The draw for the 2023 World Pool Masters has been made with defending champion Joshua Filler set to meet two-time champion Niels Feijen in the opening match of the tournament from May 10-13 at the Brentwood Centre, Essex, England live on Sky Sports in the UK and networks worldwide.
For the first time since 2017, the World Pool Masters returns to 16 players with a new grueling format fitting of a prize fund that now totals $125,000 with the winner set to take home $40,000. Opening round ties will be Race to 9 for the first time with the Matchroom break box, hand-racking, and winner breaks in action with the tournament stretching going to Race to 11 for the semi-finals and 13 for the final.
The top 14 players from the World Nineball Tour Rankings after the World Pool Championship were invited plus two wild cards with those 1-8 on the rankings seeded and drawn against the remaining players with the draw conducted one week ahead of the opening matches.
©Taka G. Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
Newly-crowned World Champion and WNT No.1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz will meet wild card James Aranas of the Philippines in the opening round while the only player to ever win the title back-to-back Shane Van Boening faces the tricky test of former Mosconi Cup champion and current WNT No.14 Fedor Gorst. The winner of that tie will have to then take on either Jayson Shaw and Ko Pin Yi who will meet for the first time in a Matchroom event since the 2022 World Pool Championship.
Elsewhere, Albin Ouschan will meet former Mosconi Cup teammate Eklent Kaci whilst the two further Austrians in the tournament Max Lechner and Mario He will take on Mohammad Soufi and Alexander Kazakis respectively. China will make their long-awaited return to the Nineball arena with Zheng Xiao-Huai set to make his debut against Wiktor Zielinski to complete the opening round match-ups.
Tickets are available for all four days from £15 a day with the link here. Buy here.
Round 1 Draw (in alphabetic order)
- Albin Ouschan v Eklent Kaci
- Francisco Sanchez Ruiz v James Aranas
- Jayson Shaw v Ko Pin Yi
- Joshua Filler v Niels Feijen
- Max Lechner v Mohammad Soufi
- Mario He v Alex Kazakis
- Shane Van Boening v Fedor Gorst
- Wiktor Zielinski v Zheng Xiao-Huai
Match Schedule
Where to Watch
The 2023 World Pool Masters is live globally wherever fans are in the world including Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Brazil, Spain and Italy as well as on Viaplay in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Netherlands, Poland, and Matchroom.Live in selected territories.
Broadcaster List
- AMC Network – Hungary
- Dazn – USA, Brazil, Spain, Italy
- Foxtel – Australia
- Nova – Czech Republic & Slovakia
- Sky Network – New Zealand
- Sportklub – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia
- Sportscast – Indonesia & Chinese Taipei
- Supersport – South Africa & Africa
- Tap – Philippines
- Viaplay – Baltics, Scandinavia, Netherlands, Poland, and Iceland
- VTM – Belgium
- VCT – Vietnam
©Taka G. Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
世界撞球大師賽簽表出爐 柯秉逸首度對決蘇格蘭 “鷹眼”
2023 世界撞球大師賽將於 5月10日-13日在英國埃塞克斯的布倫特伍德中心舉行，今年的比賽也是自 2017年之後首次回歸於16人賽制，總獎金為 125,000 美元，冠軍將獲得 4萬美元獎金。首輪比賽將採搶9局，半決賽改為搶11局，決賽則為搶13局。16名參賽選手中，其中14名選手邀請來自於世錦賽後的世界9號球排名，外加兩名外卡。
衛冕冠軍 Joshua Filler 去年在決賽擊敗香港選手盧浩琛，成功捧起大師賽獎盃，同時也成為第三位大師賽奪冠的德國球員，Filler 將在首輪對戰荷蘭 “終結者” Niels Feijen；新科世界冠軍與世界九號球巡迴賽 (WNT) 排名第一的 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz 將在首輪迎戰外卡選手 James Aranas (菲律賓)，而唯一曾連續兩屆 (2014 & 2015) 奪冠的美國球王 Shane Van Boening 將面對勁敵，現世界9號球巡迴賽排名第14的 Fedor Gorst。
另外因疫情因素，中國也終將迎來睽違已久的國際賽場，年僅 22歲的小將鄭肖淮首戰將對陣剛於斯洛維尼亞拿下世界9號球巡迴賽-盧布爾雅那9號球公開賽冠軍的波蘭選手 Wiktor Zielinski，兩屆9號世界冠軍 Albin Ouschan、Max Lechner 與 Mario He 將分別對戰與兩屆10號球世界冠軍 Eklent Kaci (阿爾巴尼亞)、敘利亞選手 Mohammad Soufi 與 2021年大師賽冠軍 Alexander Kazakis (希臘)，最後 “撞球王子” 柯秉逸則迎來蘇格蘭 “鷹眼” Jayson Shaw，這將是自 2022年世界撞球錦標賽以來，雙方首次在 Matchroom 的賽事中相遇。
台灣地區將可在博斯體育頻道收看賽事直播。(英國與台灣時差 -7)