Ricky Yang
July 28, 2010: Witness history in the making as Guinness, the world's number one stout and ESPN STAR Sports, Asia's number one broadcaster, bring intense 10 Ball action to the city known as the ‘Emerald of the Equator' for the Grand Finals of the inaugural 2010 Guinness World Series of Pool from July 29 – August 01, 2010. 35 top Indonesian representatives together with 29 of the world's best cue masters go head-to-head as the double elimination preliminaries get underway at the bustling central atrium of the Mall Taman Anggrek in Jakarta.
The road to glory will not be easy featuring top names of the sport aiming to clinch the title of the first ever Guinness World Series of Pool – 10 Ball Challenge champion. Organized by ESPN STAR Sports, Jakarta is in for a treat as it welcomes a stellar list of pool talents from across the globe such as current World No. 1 Mika Immonen (FIN), current World No. 3 Ralf Souquet (GER), Thorsten ‘The Hitman' Hohmann (GER), 2004 WPA Champion Alex ‘The Lion' Pagulayan (PHI), 2007 US Open 9 Ball Champion Shane Van Boening (USA), Stevie Moore (USA), and current World No. 5 Darren Appleton (GBR) to its shores.
In addition, the recent qualifiers saw contenders from the Philippines and Taiwan, two countries with a strong reputation of producing some of the sharpest billiard players in the world excel in the elimination field to qualify for 12 Grand Final slots. However, with hometown pride and USD $95,000 in prize money at stake, pool fans can expect nothing less but greatness from the local challengers.
As part of Guinness' ‘Rise Together and Rise to the Challenge' campaign to promote the sport of pool in Indonesia, the Guinness World Series of Pool is expecting the local contingent spearheaded by standout cueist and Guinness World Series of Pool ambassador Ricky Yang to make an impression in front of the hometown crowd. As the country's highest ranked WPA player, Yang will seek to lead and inspire his compatriots to a spectacular showing in front of a regional audience.
With the players draw resulting with the hometown bets bracketed in tough-matchups, day 1 action is guaranteed to produce exhilarating action. The key matchups to look out for would be Yang testing the pocketing prowess of compatriot Tony Chandra, Wiharto colliding with Van Boening, Hendra L opening up his campaign against Immonen, Steinly Y Rakasanakang versus Moore, M Ramansyah battling Hohmann and Joni Chandra clashing with Pagulayan.
Said John Galvin, Guinness representative: “The 2010 Guinness World Series of Pool – 10Ball Challenge demonstrates Guinness' commitment towards development in pool in Indonesia to hone local talents and showcase it against the world's best professional pool masters. Hence, it is a proud moment for us to stage this series of landmark pool events, culminating in the Grand finals in Jakarta”.
Said Harvey Davis, Vice President, ESPN STAR Sports Event Management Group: “We are delighted to partner with Guinness again for this event and we're committed to offer our expertise to showcase the best cuesport action and ensure that the event will be held at the highest international standards for the competitors and spectators. With over 15 hours of exhilarating pool action broadcast live over STAR Sports, we will be able to provide fans across the region a spectacular billiard event. This is also a great avenue for us to work hand in hand with Guinness with their thrust of promoting the growth of the sport not just in Indonesia but across Asia as well.”
The 2010 Guinness World Series of Pool – 10 Ball challenge has been designed distinctively for both pool and non-pool enthusiasts alike with a wide range of exciting interactive activities that consist of coaching clinics, extreme pool games such as the longest pool table, a media writing competition, a media photo competition as well as the ‘1000 photos of Guinness World Series of Pool' campaign, where guests are invited to break the record of the most photos taken with event related merchandise in 3 days. In addition, there is the Guinness Mobile Truck, a mobile pool hall which has toured all over Jakata to create excitement and awareness for the event.
Telecast of the 2010 Guinness World Series of Pool – 10Ball challenge will be carried LIVE on STAR Sports, available on MNC Indovision, First Media and Telkomvision, with fifteen hours of exhilarating competition from July 30 to August 01, 2010. Broadcast times are as follows:
Fri, July 30, 2010 from 17.00-21.30 (HKT) Preliminaries
Sat, July 31, 2010 from 12.00-18.00 (HKT) Quarterfinals
Sun, August 01, 2010 from 12.00-17.00 (HKT) Semifinals & Finals
The broadcast of the event is also available on TV1, kindly check local listings for more details. (Competition on Friday will start at 11.00 (HKT); TV Schedules subject to change without prior notice)
