International Challenge of Champions

Pool tournament

The International Challenge of Champions is an annual nine-ball pool tournament held at the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Connecticut. It has always been broadcast on ESPN and is sanctioned by the World Pool-Billiard Association.

As of 2009, four invited notable players compete in this single-elimination event. Different from other pool tournaments, this is a winner-take-all event: The winner earns the entire purse of the division (men's or women's);^[1] in 2009, the men's-division pot was US$25,000. Winners of either division earn the title "Champion of Champions".

Format

Promoters describe the geared-for-television event as "international champions ... battling in short, sudden-death shootouts with pressure-cooker formats".^[1]

Each match is compose of two sets; each of them is race to 5 and in alternate break. Players lag to determine who shall break in the first set. The player who loses that set will break in the second.

A 30-second shot clock rule is used. This means a player must make a shot within 30 seconds lest the other player will receive ball-in-hand. Each player, however, can call for an extension but only once per rack.

Unlike other 9-ball tournaments, a player must call the 9-ball before pocketing it. Failing to call the shot or the 9-ball going in another pocket other than the one called will result the 9-ball being respotted and the player loses his turn at the table. Also, a player can't win a rack by pocketing the 9-ball in the break.

To win a match, a player has to win both sets. If the sets are split (one player winning the first but other player winning the next), players again lag to break at the one rack decider.

Winners

Men

Year	Winner	Runner-up
1991	Mike Lebron	Buddy Hall
1992	Buddy Hall	Johnny Archer
1993	Allen Hopkins	Jim Rempe
1994	Nick Varner	Earl Strickland
1995	Chao Fong-pang	Takeshi Okumura
1996	Ralf Souquet	Earl Strickland
1997	Oliver Ortmann	Chao Fong-pang
1998	Lee Kun-fang	Kunihiko Takahashi
1999	Francisco Bustamante	Oliver Ortmann
2000	Oliver Ortmann (2)	Francisco Bustamante
2001	Chao Fong-pang (2)	Francisco Bustamante
2002	Efren Reyes	Mika Immonen
2003	Francisco Bustamante (2)	Daryl Peach
2004	Thomas Engert	Thorsten Hohmann
2005	Chao Fong-pang (3)	Thomas Engert
2006	Johnny Archer	Thorsten Hohmann
2007	Niels Feijen	Lee Van Corteza
2008	Fu Jianbo	Dennis Orcollo
2009	Mika Immonen	Darren Appleton
2010	Mika Immonen (2)	Francisco Bustamante
2011	Darren Appleton	Huidji See
2012	Darren Appleton (2)	Shane Van Boening
2014	Thorsten Hohmann	Darren Appleton
2015	Shane Van Boening	Niels Feijen
2016	Jayson Shaw	Shane Van Boening

Top performers

Name	Nationality	Winner	Runner-up	Finals
Chao Fong-pang	Chinese Taipei	3	1	4
Francisco Bustamante	Philippines	2	3	5
Darren Appleton	England		2	4
Mika Immonen	Finland		1	3
Oliver Ortmann	Germany		1
Shane Van Boening	United States	1	2
Thorsten Hohmann	Germany		2
Buddy Hall	United States		1	2
Johnny Archer	United States
Niels Feijen	Netherlands
Thomas Engert	Germany

In the event of identical records, players are sorted in alphabetical order by first name.

References

^ ^a ^b "Meet the Players in 'Champion of Champion' Tournaments (Sept. 29 – Oct. 1)". Pool & Billiard Magazine. 2015. Retrieved January 18, 2018. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help)