For the seventh consecutive year Dragon Promotions will produce the biggest international 14.1 event in the world, The 72nd World Tournament of Straight Pool. With the continued support of Dr.Michael Fedak, this year’s event will for the first time in decades move to New York and to the Carom Cafe in Queens. This well renowned billiard room will host this year’s event starting on July 29th and culminating with the final on August 3rd.

“Finally we are in New York City! Ever since the first year we resurrected the World Tournament, New Yorkers have been literally begging us to move it there. They promised big crowds, so here we are seven years later. This is the closest we have also ever been to Manhattan, so we are only a few stops on the subway to Queens and Carom Cafe”, said Cindy Lee, CEO of Dragon Promotions.

The World Tournament is the oldest straight pool tournament that still exists today. Invented by Jerome Keough and shortly after recognized as the official game of billiards, the first World 14.1 Tournament was held in 1911 and won by Alfredo DeOro.

In its history, due to war and economics, the World Championships had 29 tournaments that did not take place including a 15 year gap between 1990-2005 until Dragon Promotions revived the game and the World Tournament in 2006.

“This is my absolute favourite game, and this is my favourite event in the world. The World Tournament is the ultimate straight pool event, and the oldest testament of skill there is in pool. Dragon Promotions have been terrific caretakers of this prestigious championship, and I am pleased to help them continue the longest running tournament in history”, said Dr.Michael Fedak, one of the event’s main sponsors.

This year marks the 72nd World Tournament, and expected stars such as reigning champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany, Two-time World 14.1 Champion Oliver Ortmann, former World Champions Allen Hopkins, Stephan Cohen of France, and world class players such as Johnny Archer, Mika Immonen, John Schmidt, Charlie Williams and Mike Davis are just a handful of the world class exponents of the game who will descend upon New York City to compete in this prestigious event.

“The World Tournament till this day has proven to have the most passionate fans and players. Myself and our staff at Dragon Promotions have really come to a true appreciation of this game and its rich history. We are very proud to have become the caretakers of this prestigious event”, added Cindy Lee.

The format for the event will be the same as the past six years. 64 players divided into 8 groups of 8 players in a round robin format playing races to 100. The top 32 players will advance to a double elimination tournament races to 150. The top 16 players will then advance to a single elimination race to 200 points.