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, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports. World champion and world No. 1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz will face wild card James Aranas, while Shane Van Boening, the only player to ever win the title back-to-back, will seek redemption against Duong Quoc Hoang, who knocked him out in last year’s world championship. The winner of that match will likely face the winner of Jayson ‘Eagle Eye’ Shaw and Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp.
In another intriguing matchup, Austrians Albin Ouschan and Max Lechner will face off, with the victor set to take on either world No. 2 Fedor Gorst or ‘The Panda’ Mario He. The winner of the match between Joshua Filler and Eklent Kaci, who will reunite after their clash in last year’s UK Open final, will compete against either Wiktor Zielinski or defending US Open champion Ko Ping Chung to complete the opening round matchups.
The World Pool Masters will maintain last year’s challenging format, with 16 players competing for a share of the $125,000 prize pool, including a $40,000 top prize. Opening round matches will be played to 9, with subsequent rounds increasing in length to 10 for the quarterfinals, 11 for the semifinals, and 13 for the final. The tournament will feature the Matchroom break box, magic-racking, and winner breaks in action.
The 2024 World Pool Masters will take place at Halle39 in Hildesheim, Germany from Thursday, April 25th to Sunday, April 28th, and will be streamed live on Sky Sports.
