With the coming of 2016 World Chinese Eight Ball Masters qualified station(Tianjin Station),the South Africa Champion Velly Karel Diamond has already got the round trip air tickets to China. The arrival of the air tickets indicates this Champion player of South Africa will start his trip to World Chinese Eight Ball Masters in China, and compete with Chinese Eight Ball Masters.
World Chinese Eight Ball Masters is the most traditional billiards match in China with the longest history, and many players participated in it. Since 2006 the appearance of first JOY CUP Black Eight Ranking Tournament, it has 10 years’ history. Furthermore, World Chinese Eight Ball Masters which has good foundation gains attention from different fields, CCTV5 rebroadcasts the final every year, covers audiences throughout China. Except of Ding Junhui’s match, World Chinese Eight Ball Masters becomes the tournament which has highest audience rating, widest influence in China.
In addition, World Chinese Eight Ball masters sets 24 million RMB reward to encourage players to participate in it. There are 4 qualified stations, the total reward of each qualified station is 400 thousand RMB, the reward for champion is 100 thousand RMB. The final champion will get 300 thousand RMB, the total reward is more than 800 thousand RMB. The high reward attracts many world players, Christ Melling, Ralf Souquet are the frequenter of the final.
In 5th January 2013, the first World Chinese Eight Ball Masters invitation tournament held in Qinhuangdao city. Eight world billiards masters who are represented by the King of snooker, Stephen Hendry had the competition with eight Chinese masters.
Until now, the yearly World Chinese Eight Ball final has been hold 4 years successfully, the scale of players skyrocketed, from 8 world players VS 8 Chinese players to 12 world players VS 12 Chinese players. On the final in this January, 32 players from 24 countries composed a oversea team, competed with Chinese players, the magnificent scene and huge tendency indicated the increase of world participation and influence of Chinese eight ball.
Moreover, the champion of World Chinese Eight Ball Masters gained glory and the respect from the fans as well as the huge bouns. Gareth Potts from the UK has earth-shaking changes before and after the event: January 2016, Gareth Potts participated in the event, and in two consecutive years he won the champion in the final, this made Gareth Potts a unknown player into a super star. He is called the Mars of England by his fans, and constant steam of domestic players want to challenge him. Now, there are no less than 20 Potts challenges matches in China, Gareth Potts is regarded as the God-level player by his fans. Coincidentally, Christ Melling entered Chinese fans view through World Chinese Eight Ball Masters. Depends on his special appearance and humorous style, he is liked by his fans.
It is reported that the South Africa player Velly Karel Diamond stepped up the training of Chinese Eight Ball, and preparing for the event in China. We are looking forward for his good news from China, and we are looking forward more international players will participate in it!
隨著2016中式八球國際大師賽分站賽 (天津站) 腳步日近，轟動一時的南非站冠軍 Velly Karel Diamond 也拿到了飛往中國的機票。機票到手，預示著這位在南非過五關斬六將的冠軍球員即將開啟屬於他的中式八球國際大師賽中國之旅，與國內的中式八球高手一決高下。
中式八球國際大師賽是中國歷史最悠久、最為正統的臺球比賽，參賽球員眾多。從2006年的喬氏杯首屆黑八排名賽橫空出世至今已經有十年的歷史。此外，擁有良好根基的中式八球國際大師賽自開賽以來就廣受各界重視，中國最權威電視臺中國中央電視臺CCTV-5體育頻道每年對總決賽進行轉播，覆蓋全國民眾，成為除丁俊暉比賽之外收視率最高、影響力最廣的國內臺球比賽。
此外，大師賽全年設有240萬元豐厚的獎金以資鼓勵參賽球員。4站分站賽每站總獎金高達40萬元，冠軍獎高達10萬元；而年終的總決賽上，冠軍獎就高達30萬元人民幣，總獎金更超過80萬元。高額的獎金吸引了不少國際球員的熱情參與，“發電站”克里斯梅林、“凱撒大帝”拉爾夫·蘇奎特更是總決賽的“常客”。
2013年1月5日，中式八球國際大師邀請賽首次在中國秦皇島舉辦，以“臺球皇帝”史蒂芬·亨德利為代表的八位來自國際大師級球員與中國區的八位高手展開了精彩的對決。時至今日，一年一度的中式八球國際大師賽總決賽已成功舉辦4年，參賽球員的規模也呈現了井噴式的發展。由最初的8位國際球員對戰8位國內球員發展為12位國際球員對戰12位國內球員，而在今年1月份的總決賽上，來自24個國家的32位國際球員組成了一支海外參賽團隊，來到中國與本土球員浴血奮戰，恢弘的場面，浩大的聲勢，預示著著中式八球運動的國際參與度和影響力與日俱增。
不僅如此，中式八球國際大師賽冠軍球員在收獲巨額獎金的同時更收獲了榮耀、贏得了球迷的尊重和青睞。來自英國的加雷斯·波茨在參賽前後就有著翻天覆地的變化：2013年1月首次走上中式八球國際大師賽賽場並連續兩年奪得大師賽總決賽冠軍，讓波茨從一個名不見經傳的外籍球員變成球迷眼中的大咖級人物。不僅收獲了被球迷形象地稱為“英格蘭戰神”，想要挑戰波茨的國內球員更是絡繹不絕。如今，每年在國內舉辦的波茨挑戰賽不下20場，無論走到哪里，波茨都會被球迷奉為“大神級”的上賓。無獨有偶，在參賽前同樣默默無聞的英國球員克里斯·梅林也是通過大師賽走進了中國球迷的視線，憑借特別的外形和幽默的風格，收獲了球迷的喜愛。
據悉，有幸拿到機票來中國參與大師賽的南非球員Velly Karel Diamond 最近更加緊了對中式八球運動的練習，為到中國參賽做好充分準備。我們期待著他在中國的好消息，也期待著更多國際球員的參與！
By JOY