World Pool Masters: Ko Pin Yi is set to meet David Alcaide with Mosconi Cup captain Jayson Shaw also in action | Snooker News

World Pool Masters will maintain last year’s challenging format, with 16 players competing to take home a $40,000 share from a $125,000 prize pool; the 2023 World Cup of Pool is being played at Halle39, in Hildesheim, Germany from April 25-28 – live on Sky Sports

Ko Pin Yi will defend his World Pool Masters title

Defending World Pool Masters champion Ko Pin Yi is set to meet David Alcaide in the opening match of this year’s tournament in Hildesheim, Germany – live on Sky Sports.

World champion and world No 1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz faces wild card James Aranas with Shane Van Boening, the only player to ever win the title back-to-back, seeking redemption as he faces Duong Quoc Hoang, who knocked out the ‘South Dakota Kid’ in last year’s world championship.

Whichever of the two secures the win will be expected to face the winner of Jayson ‘Eagle Eye’ Shaw or Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp.

Albin Ouschan will face former World Cup of Pool teammate Max Lechner in a battle of the Austrians.

The winner of that tie will then have to take on either world No 2 Fedor Gorst or ‘The Panda’ Mario He.

The winner between Joshua Filler and Eklent Kaçi, who will reunite following their clash in last year’s UK Open final, will either compete against Wiktor Zielinski or defending US Open champion Ko Ping Chung, to complete the opening round match-ups.

What’s the format?

World Pool Masters will maintain last year’s most challenging format, with 16 players competing to take home a $40,000 share from an enticing $125,000 prize pool.

Opening round ties will be a race to 9 with the Matchroom break box [limiting the breaking area to just the space between the the two diamonds on the head rail], magic-racking [engineered to hold the balls in place before the break], and winner breaks in action [no alternate breaks] with the tournament stretching to a race to 10 for the quarter-finals, 11 for the semi-finals, and 13 for the final.

Round 1 Draw

Francis Sanchez Ruiz vs James Aranas
David Alcaide vs Ko Pin Yi
Joshua Filler vs Eklent Kaçi
Ko Ping Chung vs Wiktor Zielinski
Shane Van Boening vs Duong Quoc Hoang
Jayson Shaw vs Aloysius Yapp
Albin Ouschan vs Max Lechner
Fedor Gorst vs Mario He

The 2024 World Pool Masters is being played at Halle39, in Hildesheim, Germany from Thursday, April 25 to Sunday, April 28 – live on Sky Sports.

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