Gerald Florian, Albin Ouschan, Jasmin Ouschan and Karim Belhaj
You would be hard pressed to top Predator’s last visit to the Sportspark Klagenfurt in Klagenfurt Austria last year for the Predator WPA World 10-Ball Women’s Championship and 2022 Predator WPA World Teams Championship with over $250,000 in prize money and Chieh-Yu Chou & Team Philippines’s winning respective World Titles.
Predator doesn’t rest on their laurels though, as they are planning on an even bigger event in Klagenfurt this October, with five World Championships to be held.
In addition to the 2023 WPA World 10-Ball Women’s Championship, Predator and Richtwert will also be holding the 2023 WPA Men’s World 8-Ball Championship and the three divisions of the 2023 WPA World Junior Championships.
Klagenfurt is already well known in the sport of billiards, as the hometown of brother and sister World Champions Jasmin and Albin Ouschan.
Jasmin Ouschan’s Academy is a well known Billiard Academy located at the Sportspark Klagenfurt and will be a promotional partner on the organizing committee of the events in her hometown. “I am extremely proud that Klagenfurt will host 5 World Championships at the same time. I don’t know if that has ever happened before. It is a big task but an even bigger honor. Something for the history books!” said the 2010 WPA World 10-Ball Women’s Champion.
Two-time WPA World 9-Ball Champion Albin Ouschan is also looking forward to the events: “It’s an honor to have once again the World Championships in my hometown! It shows that we did something right in the past to get the help and trust from the government and Predator to host multiple World Championships.”
Reigning World 10-Ball Women’s Champion Chou will be defending her title this year, as well as reigning World 8-Ball Men’s Champion Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz. Current WPA Boys Under 19 World Champion Szymon Kural will be too old to defend his title, but the WPA Girls Under 19 World Champion Xin Yu Hong will be defending hers. Current WPA Boys Under 17 World Champion Karl Gnadeberg will compete in the Under 19 division this year.
The biggest change in the Junior events will be that the game will evolve to 10-Ball this year. WPA President Ishaun Singh explained the switch to 10-Ball. “The change of discipline from 9-Ball to 10-Ball at the Junior Championships stems from the change at the World Games from 9-Ball to 10-Ball. 9-Ball was originally created as the professional game, but the rules of 9-Ball were interfered with in an attempt to fix certain flaws for it to be the professional game and it still seems to be a problem. The 10-Ball game has since become the professionals’ choice.”
Event promoter Richwert’s Gerald Florian is excited to see all of the top players of the sport this year. “It’s a honor and huge joy to host five World Championships as well as the best players of the world at one event! Can you ask for more?! We are looking forward to welcoming everyone to Klagenfurt!”
Tournament Schedule:
Predator WPA Men’s World 8-Ball Championship 2023
October 17-22, 2023 / $200,000 prize fund
Field: 96 players
Defending champion: Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz
Predator WPA Women’s World 10-Ball Championship 2023
October 18-22, 2023 / $150,000 prize fund
Defending champion: Chieh-Yu Chou
Field: 48 players
Predator WPA Junior World 10-Ball Championships
October 19-22, 2023
Boys Under 19
Boys Under 17
Girls
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