The draw for the 2023 World Pool Masters has been made with defending champion Joshua Filler set to meet two-time champion Niels Feijen in the opening match of the tournament from May 10-13 at the Brentwood Centre, Essex, England live on Sky Sports in the UK and networks worldwide.
For the first time since 2017, the World Pool Masters returns to 16 players with a new grueling format fitting of a prize fund that now totals $125,000 with the winner set to take home $40,000. Opening round ties will be Race to 9 for the first time with the Matchroom break box, hand-racking, and winner breaks in action with the tournament stretching going to Race to 11 for the semi-finals and 13 for the final.
The top 14 players from the World Nineball Tour Rankings after the World Pool Championship were invited plus two wild cards with those 1-8 on the rankings seeded and drawn against the remaining players with the draw conducted one week ahead of the opening matches.
Newly-crowned World Champion and WNT No.1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz will meet wild card James Aranas of the Philippines in the opening round while the only player to ever win the title back-to-back Shane Van Boening faces the tricky test of former Mosconi Cup champion and current WNT No.14 Fedor Gorst. The winner of that tie will have to then take on either Jayson Shaw and Ko Pin Yi who will meet for the first time in a Matchroom event since the 2022 World Pool Championship.
Elsewhere, Albin Ouschan will meet former Mosconi Cup teammate Eklent Kaci whilst the two further Austrians in the tournament Max Lechner and Mario He will take on Mohammad Soufi and Alexander Kazakis respectively. China will make their long-awaited return to the Nineball arena with Zheng Xiao-Huai set to make his debut against Wiktor Zielinski to complete the opening round match-ups.
Tickets are available for all four days from £15 a day with the link here. Buy here.
Round 1 Draw (in alphabetic order)
Albin Ouschan v Eklent Kaci
Francisco Sanchez Ruiz v James Aranas
Jayson Shaw v Ko Pin Yi
Joshua Filler v Niels Feijen
Max Lechner v Mohammad Soufi
Mario He v Alex Kazakis
Shane Van Boening v Fedor Gorst
Wiktor Zielinski v Zheng Xiao-Huai
Where to Watch
The 2023 World Pool Masters is live globally wherever fans are in the world including Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the USA, Brazil, Spain and Italy as well as on Viaplay in Scandinavia, the Baltics, Netherlands, Poland, and Matchroom.Live in selected territories.
Broadcaster List
AMC Network – Hungary
Dazn – USA, Brazil, Spain, Italy
Foxtel – Australia
Nova – Czech Republic & Slovakia
Sky Network – New Zealand
Sportklub – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia
Sportscast – Indonesia & Chinese Taipei
Supersport – South Africa & Africa
Tap – Philippines
Viaplay – Baltics, Scandinavia, Netherlands, Poland, and Iceland
VTM – Belgium
VCT – Vietnam
But…. With him not being on the big stage consistently over the last year or year and a half, however long it has been. I would think if I was a betting man I would have to favor Shane for this match up.
I’ve watched some of Fedor’s more recent matches playing whoever he can, and it looks like he has not been playing at the speed we have come to expect out of him. No question he is a phenomenal player, and I’m in no way trying to put him down. Just an observation from a fans point of view.
I know Fedor will easily be able to shake through it and get back to being the best in the world. All though think it will take playing the best players in the world for him to do so.
fedor's out. visa issues