APA is making changes to its 2021 tournament schedule.
The APA Poolplayer Championships, originally scheduled for April 27-May 2, 2021 at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino, have been postponed until August 2021 due to restrictions imposed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The event will now take place August 5-14, during the dates originally slated for the 2021 World Pool Championships. The rescheduled Poolplayer Championships will consist of participants from 2020 and 2021 qualifying events.
The 2021 APA Poolplayer Championships will include the 8-Ball Classic, 9-Ball Shootout, and all Showdown Series events, including those normally held during the World Pool Championships.
The Showdown Series events to be held during the rescheduled 2021 APA Poolplayer Championships in August include: the 8-Ball and 9-Ball Doubles Championships, the Jack & Jill Championship, the Team Captains Championship, the Ladies 8-Ball Championship, the Wheelchair Championship, and the Masters Championship.
The APA World Pool Championships will move to October 21-30, 2021, and will also be held at the Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. This year’s World Pool Championships will consist only of the 8-Ball and 9-Ball World Championships with the fields for both events made up of teams that qualified during both the 2020 League Year and the 2021 League Year.
Even though distribution of COVID vaccines has begun, it’s expected to take several months before the pandemic is sufficiently under control for large events to return to Las Vegas.
“We now clearly see hope on the horizon for our events to return, but unfortunately, we weren’t convinced that Las Vegas will allow for events our size to return by April. Our hope is that by pushing the Poolplayer Championships back to August, and the World Pool Championships to October, we will be able to safely host both events during the second half of the year,” said APA President Greg Fletcher.
In addition to Las Vegas still limiting gathering sizes, nearly 40% of APA Leagues remain postponed due to local and state/provincial restrictions that have prohibited APA Host Locations from reopening or hosting League activity. Pushing the World Pool Championships to October will give postponed Leagues more time to restart play and host the qualifier events necessary to send teams to Vegas.
If you have any questions about these changes, please contact your Local APA League Operator.