Big Red's Update: 3 Canadians in the Hunt for Final 64 Spot

Erik Hjorleifson and John Morra photo by Jason Klatt

Hello again from Qatar. Today was all winners side matches with the losers going to the one loss side to play elimination matches tomorrow. Alex Pagulayan, the last undefeated Canadian remaining, played Radoslaw Babica from Poland who has been playing in international events for quite some time now. Babica managed to pull off the minor upset today with a 9 to 6 scoreline.

Alex will play at 9 am Eastern time tomorrow against Ivica Putnik from Croatia. Canadian hopefuls Jason Klatt and Erik Hjorleifson will also be in action tomorrow with matches against Ivo Aarts from Holland and Masaa Tanaka from Japan. A win for any of the three players will grant them a birth in the final 64 redraw stage of the tournament.

Players advancing to the winners side undefeated included:

5 players from Taiwan
7 Filipinos
14 Europeans
1 North American
And the rest from other countries mainly China and Japan

As per W.P.A (World Pool-Billiards Association) standards, Europe has the most invites to the tournament with 32 allocated spots. Surprisingly the Philippines are not a part of any association recognized by the W.P.A so any Filipinos that are not in the top 16 in the W.P.A rankings must win qualifying tournaments. I believe about 4 or 5 did this year and all have fared well in the main tournament.

Today was an off day for me and I went to practice at the Qatar Billiards and Snooker Federation, which is a government funded national billiards training facility. It is a beautiful venue and each year the association is equipped with tables that are identical in playing condition to the tables in the main tournament. I have seen three different styles of tables in the federation, all according to which manufacturer is sponsoring the World Championships.  It is evident that all Middle Eastern countries are making a big effort to become competitive on the international pool scene. Most countries including Qatar, Iran, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the U.A.E (United Arab Emirates)  are currently employing mostly Filipino house pros at several rooms in each country. Their job is to teach the top Middle Eastern prospects what they have learned in the knowledge rich pool atmosphere of the Philippines. This also provides some nice employment opportunity for many Filipino players to earn a living and support their families back home.

We will be back at it tomorrow and again. The match times are:

Hjorleifson vs. Tanaka 5am
Klatt vs. Aarts  7am
Pagulayan vs. Putnik 9am
All matches listed in Eastern time

Picture of the practice room. Photo by Big Red