Press Release From EPBF/Matchroom - 25th September 2004

The The European Pocket Billiard Federation and Matchroom Sport recently announced details of the allocation of 9 Ball World Championship spots for 2005, the full text of which is reproduced below.

"The European Pocket Billiard Federation & Matchroom Sport are pleased to announce that a system for British players to qualify for the 2005 World Pool Championships has been agreed.

Matchroom Sport has allocated an extra 6 spots to the EPBF to distribute to British players. The EPBF will then hold a qualifying tournament in late May / early June 2005.

The participants for this qualifying tournament will come from the two pool tours operating in the UK: the BPPPA Tour and the Pro 9-Ball Tour.

Both organisations will be permitted to put forward six players from their respective rankings and / or qualifying events to this qualifier with the cut-off date set at May 15th 2005.

The qualifying tournament will be a round robin format - full details of which will be published nearer the time - and the top six players will then be given spots at the 2005 World Pool Championship which will be taking place in July of that year.

If any one or more players are in the top six of both organisations’ tour rankings, they will automatically qualify and the number of spots will be reduced from the original quota of six.

If a player has qualified through other means, i.e. Euro-Tour, European Championships or a previous World Pool Championship Top 16 finish and is ranked in either tours’ top six, then the seventh ranked player from the respective organisation’s rankings will be included into the qualifier.

Both the BPPPA and the Pro 9-Ball Tour will submit their 2005 calendars to the EPBF who will arbitrate on any date clashes.

Both parties will be obliged to co-operate over any possible date clashes as this will benefit both the tours and ALL British players.

If either party is deemed deliberately to be obstructing this process then a report will be lodged with Matchroom Sport to consider the future involvement of that party within this system.

All British players who take part in any of Matchroom Sport's events, including the World Pool Championship, must be a member of the BPPPA which is in turn the official member of the EPBF. This does not stop them being a member of any other organisation at the same time.

Through this system, neither the BPPPA nor the Pro-9-Ball Tour has direct spots into Matchroom Sport events.

Hoping for success in England.

Gre Leenders
President EPBF"