Joshua Filler has been unveiled as the latest World Nineball Tour professional ahead of the 2024 season, despite the WPA’s plans to ban anyone who competes on the circuit from March onwards.

Filler has signed a contract to be one of 128 recognised professionals on the tour for this year, joining the likes of Jayson Shaw, Albin Ouschan, Shane van Boening, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz and Fedor Gorst.

The former world champion’s decision has come as a relative surprise to some, with Filler notably withdrawing from October’s Hanoi Open Pool Championship but still attending the WPA-sanctioned Qatar Open.

In addition, the three-time Mosconi Cup MVP had to consider his wife Pia in his decision. She benefits more from the Predator Pro Billiard Series and other WPA-recognised events, whilst her husband would become banned from those same competitions.

The contract for WNT professionals states that they must not attend any 9-ball events nor major tournaments in another discipline that clash with a nineball major, such as the World Pool Championship, US Open, Hanoi Open and World Cup of Pool.

WNT professionals will be given freedom to enter any competition that doesn’t clash with a WNT major tournament, with no sanctions and limited control coming from the World Professional Nineball Pool Corporation.

Meanwhile, Vietnamese number one Duong Quoc Hoang has signed his contract despite threats from both his national federation and the Asian federation, which led to him withdrawing from the Hanoi Open on home soil.

Other Asian players, such as Aloysius Yapp, Ko Ping-Chung, Ko Pin-Yi and his countryman Nguyen Anh Tuan, have also signed up despite receiving those same threats from national and continental federations.

Anyone who finished last season inside the top 128 on the world nineball rankings would have received an invitation from the WPNPC, with the system following a similar structure that has proved successful in darts and snooker.