Dear Members
Please see the message below addressed “Dear Players”.
CBSA has announced it will hold a world pool championship in March in the city of Yushan. They refuse to have the event sanctioned by the WPA, yet still feel justified they can conduct a world pool championship and it will be deemed as “Official”. Of course we all know that this is not correct, nobody can organise any sporting event and declare it an “Official” world championship unless it has been endorsed or sanctioned by that sport’s world governing body.
We would like you to inform your players of the message below, and it will also be sent tomorrow by the WPA to all of its License Holders.
Dear Players
China (CBSA) has recently announced it intends to run the Chinese Pool World Championship in Yushan, 15-21 March 2019.
The contract between WPA and CBSA for this event has been terminated for breach of contract and therefore the event is no longer sanctioned. This means, as an international event, it cannot be considered as a legitimate world championship and has no credibility as such.
Because of this, the WPA respectfully asks players not to support such an event in the best long-term interests of the sport. Penalties will be applied to players who do participate as it against the rules of the WPA. It has been decided by the WPA that any player who does participate will lose all of their WPA ranking points and will not be permitted to participate in the next WPA Ranking event (the WPA Players Championship).
In addition, there may also be other penalties applied, including fines, imposed by the local, national and/or continental federations against participating players. Any offending player will have no ranking points to their credit for the start of 2019, and will not be considered for any wildcard nominations, meaning the only way into a ranking event tournament will be through Stage 1, the qualifying system.
Thanks for your attention and support.
Regards
Gre Leenders
WPA General Secretary