North American Players Making a Charge at the World 9 Ball Championships

Shane Van Boening. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

By: Erik Hjorleifson

The world best players are getting down o crunch time in Doha, Qatar. Today saw the first round of the final 64 single knockout stages take place and the field is now down to 32 players. Of the final 32, nine are from Asian countries, 6 are Filipino, 13 are from Europe and 4 are from North America. In recent years Europe and Asia have displayed their dominance on the international stage. This is the first year in recent memory that there have been 4 North Americans in the final 32. All 3 Americans that began are still in the mix and John Morra is the sole Canadian left of the 4 that started.
 

John Morra. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker.

It must be said that at this level and given the length of the race luck plays some factor in the outcome of matches.

Mike Dechaine. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

Here are some that could have gone either way today:
 
Jalal Yousef 11 Long Zhou 10
Mark Gray 11 Ralf Soquet 10
Haitao Liu  11 Imran Majid 10
Mike Dechaine 11 Cheng Hsuan 10
Francisco Diaz 11 Jing Dang 10
Hunter Lombardo 11 Mateusz Sniegocki 10
 

At the same time the nerve it takes to win these matches is very commendable. Pool players do not have the financial security that most professional athletes do and most at this stage are still fighting to turn a profit on this years trip. Luck aside the usual suspects are still finding a way to make it near the end and make it seem easy.
 

Jefferey Ignacio. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

Some of the notables left in the final 32
 
Dennis Orcollo
Jeffrey Ignacio
Darren Appleton
Shane Van Boening
John Morra
Wu Jia Qing
Ko Pin Yi
Ko Pin Chung
Chang Yu Lun 

Play will get underway again at around  around 5 am eastern time tonight and for those die hard pool fans it might be time to start getting up early to watch their favourite players , here are some interesting matches scheduled for tomorrow:
 
Ko Pin Chung vs Yukio Akagariyama
Darren Appleton vs Nick Ekonomopolous
Carlo Biado vs Ko Pin Yi
Albin Ouschan vs Wu Jia Qing
 
All matches can be viewed for free at http://live.qbsf.qa/en/login stay tuned to http://cuesportnation.com/ for results throughout the remainder of the tournament.