Five new WPA World Champions will be crowned in Austria this week as Klagenfurt plays host to over 200 billiards stars from around the world, with $400,000 on the line.
The WPA Predator World 8-Ball Men’s Championship spans the duration of a six-day billiards festival in Europe, running October 17-22. 96 players will be competing for a champion’s check of $75,000, the biggest monetary prize in professional pool, with Spain’s Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz defending the title he won in Puerto Rico last year.
The WPA Predator World 10-Ball Women’s Championship will pay the biggest prize in women’s pool with $45,000 to the winner, while all three divisions of the WPA Predator World Junior Championships will have new names etched into the history books.
The Predator Pro Billiard Series, working alongside Richwert promotions, returns to the picturesque city of Klagenfurt, home of the Jasmin Ouschan Billiard Academy, for a third time but this year marks the first staging of the Predator WPA World 8-Ball Men’s Championship in the country and the first time all five Championships have been held at the same time.
It’s a huge undertaking for organizers but one which promises to deliver on drama, skill and entertainment with the world’s best players descending on the region of Carinthia. Fans can take advantage of free entry to the event at Sportspark Klagenfurt, and those who cannot make it can watch the action free on the Pro Billiard TV YouTube channel.
Klagenfurt’s own billiard siblings Jasmin and Albin Ouschan will top the bill for many local attendees. Jasmin won the WPA World 10-Ball Women’s Championship in 2010 and is expected to be well supported as she attempts to wrestle the title from last year’s champion, Chou Chieh-Yu.
The 2023 Championship will run October 18-22 and features 48 invited players, who will begin in a race-to-7 double elimination bracket. Play switches to single elimination, race-to-9, from the last 16.
The 96-player invited field for the Predator WPA World 8-Ball Men’s Championship will be competing for a total prize fund of $250,000. A race-to-8 double elimination bracket will reduce the field to 32 players who will then face single elimination, race-to-10 to determine the champion.
This will be the ninth staging of the men’s World 8-Ball Championship. It had previously been played in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates before being revived from a ten-year hiatus in Puerto Rico last year.
The Predator WPA World Junior Championships was also staged in Puerto Rico last year but returns to its 2021 venue in Klagenfurt for this year’s event. The four-day competition runs October 19-22 with three divisions; Under-19 Boys, Under-17 Boys and Girls.
Last year’s Under-17s Boys champions Karl Gnadenberg (Estonia) moves up to Under-19 competition this year, however the defending champion of that division, Szymon Kural of Poland, is too old to return. Chinese Taipei’s Xin Yu Hong holds the Girls title and will be in Austria to defend her title.
10-ball is now the chosen discipline for all three divisions and all three will play double elimination until single elimination takes effect for the last 8. In the Girls and Under-17 boys divisions all matches are race-to-6, while the Under-19 boys competition is a race-to-7 throughout.
The events are hosted in Austria with the support of the city of Klagenfurt and region of Carinthia, Jasmin Oushan Billiard Academy, Richwert Promotions and Pro Billiard Series partners Predator, CSI and Kamui.
All five World Championship events will be streamed live on Predator Pro Billiard Series broadcast platforms. The brand-new Pro Billiard TV YouTube channel and Billiard TV will host table 1 matches with multi-camera coverage and English commentary free to watch throughout the events. Kozoom.com will be the destination to watch every single match live. For more information follow @ProBilliardSeries on social media.