世界女子9號球錦標賽繼上一屆於2019年於中國三亞舉辦後便因疫情因素而停辦，美洲豹集團 (Predator Group) 在去年末最終站波多黎各比賽結束後，宣布賽事將於2023年重啟。2023 KAMUI 世界女子9號球錦標賽將於 1月19-22日在美國大西洋城的 Harrah’s 渡假村舉行。
從參賽名單中可看出在在各大洲中以歐洲球員佔比最高，共有19位選手。除名將大、小費雪 (Allison & Kelly Fisher)、Jasmin Ouschan、”愛爾蘭侵略者” Karen Corr 外，以德國 (Ina Kaplan、Veronika Ivanovskaia、Tina Vogelmann、Pia Filler、Melanie Sussenguth、Kim Witzel) 有6名球員獲得參賽資格為最多，另外還有土耳其好手 Eylül Kibaroglu 、塞爾維亞小將 Bojana Šarac、保加利亞的 Kristina Zlateva、Sara Rocha (葡萄牙) 、西班牙的 Mayte Ropero 及 Amalia Matas 以及來自荷蘭的 Elise Qiu。另外，對於 Kristina Tkach 和 Margaret Fefilova 來說此次的世錦賽也是繼之前事件解除後，兩位球員再次參加世錦賽。
亞洲球員方面，中華台北將有周婕妤 (Chieh-Yu CHOU)、陳佳樺 (Chia-Hua CHEN)、魏子茜 (Tzu-Chien WEI)、陳禾耘 (Ho-Yun CHEN)、王婉菱 (Wan-Ling WANG)、洪欣妤 (Xin-Yu HONG)、江水淨 (Shui-Ching CHIANG) 與旅澳好手洪夢霞 (Meng-Hsia HUNG) 遠赴美國征戰。
日本則以兩位資深前輩 Kyoko Sone 曾根恭子與 Chihiro Kawahara 河原千尋為頭帶領著 Yuki Hiraguchi 平口結貴、Sakura Muramatsu 村松櫻，以及 Miina Tani 谷田美奈在內的三位年輕選手一同作戰；而韓國此番則由 Seo SEOA 徐序亞、Woo Jin LEE 李梧靜與 JIN Hye Ju 陳慧主三位年輕球員參賽。最後，菲律賓為10號球世錦賽冠軍 Rubilen Amit 與安麗盃史上最年輕冠軍 Chezka Centeno。
中華台北選手在首輪對陣中將迎來兩場內戰，率先登場的是上午9點由陳佳樺迎戰江水淨，另一場則於當地時間下午4點，新科女子9號球世青賽冠軍洪欣妤出戰王婉菱，另外，陳禾耘碰上美國選手 Janet Atwell，女子10號球世錦賽冠軍周婕妤將迎來前美國世青賽代表隊成員 April Larson 的挑戰，”倩影殺手” 魏子茜 對上 Kaylee McIntosh (美國)，最後，旅奧好手洪夢霞 (Meng-Hsia HUNG) 則將對戰奧地利名將 Jasmin Ouschan。
代表加拿大的有 Brittany Bryant、Veronique Menard 與 Joanne Ashton 等在內6名選手，而賽事主辦地美國則有名將 Jennifer Barretta、Emily Duddy，多次代表參加世青賽的 April Larson 與年僅12歲的小將 Savannah Easton 等在內13位選手參賽。
比賽將於美國時間19日上午9點 (台灣時間19日晚間10點，時差 -13 小時) 開打。直播方面，TV桌將於 World Billiard TV 頻道或 Billiard TV 上免費觀看，其他全部桌次則可於 Kozoom 平台上付費 (€19.99 歐元) 觀看。
對戰表/比分直播｜Draw and Live score / Match schedule
Predator Group, the industry leader in innovative pool billiards products, today confirmed details of the resurrection after a four-year hiatus of the 2023 Kamui World Women’s 9-Ball Championship, to be staged at Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City, January 19-22, 2023.
The 64-player event will have a total prize fund of $148,000 with $30,000 to be awarded to the winning player. Great Britain’s Kelly Fisher will be defending champion after she won the title for her second time in 2019, when the tournament was staged in Sanya, China.
