Vietnamese Billiards is less disadvantaged when WPA and Matchroom 'join hands'

A landmark agreement has just been announced by two major billiards pool organisations, the World Pool Association (WPA) and Matchroom.

Players like Duong Quoc Hoang no longer fear bans when competing in Matchroom tournaments - Photo: MATCHROOM

Recently, Matchroom Company announced on its homepage: "WPA and Matchroom are pleased to announce that the two parties have reached an agreement to ensure that tournaments under the World Nineball Tour (WNT) system will be approved by WPA.

This means that players whose licenses have been suspended will be reinstated immediately without any financial liability. Additionally, players with a WPA license are free to compete in WNT tournaments at any time without fear of future bans."

WPA previously collaborated with Matchroom to organize 9-ball pool tournaments. However, conflicts of interest began to arise in 2023 when Matchroom created the WNT with a scoring system independent of WPA. The two parties could not agree on their interests and separated.

It is worth mentioning that the WPA banned players from participating in their tournaments if they chose to compete for Matchroom. The conflict between the two sides lasted for a long time, leading to fierce arguments.

One of them involves Vietnamese players. In October 2024, 87 people were banned from competing for 1 year by the WPA for participating in the Hanoi Pool Championship organized by Matchroom.

This tournament also had a general impact on Vietnamese billiards in general. Specifically, in July, the Asian Billiards Federation (ACBS) ordered a 6-month suspension from international activities with the Vietnam Billiards and Snooker Federation (VBSF) for allowing the Hanoi Pool Championship to be held. WPA and ACBS are both agencies under the World Billiards Federation (WCBS). Therefore, it is understandable that they have the same point of view.

The decisions of WPA and ACBS at that time faced fierce criticism from the world's leading players such as Fedor Gorst, Jayson Shaw, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz... when they said that the ban violated the freedom of players.

The resumption of cooperation between WPA and Matchroom can be seen as an important step to help Vietnamese players avoid similar bans in the future.

Tuoitre.vn

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/billiards-viet-nam-bot-thiet-thoi-khi-wpa-va-matchroom-bat-tay-20250508105207163.htm