorpe (771), and Chua (800). Even though Alex went undefeated in Stage 1, he is a bottom eight seed in Stage 2, while Chua, Yapp and Oi, all of whom lost a match, are top eight seeds. If that's your idea of fair, I'm surprised.
This event will produce a very worthy champion that will have topped a very strong field, but the process of running this event was flawed, and I know unfair when I see it when it comes to pool.
This is a relatively new event and I'll be patient, but there's some tidying up to do for next year.