It was great news the other day when there was the announcement of the Women’s World 10-ball Championships to be held in the Philippines.
But, it seemed, no sooner had the announcement come that the World Pool Association are denouncing it as an un-sanctioned event.
Why? I hear you ask, well WPA rules state that two sanctioned events cannot take place in the same country at the same time and as the Philippine Open is the same dates it was in contravention of that rule.
The Philippine Open is open to all players male and female which is why it courses the problem with the sanctioning. However, I would beg the question as to how many female players would be playing in the Philippine Open anyway, you could probably count them on one hand and may even be zero.
Although there are some very talented female players, that have had success in predominantly male events (Jasmin Ouschan is the standout name in this department) there is still no female player to have won a male title.
As this is fact why stop the women from having a World Championship event at the same time as the Philippine Open? It seems ludicrous to me, yet another bad decision from the WPA, who seem to hinder the growth of the sport time and time again.
Events for males or females or both, should be accepted with open arms and allow the players to choose this is the only way to stimulate competition and growth in the sport.
