The 2003 WPA World Nine-ball Championship was the 14th edition of the WPA World Championship for 9-Ball Pool. It took place from July 12 to 20, 2003 in Cardiff, Wales.
Thorsten Hohmann won the event 17–10 victory in the final against Canadian Alex Pagulayan. Defending champion Earl Strickland was eliminated in the semi-final against Hohmann.
Tournament format The event featured 128 participating players which were divided into 16 groups, in which they competed in round robin mode against each other. The top four players in each group qualified for a knockout round from the stage of the last 64.
Controversy The event saw reigning champion Earl Strickland play 6-time world Snooker champion Steve Davis in the last 16. Before the match, held in Cardiff, during a press conference, Strickland commented that he knew that the fans were being disrespectful towards him, and favouring Davis. During the match, Strickland referred to a crowd member as an "asshole", and began to talk during Davis' shots, against the rules. Referee Michaela Tabb warned Strickland, to which he replied that Tabb should "shut up". Davis would use his entitled comfort break shortly before the next frame, despite already being down on the shot to break. Davis would later suggest this was used as gamesmanship.
During the break, Strickland put his fingers in his ears to block out the crowd's support for Davis. With the match at 10 racks to 9, in favour of Strickland, he missed a long 6 ball. Using the rest, Davis would miss an "easy" shot (according to Strickland), from where Strickland would leap out of his seat, and exclaim that Davis had "dogged it." Strickland's tirade against Davis, the crowd, and the rules of the event, continued through the main part of a post-match interview, before visibly calming and apologizing for his behaviour. After admitting regret over his reactions during the encounter with Davis, Strickland entered the arena for his next match carrying a bunch of flowers which he gave to Tabb by way of an apology, and proceeded to play in a much calmer manner for the remainder of the event.
Strickland had also played the 2003 World Snooker champion Mark Williams in the preliminaries of the competition, winning 5–3.
Preliminary round The following players were knocked out of the competition in the preliminary round, finishing 5th or lower in the round robin. 5. Place 6. Place 7. Place 8. Place Group 1: Paul Potier Mark Lohtander Vilmos Földes Anton Klanfar Group 2: Kuo Po-cheng Phil Reilly Ivica Putnik Shawn Putnam Group 3: Siauw Wieto Imran Majid Emile Riera Art Wiggins Group 4: Radosław Babica Janne Kaipainen Alexander Markut Ronato Alcano Group 5: Rob McKenna Jeff Kennedy Charlie Williams Alan Rolon Group 6: Anthony Ginn Šandor Tot David Reljic Anand Manurat Group 7: Chang Pei-Wei Roman Hybler Andre Pelletier David Anderson Gruppe 8: Chao Fong-Pang Kevin Uzzell Peter Nielsen Erik Weiselius Group 9: Christian Reimering William Ang Boon Lay Konstantin Stepanow Richard Wolff Group 10: John Papadopoulos Bernard Tey Choon Kiat Athanasios Vrakas Mauro Ibarra Group 11: Stephan Cohen Gilliano Smit Ditto Acosta Ceri Worts Group 12: Brent Wells Raymond Hauge Dominic Clemens Bill Ferguson Group 13: Jimmy Wetch Juan Fernández Thorsten Schober Hanni al-Howri Group 14: Ralph Eckert Daryl Peach Ryan Rampersaud Carmine Nanula Group 15: Tom Storm Michael Schmidt Sascha Specchia Michael Valentine Group 16: Nick Varner Robert Elsley Jason Cruz Jong Hong-jo
Final round Those that qualified, would play in a knockout round.
References
External links Live scoring at WPA-pool.com Empire Poker WPA World Pool Championship 2003 at azbilliards.com