Europe Fields 52 Players in World Ten Ball

From l to r: Mika Immonen, David Alcaide & Thorsten Hohmann

Determined to retain its hold on major world pool titles won last year, the European Pocket Billiards Federation (EPBF) is fielding 52 players from 21 member countries in the 2009 World Ten Ball Championship set at the World Trade Center in Manila on November 25-30.

Gre Leenders, EPBF president and secretary-general of the World Pool-Billiard Association, formally announced the composition of the European delegation in an email sent to Raya Sports, organizer of the WTBC.

The European contingent is bannered by defending WTBC champion Darren Appleton (Great Britain), 2008 world 8-ball champion Ralf Souquet (Germany), 2007 world 9-ball champion Daryl Peach (GBR), Qatar Open champion Mika Immonen (Finland), China Open champion Thorsten Hohmann (Germany), and Portugal Predator Open champion David Alcaide (Spain).

Other notable members of the squad are: Marcus Chamat (Sweden), Niels Feijen (Netherlands), Stephan Cohen (France), Bruno Muratore (Italy), and Ruslan Chinakhov (Russia).

Great Britain and Germany, two major powers in the sport, have the most number of participants with 11 and 9 players respectively.

The countries sending players to the WTBC apart from Great Britain and Germany are: Finland, Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, Switzerland, Italy, Russia, Austria, France, Norway, Turkey, Spain, Serbia, Belgium, Denmark, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, and the Czech Republic.

Leenders said that the WTBC and the10-Ball format have become quite popular in Europe. “EPBF was able to fill all its spots. A European WTBC qualifier, which was held in September after the Euro Tour, attracted over 50 players who wanted to qualify,” he said.

The European players will battle for the WTBC title with players from the other continental federations: North America, South America, Africa, Oceania, and Asia.

The WTBC is the only world pool championship being held this year. Both the world 8-ball and 9-ball championships for 2009 have been cancelled.

The complete EPBF list follows:

1. He, Mario Austria

2. Kempter, Martin Austria

3. Das, Serge Belgium

4. Stojanovic, Phil Croatia

5. Hybler, Roman Czech Republic

6. Lotfy, Bahram Denmark

7. Immonen, Mika Finland

8. Juva, Markus Finland

9. Cohen, Stephan France

10. Facquet, Vincent France

11. Souquet, Ralf Germany

12. Hohmann, Thorsten Germany

13. Engert, Thomas Germany

14. Ortmann, Oliver Germany

15. Reintjes, Christoph Germany

16. Vogel, Marko Germany

17. Zobrekis, Klaus Germany

18. Mund, Ralf Germany

19. Heimmerer, Benjamin Germany

20. Appleton, Darren Great Britain

21. Peach, Daryl Great Britain

22. Melling, Chris Great Britain

23. Gray, Mark Great Britain

24. Majid, Imran Great Britain

25. Osborne, Craig Great Britain

26. Boys, Karl Great Britain

27. Fulcher, Jonni Great Britain

28. Jones, Ricardo Great Britain

29. Burford, Phil Great Britain

30. Higgins, Scott Great Britain

31. Koukiadakis, Andreas Greece

32. Muratore, Bruno Italy

33. Petroni, Fabio Italy

34. Kristoffersen, Kasper Denmark

35. Feijen, Niels Netherlands

36. Van den Berg, Nick Netherlands

37. See, Huidji Netherlands

38. Kristiansen, Vegar Norway

39. Babica, Radoslaw Poland

40. Sniegocki, Mateusz Poland

41. Kaplan, Thomasz Poland

42. Skoneczny, Mariusz Poland

43. Chinakhov, Ruslan Russia

44. Stepanov, Konstantin Russia

45. Tot, Sandor Serbia

46. Erculj, Matjaz Slovenia

47. Alcaide, David Spain

48. Guzman, Rafael Spain

49. Chamat, Marcus Sweden

50. Jungo, Dmitri Switzerland

51. Cankurt, Mehmet Turkey

52. Dincer, Ramazan Turkey