WITH THE 20th annual ClubWPT.com World Pool Masters set for Friday to Sunday 5th to 7th October in Kielce, Poland, the line up and draw for pool’s most prestigious invitational events is announced.
Promoters Matchroom Sport have brought in some of the greatest 9 ball exponents from around the world and the field is headed by reigning champion and six times Masters winner Ralf Souquet and World No.1 Darren Appleton, a Masters winner in 2009.
Other previous champions in the event include Tony Drago (’03), Raj Hundal (’05), recent China Open winner Dennis Orcollo (’10) and Canada’s ’04 World Champion Alex Pagulayan (’08).
In addition, following on from their magnificent success at the recent World Cup of Pool in the Philippines, where they won silver medals, the Polish pair of Karol Skowerski and Wojciech Szewczyk, along with countrymen Radoslaw Babica and Mateusz Śniegocki’ will surely fancy their chances of being there or thereabouts come Sunday evening.
There is one female player in the event – World No.1, China Open and reigning World 9 Ball Champion Kelly Fisher of England; and the dangerous Shane Van Boening carries the hopes of the United States.
Working in partnership with the regional billiard organisation, Swietokrzyskie Stowarzyszenie Bilardowe as well as the Mayor’s office in Kielce, Matchroom Sport will be returning to Poland for a pool event for the first time since 2006.
The event takes place at the Hala Legionow, Kielce’s state of the art sports venue and the winner will receive $20,000 from a total prize fund of $66,000.
The Line Up
Darren Appleton (England)
Radoslaw Babica (Poland)
Tony Drago (Malta)
Kelly Fisher (England)
Raj Hundal (India)
Ko Pin-yi (Taiwan)
Li Hewen (China)
Dennis Orcollo (Philippines)
Alex Pagulayan (Canada)
Omar Al Shaheen (Kuwait)
Karol Skowerski (Poland)
Mateusz Śniegocki’ (Poland)
Ralf Souquet (Germany)
Wojciech Szewczyk (Poland)
Shane Van Boening (USA)
Nick Van den Berg (Holland)
Commented Kielce native Karol Skowerski, who will surely enjoy all the local support once action gets underway; “I am very happy that I can play in the World Pool Masters in front of a home crowd. Kielce is my hometown. I was born here, grew up here, live here, and here for the first time I played pool.
“17 years ago, when I began my adventure with a pool table, I never imagined that I would be able to compete against the best players in the world, especially to play in the event like this in my own city. Now dreams come true, and I will try to show the best game,” he added.
The Draw
Ralf Souquet (1) v Mateusz Śniegocki’
Alex Pagulayan (8) v Raj Hundal
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Li Hewen (5) v Radoslaw Babica
Dennis Orcollo (4) v Kelly Fisher
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Ko Pin-yi (3) v Wojciech Szewczyk
Nick Van Den Berg (6) v Omar Al Shaheen
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Shane Van Boening (7) v Karol Skowerski
Darren Appleton (2) v Tony Drago
The 2012 ClubWPT.com World Pool Masters is sponsored by ClubWPT.com. Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis, Super Aramith balls by Saluc, tables by Diamond Billiards and the Official Cue and Chalk is Predator.
