World pool champion removed from European team for Reyes Cup after reversing stance on Vietnam ban

"Regretfully Joshua Filler has been withdrawn from the 2024 Reyes Cup due to concerns over contractual obligations and team integrity around the inaugural event. As the next player ranked highest on the Race to Reyes Cup WNT rankings, David Alcaide will join the European Team," the World Nineball Tour (WNT) announced on its website on Monday.

A few hours later, WNT changed their announcement: "Joshua Filler has been withdrawn from the Reyes Cup and will be replaced by David Alcaide as the next highest-ranked player."

Filler, 27, a German player, currently ranked seventh in the world by the WNT, claimed both the 9-ball World Championship in 2018 and the 8-ball World Championship in 2024. At age 20, he became the youngest player ever selected for the European team to compete against the U.S. in the Mosconi Cup.

The Reyes Cup 2024, a Europe vs Asia tournament, is set to take place in Manila, Philippines, from Oct. 15 to 18. It is named after Filipino pool legend Efren Reyes.

During the selection process, Filler was second in Europe behind Eklent Kaci, while Alcaide was fourth. Only the top three players were selected, with the original lineup being Kaci, Filler and Mickey Krause. The team also has two spots for wildcards, with Jayson Shaw and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz.

Filler, Shaw, Ruiz, Kaci and Alcaide are all part of a group of top billiard players who have collectively posted a boycott message to the World Pool Association (WPA) on Aug. 9, 2024, demanding the ban on Vietnamese and Asian players be lifted.

"In solidarity with our colleagues, we have decided not to participate in any WPA events unless the bans are lifted," the group of top players said in a statement.

The WNT, a professional organization that exclusively hosts world 9-ball pool tournaments, parted ways with WPA in 2023, creating an opposition between the two organizations. The WNT's Hanoi Open, held in October 2023 and 2024, is not licensed by the WPA, so this organization has banned Vietnamese players from its tournaments, and banned its players from participating in the Hanoi Open.

The top players will maintain their support with Vietnam, as they will attend the 2024 Hanoi Open 2024, which kicks off on Tuesday, while continuing to boycott WPA tournaments, except for Filler and Albin Ouschan. These two players still attended the WPA World Eight-ball Championship in New Zealand from Sept. 2 to 8.

On Sept. 2, Filler posted on social media, expressing regret over joining the boycott of WPA. The German player cited three reasons for his stance: his significant financial investment in competing in WPA events, which is thousands of dollars, his childhood dream of winning the 8-ball World Championship, and his desire to accompany his wife, Pia Filler, to WPA tournaments.

Filler also said at that time that he still wanted to attend the Hanoi Open 2024, but in the end, he was absent, and so was Ouschan.

Filler's change of heart has received a lot of criticism from fans around the world. On Reddit, an account called him a "strike saboteur" while Aaron Lake, a Singaporean fan, wrote on Facebook: "We were waiting for an apology from you but it never came". Some even speculated on Azbilliards that Filler could be removed from the Mosconi Cup’s Europe squad due to this incident.

After Filler and Ouschan changed their mind, the other top players expressed disappointment. "Once we put out a message together, I thought we should stand by it," American player Skyler Woodward said. "I’m frustrated and disappointed with players who don’t keep their promises. These players should not cry when the situation doesn’t change."

The top players in the world as well as Vietnam want to play in tournaments of both WNT and WPA without facing punishment. However, the WPA's policy of banning players remained unchanged.

The European squad for the Reyes Cup is currently Shaw, Ruiz, Krause, Kaci and Alcaide, who compete in the 2024 Hanoi Open. The five-man Asian squad includes Johann Chua (Philippines), Aloysius Yapp (Singapore), Ko Pin Yi (Taiwan), Carlo Biado (Philippines) and Duong Quoc Hoang (Vietnam).