Controversy Overshadows Ko Pin Yi World 10 Ball Championship Win

Ko Pin Yi, photo courtesy of Stephan Doiron 

By: Markus Noé

This past weekend the 2015 World 10 Ball Championships wrapped up in the Philippines. A first time World Champion was crowned as Ko Pin Yi from Chinese Taipei beat local Carlo Biado 11-9 in the finale. Biado to his credit showed a lot of heart in front of the hometown crowd as he was down 7-2 at one point and clawed his way back to make for a very entertaining match.

 It was another poor showing for North American players, as none finished higher than the top 32. When I say North American players I really mean Canadians as I believe only Hunter Lombardo and  Rodney Morris made the trip over to represent U.S.A.  Alex Pagulayan (Can) was the only one to make it through the final 32 and lost an 11-10 to Liu Haitao(CHN).

Carlo Biado, photo courtesy of Stephan Doiron

Unfortunately as so often is the case in major pool tournaments lately, there has been more talk about mismanagement and poor playing conditions which has overshadowed the fact that this has been the first World 10 Ball Championship in several years. The biggest concern is that around $10,000 was taken from the $300,000 prize fund, it amounted to 5% less for each player. Obviously there is some wrong doing and and players who traveled 15-24 hours by plane are rightfully upset. Azbilliards has a story posted today with a detailed response from the W.P.A, which briefly states they do not really know what happened, but an investigation will ensue. 

Now understandably so this event had its flaws. However I do feel what many "Western" players and media have been doing this past week on social media is counter-intuitive to the betterment of the sport. From day one, even before the announcement of the missing money, players have been on social media complaining about everything from the conditions, the heat, the referees and the list is seemingly infinite. I reiterate by saying "Western" players because you just do not see this kind of lack of professionalism from the Asian players. 

You would think that players would be more appreciative of the fact that Manny Pacquiao donated all of this money to try and give something to the pool community. On Azbilliards  they are basically crucifying the Pacquiao's.  I believe that Manny Pacquiao who is less than a year into his involvement, deserves a lot more room to grow before he is condemned as another shady promoter. 

In all fairness what happened last week does not compare to the shenanigans that has plagued the U.S. Open, for what feels like the entirety of its existence.  Financially you could not find a better candidate than "Pacman" to help grow the sport internationally. He is a millionaire a hundred times over and does not need to make a dime off any of these pool promotions. Let's be honest we need it because there is no money to be made off of pool at the moment. 

 Using logic the "Pacman" is not directly involved with the day to day operations of the World 10 Ball or any event his name is attached to. Besides his hectic training schedule he is also a high ranking politician. Thus he relies on people to take care of this stuff for him, and well he picked the wrong people.  If the organizers of the U.S. Open are allowed chance after chance I think as players and media we not only have the ability but also the responsibility to be more supportive by easing up on a first time promoter who obviously has the right intentions. Whether you are a player, media, promoter or anyone that plans to make a living off of pool - our fates are all intertwined. Maybe once everyone gets to that level of thinking than we can collectively bring pool back to the mainstream. As is stands now with the bickering, complaining and lack of professionalism our sport is exactly where it deserves to be.