ELK POINT – There’s an endless lineup of reasons to visit Las Vegas, Nevada, from the casinos and star-studded entertainment to the National Finals Rodeo, but for this local group, there is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at stake.
An eight-member team of 8-ball pool players from Elk Point and Ardmore are headed to Las Vegas this week to face their stiffest competition imaginable – the best 8-ball teams from around the world.
The American Pool Players Association (APA) is hosting their World Championship 8-ball Tournament from Aug, 8 to 14 at Las Vegas’ Westgate Casino, with 765 teams from around the world qualifying to compete, including ‘124-cue’, a team that includes Don Schultz, Clever Ortiguero, Shauna Campbell, Domingo Apigo, Dwayne Yaremkevich, Curtis Porcina, Charmaine McLeod and Doug McLeod. This team plays out of the Bonnyville league, and in Edmonton earlier this summer, won the right to represent both Alberta and Canada at the World Championship.
The APA is the world’s largest pool league, and was founded more than 40 years ago by professional pool players ‘Texas Terry’ Bell and Larry ‘The Iceman’ Hubbart, who saw the need for an organized system for recreational league play at a time when none currently existed. The association has grown over that time and the APA now sanctions and oversees the APA 8-Ball League and APA 9-Ball League in the United States, the Canadian Poolplayers Association, Japanese Poolplayers Association and the APA of Singapore.
