TO make viewing of the Manila World Pool Championship more exciting to spectators both from inside the arena and to those watching from the comfort of their homes, Matchroom Sports decided to spice up the matches by changing the format.
Matchroom Sports, the organizing body of the tournament, announced that it will do away with the format that it used for the past nine years.
Instead, it will now adopt a double- elimination format.
The tournament, which is slated this November in Manila, attracted 128 players, all vying to unseat defending champion Ronato “Volcano” Alcano.
Matchroom Sports decided on this after consultation with the World Pool Association. This way, the level of excitement increases, since it will no longer allow players to play meek games, as two defeats will give them early ejection.
Still, the players will be divided into 16 groups with eight players battling to qualify for the single-elimination knockout phase.
This means the player who wins two straight matches will advance to the Round of 64, while the players who lose twice, will be automatically eliminated from the tournament.
All first round matches are a race to nine racks with the winner to break.
The first round matches will be completed in four days which will start on November 3 to 6.
The round of 64 and round of 32 will be race to 10 racks still with the winner to break. The Last 16, quarterfinals and semifinals matches are races to 11 and the finals is race to 17. (RCM)
