CHANG JUN LIN
POWERS HIS WAY TO THE 2012 WORLD 8-BALL
CHAMPIONSHIP WITH AN 11-6 WIN OVER FU
CHE WEI IN AN ALL-TAIWAN FINAL
About World 8 Ball Championship
The World's leading pool players will once again touch
down in Fujairah to take on the elite of the Emirates with
each player focusing his skill and expertise to on winning
the prestigious World 8-Ball Championship from 12 - 17th
February 2012.
The Event, which is now in its seventh year in Fujairah. The event was broadcast
throughout the world with a combined TV audience
offering sponsor's great exposure both
locally, regionally and internationally.
It was not just TV that great publicity was gained, however,
as media partnerships in print and radio proved to be strong
mediums for promoting the tournament and the sponsors out in
the public domain. It is our pleasure to invite you to
participate in this exciting opportunity and to join in
supporting this prestigious event.
The tournament will begin Monday Feb. 13 and
run through the final on Feb. 17 at the Expo Centre in
central Fujairah and offers a total of $156,000 in prize
money with $20,000 going to the winner. A stellar cast of
96 pool greats will make up the main field beginning on the
13th.
Fujairah is one of the seven emirates that
make up the United Arab Emirates, and the only one on
the Gulf of Oman in the country's east instead of on
the Persian Gulf (the other six emirates). Fujairah is the
youngest of the seven emirates that make up the country. It
is located in the central part of the Al Hajar Mountains.
The capital of the emirate is the city of Fujairah.
The American game of 8-ball is arguably the
world’s most popular and widely played cue sport, played and
enjoyed by millions around the world every day.
Interestingly this year marks only the 7th time
that the WPA 8-ball World Championship has ever been
contested, and all in Fujairah. The list of champions may
be short, but they read like a who’s who of great pool
players.
The first winner of the World 8-ball
Championship back in 2005 was none other than the legend,
Efren “Bata” Reyes of the Philippines. In 2006, 16 year old
Taiwanese sensation Wu Chia Ching won the 8-ball world title
just months after miraculously winning the World 9-ball
Championship. The Philippines’ Ronnie Alcano captured the
crown in 2007 also right after winning the World 9-ball
Championship. The following year saw German great Ralf
Souquet win his first world 8-ball title.
The tournament was not played in 2009.
England’s Karl Boyes won the 2010 title with a nail biting
13-12 win over the Netherlands’ Niels Feijen.
Leading the pack this year will be the
defending champion and current world #1 and 2011 WPA Player
of the Year, Dennis Orcullo of the Philippines. Orcullo won
his first world title last year in Fujairah when he beat
Feijen in the final 10-3. Orcullo used that amazing victory
as a springboard for a sensational all around year in 2011.
Orcullo certainly comes into this year’s
championship as one of the heavy favorites but he will
surely have all he can handle from the expected all star
cast on hand. As of press time most of the world’s top 36
players have confirmed participation and more will surely be
added in the coming week. Among those are World 9-ball
champion and world number 2 Yukio Akagariyama of Japan,
current and back to back US Open Champion Darren
Appleton(world #3) of the UK, World 10-ball Champion Huidji
See(World # 5) of the Netherlands, back to back runner up
Feijen, the Philippine great and World # 6 Lee Van Corteza,
Chinese Taipei’s Chang Jung Lin(# 7), China Open winner
Chris Melling(# 8) of the UK, German greats Souquet(#11) and
Thorsten Hohmann(13), and Finnish star Mika Immonen(19).
Of course, one of the perennial excitements
in any world championship are the unknowns who invaribly
leap out of obscurity and make a run for the title. Pay
attention especially to the various unknown Filipino players
who ply their trade as house pros in pool halls and training
centers throughout the UAE, Qatar, Saudi and other places
where pool is growing around the Middle East. Not only can
these Filipino players play world class pool, they are
comfortable in the local surroundings and culture.
A change in the format this year will surely
please the players as all matches throughout the
championship will be played in the alternate break format.
This change has been implemented in order to stop the
blowouts which had been happening with regular frequency
over the last few years.
There is no live international television
coverage of the 2012 World 8-ball championship. However, the
WPA will be providing up to the minute coverage on our
website,www.wpa-pool.com.
We will be on hand in Fujairah bringing you all the action
with live scoring of all matches, in depth articles on the
goings on posted several times a day, as well as blow by
blow coverage of big matches via the WPA’s Twitter page, @poolwpa.
