The World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) is very concerned over the lateness for payment of prize money to players from the 2017 China Open 9-Ball Championship that ended on 11th May.
WPA President, Mr Ian Anderson wrote to the CBSA last Tuesday requesting an urgent update on the situation. No reply has been received as yet. He said it is most unfair that players should have to wait so long for their hard earned money, not only is it so far a loss of income, but for many there have been significant amounts of expenditure for them to travel to China, pay their accommodation and living expenses, and now they are expected to wait months to get some money back.
Mr Anderson said that the WPA is unaware of the alleged delayed payment announcement to players prior to the tournament. He said that if players knew of this in advance they could have made other arrangements to carry them through, or perhaps they may have decided against playing the tournament at all.
The WPA has its contract with CBSA and not with the promoter. The CBSA has the contract with the promoter, Mr Xu. This is not the first time there have been issues over payments connected to this event. The WPA itself is paid a sanction fee for the event, but it’s never paid on time, still not paid for this year. On one occasion we had to wait almost two years for payment. In all contracts it is clearly written that all parties are expected to be paid immediately after the event, but no later than thirty days after completion.
Earlier on in the year, CBSA promoted the Chinese Pool World Championship in Yushan. Players from this event were also kept waiting for three months to collect their prize money, as was the WPA.
“These late payments and denial of blame are damaging to the reputation of CBSA, it is clearly their sole responsibility”, Mr Anderson said. He added that this is a failure of the CBSA for not ensuring that payments are met on time, and hoped that the CBSA would pay closer attention to such serious matters in future.
Ishaun Singh
WPA Secretary