JEDDAH: The 2024 World Pool Championship officially got underway in Jeddah on Monday as a series of high-quality matches kicked off the ‘Crown Jewel’ of the World Nineball Tour. For the latest updates, follow us @ArabNewsSport Defending champion Francisco Sánchez Ruíz launched his title defense against hometown hero Waleed Albalkhi on Day 1. An energetic crowd watched the Spanish world #1 show terrific form to prevail in his ‘Race to 9’ frames match. Reflecting on his performance, Ruiz labeled this year’s world championship in Saudi Arabia as the ‘biggest ever’ and spoke enthusiastically of the venue and his mindset looking ahead. “It was fantastic to be out there defending the world championship in the biggest event ever seen in our sport – I’m living the dream.” Albalkhi opened up on the experience of representing the Kingdom on the grandest stage. “I played against an excellent player who is so strong and skilled. Luck was not on my side tonight but it’s great that we are now going head-to-head against the biggest and best pool players,” he said. Live from the Green Halls, audiences enjoyed sensational displays of cue mastery on a historic opening day which saw some of Saudi Arabia’s brightest talents go head-to-head against the world’s best players. In partnership with the Saudi Arabian Billiard & Snooker Federation (SABSF), Ministry of Sport, and Matchroom Multi-Sport, the 2024 edition makes its first-ever appearance in the Kingdom from June 3-8 with 128 of the planet’s premier cueists for six days of action-packed competition. Broadcast worldwide in over 90 countries, audiences enjoyed 32 first round matches on Day 1 with Khalid Alghamdi, Hussein Mustafa, Nawaf Shamardal, Abdulla Alshammari, Ahmed Al Ahmadi, and Ahmed Zahid the other Saudi Arabian national team players who made their World Pool Championship debuts. Monday’s action also featured a trio of the world’s top 10 with #5 Jayson Shaw and #8 David Alcaide securing wins to make the Round of 64. After his match, Shaw revealed that the World Pool Championship being staged in the Kingdom is something welcomed by the WNT roster. The Scottish cueist, who captained Team Europe to 2023 Mosconi Cup victory, said: “Coming to Saudi Arabia and having a tournament here is incredible. This event is a whole new level in terms of what I’ve seen and I don’t think there will be many more events looking like this – I speak for all the players in saying that it’s amazing.”