Yesterday in Qinguangdao was the start of this year’s World Chinese 8-Ball Masters tournament. The opening ceremony is laid out on the Facebook page for the event. You can find more information about the tournament from either JOY Billiards or at this link.

Opening ceremony, Jan 10. Image credit: WC8M

It’s a 64 person double elimination tournament running from January 10th — January 14th. The first day is in the books and the numbers are in.

Shane Van Boening is one of the American participants, which is why he will not be in the first leg of Darren Appleton’s World Pool Series. More big names include Corey Deuel, Albin Ouschan, Jack Whelan, and Jeffrey Ignacio.

Shane van Boening at the World Chinese 8-Ball Masters

It would appear that Shane and Albin lost in the first round and moved over to the B-side. However, both went on to win their first B-side matchup. Jeffrey later joined them on the B-side after his second match. Corey is still strong on the winners side after two matches.

Shane went down against Yu Ting (4–13)

Albin went down against Zhao YunBiao (8–13)

Jeffrey went down against Denis Grabe (11–12) * time limit reached

Corey Deuel at the World Chinese 8-Ball Masters

“Current Chinese 8 Ball World Champion Shi Hanqing and national ranked number 1 Zheng Yubo began their quests successfully with First Round wins; although then lost their first lives when beaten by Gong Haifeng and Corey Deuel respectively in the next round.” (source)

Good luck to all those in the competition and, most importantly, have fun!