I had always been frustrated about the WPA World Pool rankings as it was never clear which events qualified and what the points criteris were.
Finally though the WPA have announced a new ranking system that currently features 450 players from all qualifying nations.
It is a step i the right direction in order to quell some of the confusion over who is number one and which events qualify. I am sure in time that this system will be tweaked as new events come onto the scene but also as most of the qualifying events are official World Championships in different disciplines.
The new criteria set out by the WPA means that the following needs to be met for an event to be a ranking event:
- The event is open to players who are members of WPA affiliated organisations
- The tournament carries a minimum of $100,000 added prize money
The new list will take effect from January 2009, however, there are no more qualifying events left in this calendar year so a provisional list has already been released.
The events that qualified from 2008 are as follows:
- World 9-ball 2007
- World 8-ball 2008
- Qatar International 9-ball Open 2008
- World 10-ball 2008
- US Open 9-ball Championships
- World 9-ball 2008 (Not held)
I will post the full list in due course but would just like to say that I feel this is great news, we finally have some clarity and not only that, the WPA reserve the right to alter added money criteria as and when – this could see some events in Europe becoming part of the list.
Further Reading:
