Shane Van Boening (Taka G Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport)
Shane Van Boening will begin the defense of his World Pool Championship title against Japan’s Masato Yoshioka in Kielce, Poland from February 1-5 live on Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia and the Baltics, DAZN in the USA as well as Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide.
The American will look to become only the second player in history to defend the title following in the footsteps of Earl Strickland in a packed arena at Targi Kielce. 46 countries will be represented in the 128-player field as it is whittled down to the Last 64 over the first two days of action before it’s straight knockout to the end where one will claim the $60,000 first-place prize and the world crown.
The draw was completed with the top 64 players from the Nineball World Rankings against an unseeded player from the other 64 in the hat. Standout first-round ties include 2015 world champion Ko Pin Yi facing James Aranas of the Philippines whilst 2022 semi-finalist Abdullah Alyousef faces the tricky prospect of Johann Chua. 2004 world champion Alex Pagulayan was unseeded and will meet Michael Schneider.
World Cup of Pool winner David Alcaide takes on Billy Thorpe and Shane Wolford‘s mission for a spot on Team USA at the 2023 Mosconi Cup takes on Pia Filler. Francisco Sanchez Ruiz had a year to remember last year and will begin his Nineball campaign against So Shaw of Iran.
Double elimination matches are all race to 9, with all matches from the Last 64 a race to 11 except the final, which is a race to 13.
| SEED | Name | Name | |
| 1 | Shane Van Boening (USA) | VS | Masato Yoshioka (JPN) |
| 2 | Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (ESP) | VS | So Shaw (IRI) |
| 3 | Joshua Filler (GER) | VS | James Georgiadis (AUS) |
| 4 | Albin Ouschan (AUT) | VS | Juan Carlos Exposito (ESP) |
| 5 | Mario He (AUT) | VS | Sebastian Batkowski (POL) |
| 6 | Jayson Shaw (GBR) | VS | Francesco Candela (ITA) |
| 7 | Wiktor Zielinski (POL) | VS | Aziz Moussati (MAR) |
| 8 | Alexander Kazakis (GRE) | VS | Erik Hjorleifson (CAN) |
| 9 | Max Lechner (AUT) | VS | Max Eberle (USA) |
| 10 | Ko Pin Yi (TPE) | VS | James Aranas (PHI) |
| 11 | Eklent Kaçi (ALB) | VS | Dimitris Loukatos (GRE) |
| 12 | Abdullah Alyousef (KUW) | VS | Johann Chua (PHI) |
| 13 | Oliver Szolnoki (HUN) | VS | Marcel Price (GBR) |
| 14 | Niels Feijen (NED) | VS | Muhummed Daydat (RSA) |
| 15 | Konrad Juszczyszyn (POL) | VS | Daniel Guttenberger (AUT) |
| 16 | Mieszko Fortunski (POL) | VS | Emil-Andre Gangflot (NOR) |
| 17 | David Alcaide (ESP) | VS | Billy Thorpe (USA) |
| 18 | Marc Bijsterbosch (NED) | VS | Nguyễn Anh Tuấn (VIE) |
| 19 | Sanjin Pehlivanović (BOS) | VS | Joseph Spence (CAN) |
| 20 | Jonas Souto Comino (ESP) | VS | Karl Gnadeberg (EST) |
| 21 | Wojciech Szewczyk (POL) | VS | Bashar Hussain Abdul Majeed (QAT) |
| 22 | Ko Ping Chung (TPE) | VS | Michal Gavenčiak (CZE) |
