WPA World Ten-ball Championship
Current season, competition or edition:
Current sports event 2023 WPA World Ten-ball Championship
SportPool
Founded2008
FounderWorld Pool-Billiard Association
Most recent
champion(s)
Eklent Kaçi
(2023)
Related
competitions
Eight-ball, Nine-ball
Official websitewpapool.com

The WPA World Ten-ball Championship is a professional ten-ball pool tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA). The event was first held in 2008 in the Philippines, followed by playings there in 2009 and 2011. After not being contested for several years, it was resurrected in 2015 by boxer Manny Pacquiao, who successfully campaigned to the WPA for the championship to be moved from Metro Manila to General Santos. An event was announced in June 2018, but was postponed until relocating to the Las Vegas Valley in 2019. The scheduled 2020 championship was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent playings have been held in the fall of 2021 and the spring of 2022.

History

2009 champion Mika Immonen

In 2008 the World Ten-ball Championship was held, with prizes totaling US$400,000 (18,860,000), was held at the Philippine International Convention Center, Manila, September 29 through October 5, 2008. There were 128 players competing, representing 44 countries. Vice-President of the Philippines Noli de Castro made the ceremonial opening break shot, witnessed by officials of the WPA, International Olympic Committee, Philippine Sports Commission, Philippine Olympic Committee, Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines, and tournament organizer Raya Sports.[1]

In the final, England's Darren Appleton defeated Nineteen-year-old Wu Jia-qing, who was using a borrowed cue stick, winning $100,000.[2][3] Appleton was also quoted as saying: "Pool is an easy choice for me as a sport as I have to choose among boxing, football and pool among others. But this victory is sweeter for me and I have to dedicate this to my parents, whose relationship is in the rocks. With the $100,000 grand prize, first, I have to give some to my parents, because we had a difficult way of living."[4][5]

WPA president Ian Anderson would later announce: "This early, there's a strong clamor for the WTBC and it will definitely be back next year in Manila. It will be staged October of next year and there's also the Philippine Open to be held June 2009. I think Manila is the best place to go in hosting pool and it is living up to its billing as the pool Mecca in Asia."[6] The event would later take place in 2009, being won by Finn Mika Immonen, and then again in 2011 by Dutchman Huidji See. A later event was reimagined by boxer Manny Pacquiao in 2015, with the event being won by Taipei's Ko Pin-yi.

On July 30, 2018, the WPA announced the return of the World Ten-ball Championship.[7] The event was set to take place in the Philippines,[7] but was later postponed. Taipei's Ko Ping-chung won the 2019 event, which took place in Las Vegas.[8] The 2020 edition of the championship was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 edition was won by Albanian Eklent Kaçi,[9] and the 2022 edition was won by Pole Wojciech Szewczyk.[10]

Winners

The following is a list of Men's WPA World Ten-Ball Champions.

Year Host Final Semifinalists
Winner Score Runner-up
2008  Philippines England
Darren Appleton
13–11 Chinese Taipei
Wu Jiaqing
Philippines
Demosthenes Pulpul
Netherlands
Niels Feijen
2009 Finland
Mika Immonen
11–6 Philippines
Lee Vann Corteza
Philippines
Antonio Lining
Spain
David Alcaide
2011 Netherlands
Huidji See
11–8 China
Fu Jianbo
Philippines
Carlo Biado
Japan
Yukio Akakariyama
2015 Chinese Taipei
Ko Pin-yi
11–9 Philippines
Carlo Biado
Chinese Taipei
Ko Ping-chung
Spain
David Alcaide
2019  United States Chinese Taipei
Ko Ping-chung
10–7 Germany
Joshua Filler
Chinese Taipei
Ko Pin-yi
Japan
Masato Yoshioka
2021 Albania
Eklent Kaçi
10–6 Japan
Naoyuki Ōi
Philippines
Johann Chua
Singapore
Aloysius Yapp
2022 Poland
Wojciech Szewczyk
10–8 Peru
Christopher Tévez
Albania
Eklent Kaçi
Scotland
Jayson Shaw
2023 Albania
Eklent Kaçi
10–7 Spain
Francisco Sánchez Ruíz
Russia
Fedor Gorst
Germany
Joshua Filler