The Kamui World Women’s 9-Ball Championship is another WPA World Championship in the ever-expanding portfolio of the Pro Billiard Series. It will be staged in January alongside the 2023 CSI Leagues Atlantic City Championships. Registration for the Leagues Championships is open now at playcsipool.com.
Entry to the Kamui World Women’s 9-Ball Championship is by invitation only through the WPA and their member associations. Play will begin on Thursday, January 19 with the 64 players competing in a double elimination format of race to 7, winner breaks matches down to the final 16. The last 16 will then play single elimination matches, race to 9, up to and including the final.
Fans are free to attend the event in person without needing to buy a ticket. All matches from all tables will be available on Kozoom.com with FREE feature table coverage on the World Billiard TV YouTube Channel, watchbilliard.tv and Zhibo.tv in China.
As the Pro Billiard Series moves into its second full year of operation, the Kamui World Women’s 9-Ball Championship joins the WPA World Women’s 10-Ball Championship, to be next staged in Austria in October 2023, as the second WPA World Women’s Championship hosted by the series. The Pro Billiard Series also stages a number of Women’s Opens throughout the year, the first of which in 2023 will be the Women’s Professional Billiards Association Alfa Las Vegas Women’s Open in February, as part of the annual CSI Expo.
This is the latest World Championship to be staged since by the Pro Billiard Series since the dormant men’s World 10-Ball Championship was revived in 2019 by Predator Cues in partnership with league operator CueSports International.
Earlier this month, Predator and CSI also partnered to stage the men’s World 8-Ball Championship and World Juniors 9-Ball Championship in Puerto Rico. With the World Teams Championship revived to great acclaim in Austria earlier this year, the Kamui World Women’s 9-Ball Championship will take the total number of World Championships staged by the Pro Billiard Series to six in 2023.
Karim Belhaj, CEO of Predator Group, said: “We are excited to add another World Championship to our Pro Billiard Series calendar for 2023. Our partnership with WPA continues to grow and when we discussed the idea of the Women’s World 9-Ball Championship, of course it was an event we wanted to help grow.
“Our calendar of events is diverse across men’s, women’s and juniors’ pool and we’ve got even more to add in 2023. that goes into producing the best tips made for pool, billiard and snooker. For more information, The calendar for next year is going to be huge fun for all the players and spectators. We had a lot of great feedback from our events in Puerto Rico and we want to build on that to make more special moments for the sport.
“I’d like to thank Kamui for their support across our series and of this event, our partners CueSports International, and the WPA for placing their trust in the Pro Billiard Series to host another of their World Championship events.”
Masato Hiraoka, President of KAMUI Brand (L) & Karim Belhaj, CEO of Predator Group (R)｜©Pro Billiard Series
KAMUI brand produces tips, chalk and accessories and has an obsession for quality control and the technology visit www.kamuibrand.com.
CUESPORTS INTERNATIONAL (CSI) is an international pool league and event leader and is currently comprised of three divisions: CSI Leagues, CSI Events and CSI Media. CSI Leagues manages the BCA Pool League and USA Pool League, CSI Events produces numerous amateur and professional events around the globe and CSI Media creates live streaming and digital content. Through its vision and strategic alliances, CSI is “shaping the future of pool.” For more information about CSI or any of its divisions, visit www.playcsipool.com.
PREDATOR’s mission is to inspire billiard fans by providing innovative experiences and products that deliver high-performance, with unsurpassed class and style. Predator, Poison and Uni-Loc are Predator Group brands that focus on performance pool tables, cues, billiard accessories, and precision components. For more information regarding Predator Group’s products, visit www.predatorcues.com, www.poisoncues.com and www.uni-loc.com.
The Predator Pro Billiard Series is a series of open, professional events held around the world to provide more opportunities for professional and aspiring pool players to compete in high-quality events, earn more income, sharpen their skills and play their way into the Predator World Women’s 10-Ball Championship held each year by Predator and the World Pool-Billiards Association. Follow @probilliardseries on Facebook, @probilliardseries on Instagram or @PBilliardSeries on Twitter to follow the next events.