JEDDAH: Defending titleholder Fedor Gorst won his first game on the opening day of the World Pool Championship here by defeating American Sam Henderson 9-3.
The championship opened with a vibrant and colorful ceremony on Monday night.
Nayef Aljawini, president of the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation, delivered a speech at the event. Deputy Minister of Sports Khalid Al-Muawad, and Emily Frazer, CEO of Matchroom, were also present.
In other matches, Jayson Shaw from Scotland barely broke a sweat against his Saudi Arabia opponent Khalid Al-Otaibi.
In a major shock, Vietnam’s Luong Duc Thien defeated one of the world’s best, America’s Shane van Boening, 9-8 after a long and thrilling match.
Meanwhile, two-time junior European Pool Championship winner Wojciech Szewczyk from Poland began his tournament with a 9-7 win over Taipei’s Fu Che Wei.
The competition has a double elimination format, where players must win two matches in race-to-nine racks to progress. From there, the final 64 enter a single elimination phase of race-to-11 racks, culminating in Saturday’s final, a race-to-15 showdown.
In addition, the Saudi Junior Championship begins on Tuesday with 16 players, including eight representing the Kingdom.
The Saudi Arabia players are Abdulaziz Al-Aswad, Ibrahim Al-Aswad, Ibrahim Khazindar, Youssef Bukhari, Abdullah Al-Qabbani, Ziad Al-Qabbani, Hassan Al-Saleh, and Basil Hamida.
Running until July 26 at the Green Hall venue, the tournament features a record-breaking $1 million prize pool.
The contestants include 128 elite players from more than 40 countries, including powerhouses from the US, Taiwan, Germany, Philippines, UK, and host nation Saudi Arabia.
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