Top performers

Name Nationality Winner Runner-up Semi-final
or better
Eklent Kaçi  Albania 2 0 3
Ko Ping-chung  Chinese Taipei 1 2
Ko Pin-yi  Chinese Taipei
Darren Appleton  England 1
Huidji See  Netherlands
Mika Immonen  Finland
Wojciech Szewczyk  Poland
  • Active participants are shown in bold.
  • In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by first name.

Women

The following is a list of Women's WPA World Ten-Ball Champions.

Year Host Final Semifinalists
Winner Runner-up
2009  Philippines Philippines
Rubilen Amit
Chinese Taipei
Liu Hsin-mei
Japan
Akimi Kajitani
Austria
Jasmin Ouschan
2010 Austria
Jasmin Ouschan
South Korea
Kim Ga-young
England
Kelly Fisher
Philippines
Rubilen Amit
2011 England
Kelly Fisher
Chinese Taipei
Tsai Pei-Chen
South Korea
Kim Ga-young
China
Han Yu
2012 South Korea
Kim Ga-young
China
Chen Siming
China
Fu Xiaofang
South Korea
Cha Yu-ram
2013 Philippines
Rubilen Amit
England
Kelly Fisher
China
Han Yu
Chinese Taipei
Tsai Pei-Chen
2022  Austria Chinese Taipei
Chou Chieh-yu
Chinese Taipei
Wei Tzu-chien
Austria
Jasmin Ouschan
England
Kelly Fisher
2023 Philippines
Chezka Centeno
China
Han Yu
England
Allison Fisher
England
Kelly Fisher

Mixed teams

The following is a list of Men's & Women's WPA World Mixed Teams Ten-Ball Champions.

Year Host Final Semifinalists
Winners Runner-up
2022[11] Austria Austria Philippines
Rubilen Amit
Carlo Biado
Johann Chua
United Kingdom
Kelly Fisher
Jayson Shaw
Darren Appleton
Germany
Pia Filler
Joshua Filler
Thorsten Hohmann
Chinese Taipei
Chou Chieh-yu
Wu Kun-lin
Chang Jung-lin
2023[12] Puerto Rico San Juan Germany
Pia Filler
Joshua Filler
Moritz Neuhausen
Chinese Taipei
Chou Chieh-yu
Chang Jung-lin
Wu Kun-lin
Austria
Jasmin Ouschan
Albin Ouschan
Mario He
Portugal
Sara Rocha
João Grilo
Miguel Silva

References

  1. ABS-CBNNews.com, "World Ten Ball Kicks Off in Manila; 128 in Main Draw"
  2. sports.inquirer.net, "Pulpul's Magical Run Ends" Archived June 20, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  3. abs-cbnnews.com, "Pulpul Fails to Reach World 10-Ball Finals"
  4. Manila Standard Today, "Appleton's 16-year Wait Over"
  5. IHT.com, Appleton Wins World 10-ball Title
  6. abs-cbnnews.com, Appleton makes history as 1st World Ten Ball champ
  7. 1 2 "Press Release - World 10-Ball Championship - WPA Pool". WPA Pool. June 30, 2018. Archived from the original on August 17, 2018.
  8. "Ko Wins Thriller Over Filler, Crowned Predator World 10-Ball Champion". WPA Pool. July 27, 2019. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021.
  9. "WPA World 10-Ball Championship 2021". azbilliards.com. Archived from the original on December 13, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  10. "WPA World 10-Ball Championship 2022". Archived from the original on May 18, 2022. Retrieved May 18, 2022.
  11. "PH pool trio crushes Great Britain to rule Predator World Teams 10-Ball Championship". rappler.com. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  12. "2023 Predator WPA World Teams Championship". probilliardseries.com. Retrieved 13 November 2023.
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