Qualifying stage for World 9-Ball begins today

Players practicing ahead of their World 9-Ball Championship qualifying round which starts today.

By Sports Reporter/Doha

With more than 130 competitors, stage one or the qualifying rounds for the 2013 World 9-Ball Championship will get underway at the Al Arabi Sports Club here today.

The qualifying rounds will conclude on Thursday, September 5, with the draw for the group round to be held on Friday.

The stage two of the championship will begin Saturday onwards. As part of stage two, 128 players will vie for 64 final round spots across 16 groups.

The final round will then begin to ascertain the champion over three days between September 11 and 13.

With 116 players already confirmed for stage two, 12 players from the qualifying rounds will get a chance to go head-to-head with the world’s best for the champion’s title.

Englishman Darren Appleton will make a return to defend his title from stage two onwards and so will the 2012 runner-up China’s Li He-wen.

Apart from the 25 players representing Qatar through the qualifying stages, eight Qataris are part of the main draw, including bronze medallist from 2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games Ali al-Obaidly, Bashar Hussain, Mohamed Ali bin Ali, Abdulatif al-Fawal, Khamis al-Obaidly, Mohamed al-Buainain, Mohanna al-Obaidly and Waleed Majed.