PBS continues commitment across disciplines with $100,000 event
Next year’s brand-new $100,000 Predator Pro Billiard Series Women’s Showdown will be a 9-ball event, played to a PBS Shootout format with two sets in the group stage and three sets during single elimination.
The invitational tournament will be staged at the Rio All-Suite Hotel and Casino, from February 27 through March 1 and features 16 world-class female players, led by the top 8 on the WPA World Ranking.
The Predator Pro Billiard Series Women’s Showdown is one of five pro events being played as part of the annual CueSports International Expo, which welcomes thousands of professional and league players to Vegas each year. There will be over half a million dollars in prize money across the professional events, which are the Las Vegas Men’s Open, Las Vegas Women’s Open, new Apex Mixed Doubles, Predator WPA World 10-Ball Men’s Championship and the PBS Women’s Showdown.
The Showdown will begin with a round-robin group stage. Each group will include two seeded players from the WPA top eight and two invited players. The best two players from each group will qualify for single elimination.
Rita Chou 周婕妤｜©Pro Billiard Series
The eight seeded players qualified for the event as being in the top eight of the WPA World Rankings after the Predator WPA Women’s World 10-Ball Championship in October. They are; Chou Chieh-Yu (Chinese Taipei), Chezka Centeno (Philippines), Kelly Fisher (Great Britain), Allison Fisher (Great Britain), Kristina Zlateva (Bulgaria), Jasmin Ouschan (Austria), Bean (Meng-Hsia) Hung (Australia) and Chen Chia Hua (Chinese Taipei).
Those eight superstars of the women’s game are joined by eight more world-class players, who earned tournament invites. They are; Pia Filler (Germany), Seo Seoa (South Korea), Kristina Tkach (Russia), Margarita Fefilova (Belarus), Yuki Hiraguchi (Japan), Wei Tzu-Chien (Chinese Taipei), Han Yu (China) and Siming Chen (China).
The round-robin group stage will be played to Predator Pro Billiard Series rules as a best of two sets, with a shootout if the score is tied at one set each. From the single-elimination knockout stage play will extend to a best of three sets, with a shootout played if the third set is tied at 2-2.
The 9-ball discipline for the Showdown is another example of the Pro Billiard Series’ commitment to diversity of discipline across the sport. US and World Pro Billiard Series events are played to 10-ball formats, while Predator hosts World Championships in both 8-ball and 10-ball, offering opportunities to professional men, women and junior players.
All 16 players will earn prize money from the Women’s Showdown. The champion will earn $35,000 from the $100,000 prize fund. Fans can watch the action with two live two streaming tables on the Pro Billiard TV YouTube Channel