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2006 Tournament of Champions and World Cup of Trick Shots to hit Uncasville
Oct 20, 2006, 9:15 AM

The 2006 International Tournament of Champions, the ninth of its kind, will be held Nov. 1-2 at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. ESPN's cameras with capture women's pool stars Ga-Young Kim, Allison Fisher, Karen Corr and Kelly Fisher competing against each other in a sudden-death shootout with winner-take-all of $25,000.

Kim is the defending 2005 champion of champions, as well as reigning world champion. This year, it's anybody's game, as the players are so evenly matched that a single mistake could eliminate a player from contention.

Alongside the warfare among the women will be the World Cup of Trick Shots, presenting Team America vs. Team Europe, with eight international stars contending for a purse of $50,000. Mike Massey, the 2006 World Artistic Pool champion, will captain Team America, and Italy's Stefano Pelinga, the 2005 Trick Shot Magic champion, will captain Team Europe. The rest of Team America includes champions Andy Segal, Bruce Barthelette and Tom Rossman. Team Europe includes champions Nick Nikolaidis, Luke Szywala and Bogdan Wolkowski.

The format is this: Two skill shots and eight artistic show shots by both teams in a match. Team members execute a challenge shto of their choice, and their opponents are required to duplicate the shot or lose a point. A sudden-death tie-breaker to decide a match will require an eight-rail bank shot on the face of a $100 bill.

The semifinal and final matches of both events will be taped for airing on ESPN in December.