The field for the 2022 World Pool Masters is set shaped by the 2022 Nineball World Rankings as 24 players, take aim for one of pool’s most prestigious prizes in some of the toughest conditions against the top contenders.
Pool’s most famous invitational tournament gets underway from May 5-8 at the Europa Point Sports Complex, Gibraltar with tickets from £7 per session.
Defending champion Alexander Kazakis will lead the field as No.1 seed closely followed by newly crowned World Champion Shane Van Boening who will be seeded as the No.2 seed. The top 20 players on the Nineball World Rankings were given automatic wildcards with the top eight seeds avoiding the preliminary stage of the tournament.
Four wild cards join the 20 off the rankings with two-time champion Niels Feijen returning to the Rock off the back of claiming the European Championship 9-ball title earlier this year. Dimitri Jungo of Switzerland will make his World Pool Masters debut on the back of a stellar run at the World Pool Championship for the Swiss cueist after reaching the Last 16. The final two wild cards were given to Hong Kong, China’s rising star Lo Ho Sum who beat both David Alcaide and Eklent Kaçi at the World Pool Championship and Kuwait’s World Pool Championship semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef who joins compatriot Omar Al-Shaheen in the field of 24.
Defending champion, Alex Kazakis｜©Taka G. Wu / Matchroom Multi Sport
Full Field (Seeded players 1-8 move into Last 16 based on 2022 Nineball World Rankings)
- Alexander Kazakis (GRE)
- Shane van Boening (USA)
- Albin Ouschan (AUT)
- David Alcaide (ESP)
- Max Lechner (AUT)
- Aloysius Yapp 葉浚惟 (SIN)
- Naoyuki Oi 大井直幸 (JPN)
- Joshua Filler (GER)
Unseeded players who face the preliminary stage
- Ko Ping Chung 柯秉中 (TPE)
- Eklent Kaci (ALB)
- Omar Al-Shaheen (KUW)
- Ko Pin-Yi 柯秉逸 (TPE)
- Jayson Shaw (GBR)
- Oliver Szolnoki (HUN)
- Skyler Woodward (USA)
- Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (ESP)
- Denis Grabe (EST)
- Chang Yu-Lung 張玉龍 (TPE)
- Mieszko Fortunski (POL)
- Dennis Orcollo (PHI)
- Niels Feijen (NED)
- Lo Ho Sum 盧浩琛 (HKG)
- Abdullah Alyousef (KUW)
- Dimitri Jungo (SUI)
Event Format
The top 8 seeded players enter at the last 16, where they are joined by the winners from the preliminary round, where players ranked 9-24 face off.
All matches race to 7, winner breaks, except for the final which is a race to 9.
The tournament will be played on a Rasson Ox table with pockets measuring at 4 inches.
Shane van Boening｜©Taka G. Wu / Matchroom Multi Sport
MATCH SCHEDULE
Thursday 5th May – Evening Session
x4 Preliminary Round matches
Friday 6th May – Afternoon Session
x4 Preliminary Round matches
Evening Session
x3 Last 16 Matches
Saturday 7th May – Afternoon Session
x3 Last 16 Matches
Evening Session
x2 Last 16 Matches / x1 Quarter-Final
Sunday 8th May – Afternoon Session
x3 Quarter Finals
Evening Session
x2 Semi-Finals / Final
Draw
The draw for the Preliminary Stage and Last 16 will be made soon. Keep an eye on the Matchroom Pool social media pages for the draw.
KO Pin-Yi, Chang Yu-Lung and KO Ping-Chung｜©Alison Chang
2022 年世界花式撞球大師賽 (World Pool Masters) 將於5月5-8日在直布羅陀登場，賽事主辦方Matchroom也於台北時間清晨公布了完整參賽名單。此屆參賽選手由2022年Matchroom Nineball世界排名而來，24 位頂級選手將捉對廝殺爭奪花式撞球賽事中最負盛名的獎項之一。
衛冕冠軍，希臘好手Alexander Kazakis將作為一號種子領銜參賽，新加冕的世界冠軍，美國名將Shane Van Boening則緊跟其後位列二號種子。Matchroom Nineball世界排名前 20 名的選手自動獲得參賽資格，而排名前八的種子選手則直接避開比賽的預賽階段。
台灣則有”撞球王子” 柯秉逸、”天王殺手” 柯秉中，以及”玉面飛龍” 張玉龍取得資格，三人都將從預賽出發，爭取16強的門票。
最後的四張外卡，首張外卡發給Niels Feijen，荷蘭”終結者”曾拿下兩屆冠軍，在今年的歐錦賽摘下 9號球冠軍。 瑞士名將Dimitri Jungo將首次亮相大師賽，他在不久前剛結束的9號球世錦賽上取得了出色成績。最後兩張外卡則由香港新星盧浩琛與科威特選手Abdullah Alyousef 獲得，盧浩琛在今年9號球世錦賽上擊敗了2019年大師賽冠軍，西班牙名將David Alcaide和2021年10號球世錦賽冠軍Eklent Kaçi (阿爾巴尼亞)，而Abdullah Alyousef則在今年9球世錦賽中闖進半決賽，他將與同胞Omar Al-Shaheen一同參戰。
在賽制方面，排名前八的種子選手直接進入16強等候預賽勝出的選手進行對戰，除決賽為搶9之外，其餘全部比賽皆為搶7、勝沖，此次的賽事官方球桌為Rasson Ox，球桌的袋口尺寸則為4英吋。