By REYNALD MAGALLON
Johann Chua made a firm stand against what he deemed as ‘unprofessional’ banning of the World Pool Association (WPA) on Vietnamese players who saw action in the Hanoi Open under the World Nineball Tour (WNT) of Matchroom Pool.
Chua took to the social media to stress his stand and decision to join the boycott against WPA tournaments, joining other renowned pool masters like Jayson Shaw (England), Shane Van Boening (U.S.), Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (Spain), Fedor Gorst (Russia) and Joshua Filler (Germany) who likewise, earlier expressed their objection of WPA’s ruling.
“Many of you have been asking why I did not participate in the World 8 Ball in New Zealand. It was the same reason why I didn’t play in ACBS Formosa Cup last month and I won’t be playing in China Open and Ho Chi Minh. I pledged that I won’t participate in any WPA event this year until the banning stopped,” said Chua in a lengthy Facebook post on Tuesday, Sept. 10.
Pool players were recently caught in the middle of a dispute between WPA and Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS) and the WNT of the Matchroom Pool which stemmed to the schedule conflict between the WPA-sanctioned Qatar Open and the Hanoi Open under Matchroom’s WNT system last year.
The Hanoi Open happened from Oct. 10 to 15, very close to the Qatar Open from Oct. 4 to 10, forcing players to only choose one between the two tournaments to join.
Last July, WPA and ACBS made the ruling banning the Vietnamese players who joined the Hanoi Open – a non-sanctioned event under the latter.
“Taking a stand is not only for me or for me not to be banned, I think this is for the future of the sport and especially for us Asians, who are greatly affected by this,” said Chua.
“I don’t know how other players feel. They have their own thoughts, reasons and perspective on this, but for me it’s unprofessional that I’ll be banned today, then lifted the next day and then banned again on the next tournament and then lifted again just because they wanted to,” he explained.
Chua admitted that he really wanted to join the tournaments and that he’s making big sacrifices with his decision but he’s standing by it nonetheless as according to him, it would be for the betterment of the sport.
“I am taking a stand in solidarity with my fellow players,” stressed Chua.
“This is for the future of the sport and for the young ones who will follow our footsteps. I know my sponsors will understand my decision. Every sport has it’s own issues and things to improve. I hope this mishap will end soon. I love this sport so much that I don’t want it to be this divided and unsure,” he said.
“Disagreeing on the actions made by the governing body I respected for years is so hard, but this needs to be done. Players need to be respected too… I am hurt because players are being treated like this by our own association who I looked up to when I started this sport when I was a kid. I still have hopes for this to be addressed and resolved soon. There are still lot’s to improve in our sport,” he ended.
