WPA World Ten-ball Championship

The WPA World Ten-ball Championship is a professional ten-ball pocket billiards (pool) tournament sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association. The event has been held in the Philippines since its inception, with events played in 2008, and 2009, before missing 2010, and played in 2011. The event was resurrected in 2015, by boxer Manny Pacquiao, campaigning to the World Pool Association for the event to be moved from Metro Manila to General Santos. An event for 2018 was announced in June 2018, but was postponed to 2019.

History

The inaugural WPA event in 2008, 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 Chia-ching, 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, 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] Initially, the event was set to take place in the Philippines,[7] but was postponed later.

Winners

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

Year	Host		Final				Semifinalists
			Winner	Score	Runner-up
2008	Philippines		Darren Appleton	13–11	Wu Chia-ching		Demosthenes Pulpul	Niels Feijen
2009	Philippines		Mika Immonen	11–6	Lee Van Corteza		Antonio Lining	David Alcaide
2011	Philippines		Huidji See	11–8	Jian-Bo Fu		Carlo Biado	Yukio Akagariyama
2015	Philippines		Ko Pin-yi	11–9	Carlo Biado		Ko Ping-chung	David Alcaide
2019	United States		Ko Ping-chung	10–7	Joshua Filler		Ko Pin-yi	Masato Yoshioka

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. "Press Release - World 10-Ball Championship - WPA Pool". WPA Pool. June 30, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018.