| 23 | Chang Jung-Lin (TPE) | VS | Jonas-Kvalsund Hansen (NOR) |
| 24 | Ronald Regli (SUI) | VS | Iker Andoni Echeverría (ESP) |
| 25 | Naoyuki Oi (JPN) | VS | Mickey Krause (DEN) |
| 26 | Jose Alberto Delgado (ESP) | VS | Joey Tate (USA) |
| 27 | John Morra (CAN) | VS | Tayfun Taber (GER) |
| 28 | Denis Grabe (EST) | VS | Ali Nasser Al Obaidli (QAT) |
| 29 | Ralf Souquet (GER) | VS | Sullivan Clark (NZL) |
| 30 | Dimitri Jungo (SUI) | VS | Hunter Lombardo (USA) |
| 31 | Thorsten Hohmann (GER) | VS | Tanes Tansomboon (THA) |
| 32 | Aloysius Yapp (SGP) | VS | Sharik Sayed (SGP) |
| 33 | Tomasz Kaplan (POL) | VS | Ko Ping Han (TPE) |
| 34 | Moritz Neuhausen (GER) | VS | Lường Đức Thiện (VIE) |
| 35 | Aleksa Pecelj (SRB) | VS | Marco Dorenburg (GER) |
| 36 | Daniel Maciol (POL) | VS | Sina Valizadeh (IRI) |
| 37 | Oscar Dominguez (USA) | VS | Stephen Holem (CAN) |
| 38 | Omar Al Shaheen (KUW) | VS | Joao Grilo (POR) |
| 39 | Skyler Woodward (USA) | VS | Chris Alexander (GBR) |
| 40 | Besar Spahiu (ALB) | VS | Ramazan Akdag |
| 41 | Hseih Chia Chen (TPE) | VS | Nick Van Den Berg (NED) |
| 42 | Chris Melling (GBR) | VS | Duong Quoc Hoang (VIE) |
| 43 | Petri Makkonen (FIN) | VS | Elliott Sanderson (GBR) |
| 44 | Imran Majid (GBR) | VS | Marco Teutscher (NED) |
| 45 | Mateusz Sniegocki (POL) | VS | Mohammad Soufi (SYR) |
| 46 | Radoslaw Babica (POL) | VS | Jan Van Lierop (NED) |
| 47 | Robbie Capito (HKG) | VS | Toh Lian Han (SGP) |
| 48 | Jani Uski (FIN) | VS | Chetan Chhabra (IND) |
| 49 | Lo Ho Sum (HKG) | VS | Lars Kuckherm (GER) |
| 50 | Bader Alawadhi (KUW) | VS | Richard Halliday (RSA) |
| 51 | Pijus Labutis (LTU) | VS | Ajdin Piknjac (BOS) |
| 52 | Mika Immonen (FIN) | VS | Gerson Martinez (PER) |
| 53 | Greg Hogue (USA) | VS | Mariusz Skoneczny (POL) |
| 54 | Shane Wolford (USA) | VS | Pia Filler (GER) |
| 55 | Karol Skowerski (POL) | VS | Abdullah Al-Anzi (KUW) |
| 56 | Nikos Ekonomopoulos (GRE) | VS | Ruben Bautista (MEX) |
| 57 | Tyler Styer (USA) | VS | Mason Koch (USA) |
| 58 | Roman Hybler (CZE) | VS | Matt Edwards (NZL) |
| 59 | Tobias Bongers (GER) | VS | Davy Piergiovanni (ITA) |
| 60 | Mustafa Alnar | VS | Szymona Kural (POL) |
| 61 | Daniele Corrieri (ITA) | VS | Khalid Alghamdi (KSA) |
| 62 | Michael Schneider (SUI) | VS | Alex Pagulayan (CAN) |
| 63 | Wu Kun Lin (TPE) | VS | Fabio Petroni (ITA) |
| 64 | Mats Schjetne (NOR) | VS | Jakub Koniar (SVK) |
WHERE TO WATCH
Table 1 will be live on broadcasters worldwide including Sky Sports in the UK, Viaplay in Poland, Scandinavia, Baltics, and the Netherlands, DAZN in the USA, Canada, and Italy, as well as on Matchroom.Live and networks worldwide. See where to watch here.
Table 2 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Pool YouTube channel.
Table 3 will be live on Viaplay in selected territories as well as on Matchroom.Live and the Matchroom Multi Sport YouTube channel.
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