Get your tickets for Saudi Arabia’s first World Pool Championship
A must-attend occasion for every sports fan – and the first of many here in the Kingdom…
Sports fans, the wait is over. Saudi Arabia’s latest international sporting event is officially underway in Jeddah.
Known as the ‘Crown Jewel’ of the World Nineball Tour (WNT), the World Pool Championship represents the sport’s grandest stage and is the most prestigious event on the professional Nineball circuit.
The 2024 edition makes its first-ever appearance in the Kingdom from today (Monday June 3) to Saturday June 8 at the Green Halls in Jeddah, welcoming 128 of the planet’s premier cueists for six days of action-packed competition. The field, which includes the world’s top 100 alongside 28 wildcard entrants, will battle it out for historic glory with a record-breaking prize pool and the sport’s pinnacle title at stake.
Players from over 40 countries will also compete, including defending world champion Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (Spain), world #2 Fedor Gorst (USA), reigning UK champion Robbie Captio (Hong Kong), and former world champions Joshua Filler (Germany) and Carlo Biado (Philippines).
A truly global event, the 2024 World Pool Championship will be showcased live around the world through leading global broadcasters, including Sky Sports, SSC, Shahid VIP Sports, MENA, and DAZN, and broadcast in over 100 territories with coverage across 50 televised hours and 100 streaming hours.
But what’s even better is that, alongside the sport’s biggest names, 13 Saudi Arabian players will also compete as wildcard entrants. They join 15 other wildcards in going up against the top 100 WNT players.
Shamardal and Al Jabar are joined by Hussein Al-Mustafa, Othman Alzahrani, Fahad Alharbi, Ahmed Zahid, Khalid Al Ghamadi, Khalid Al Otaibi, Ahmed Al Ahmadi, Saad Aldress, Fahad Aldhayan, Abdullah Saeed Alshammari, and Waleed Albalkhi in representing the Kingdom in Jeddah.
For the Saudi players competing, making a name for themselves in Jeddah and progressing through the tournament could see millions of pool enthusiasts watching them in action from afar.
Here’s how you can catch the action
Spectators’ tickets are still available on the WeBook platform. They are priced at SAR25 for a General Admission pass and SAR100 for the Gold category. The Silver category – priced at SAR50 – is also still available for the ‘Last 16 and Quarter Finals’, which will be held on Friday June 7.
The tickets for the semi-finals on Saturday June 8 are priced at SAR50 for the General Admission, SAR75 for the Silver category, and SAR200 for the Gold category. Meanwhile, if you’re keen to watch the Finals, which will also be on Saturday June 8, the tickets are priced at SAR75 for General Admission, SAR100 for the Silver category, and SAR300 for the Gold category.
Nurturing the next generation
In addition, the World Nineball Tour has officially launched the inaugural Saudi Junior Championship in Jeddah, a brand-new competition running alongside the 2024 World Pool Championship from Monday June 3 to Friday June 7 at the Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal City Sports Hall.
For the first time in the history of the World Pool Championship, the Junior Championship will see 16 young cue stars aged 17 and under compete for a remarkable prize fund of $20,000.
The event kicks off with a 16-player double-elimination format, after which the field will be narrowed down to the final eight who will compete for the Junior Championship crown in a knockout format.
Fans around the world can catch the action from the Saudi Junior Championship across Matchroom Pool’s social media pages, with the final set to be live-streamed on Matchroom Pool’s YouTube here.
2024 World Pool Championship, June 3 to 8, 7pm, Green Halls, Jeddah. Tickets are priced from SAR25 and can be purchased here.
Images: Supplied