The Etisalat WPA World 8-Ball Championship began today, Sunday, April 4, at which the tournament organizers thanked the players for their participation and the sponsors for making the event possible. The Gold Sponsor is the Prism Company with additional sponsors including Dubai Sports Channel, Le Meridien Al Aqah Beach Resort, Adnoc, Pro Master, Al Ahli Holding Group, Al Diar Siji Hotel, Fujairah International Airport, Vopak Horizon, Fujairah Cement Industries, Knight Shot Billiards, Coral Residence Group, Crystal Arc, Millenium Avenue and Pepsi. Knight Shot announced a special prize package for any player from the UAE making it into the final 16, which will include a pool table and other billiard items. The players meeting featured Tournament Director Ishaun Singh and was followed by a gala welcoming dinner. First round of play kicks off at 3PM (Emirates time) on Monday. The format for this event is eight groups of eight players. Each group will play double elimination races to eight games until there are only two players on both the winners and the one-loss side. The remaining 32 players will then form the final single-elimination bracket.  The players from the winners side will be seeded according to their performance and the players from the one-loss side will be drawn at random into the brackets. Watch for continuing reports and photo updates from the WPA at Pool & Billiard Magazine's website, www.poolmag.com.