With the annual World Cup of Pool coming back to London this September, Matchroom Sport can announce the 32 teams and players set to contest the annual $250,000 pairs tournament. Taking place at pool’s fiercest venue, the York Hall in Bethnal Green, the World Cup runs from Tuesday 22nd to 27th September.
Defending champions are England A with Karl Boyes and Darren Appleton looking to become the first pair to successfully defend their crown. Competition will be tough though, with a host of previous winners and finalists taking part.
Germany will be represented by 2011 champions Thorsten Hohmann and Ralf Souquet and 2012 winners Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen (Finland) will be once again taking part. America’s Shane Van Boening, a winner with Rodney Morris in 2008, is paired with Mike Dechaine this time, while Li Hewen, a two-time winner in 2007 and 2010 will be partnered by Liu Haitao as they make a run for title number three for China.
Holland, desperately unlucky to be runners up in 2013 and 2014, will be looking to go one better as Niels Feijen and Nick Van Den Berg team up once again. Daryl Peach and Mark Gray, who came so close for England in 2008, will also be trying to repeat those performances.
Other highly fancied teams include the Philippines which pairs former World No.1 Carlo Biado with under-rated Warren Kiamco and Taiwan – World 10 Ball champion Ko Pin Yi and Chang Yu Lung. Team Austria will also fancy their chances as World No.1 Albin Ouschan and Mario He pair up one again.
Commencing on Tuesday 22nd and culminating in the final on the evening of Sunday 27th, the event will be played to a single elimination format over six days with two sessions a day.
There are 31 matches in total.
Tickets are now on sale at www.SEETickets.com and are priced at £10.00 per evening session (Tuesday to Friday), £12.50 per evening session on the Saturday and Sunday. Weekend afternoon sessions are £7.50 while Tuesday to Friday afternoons are free!
A season ticket covering all sessions is priced at £65.00.
The World Cup of Pool will carry a $250,000 prize fund including $60,000 for the champions. The event will be produced by Matchroom Sport Television and televised live on Sky Sports and then syndicated internationally as 31 x 1 hour programmes.
Defending champions Finland – Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen – are through to the second round of the 888.com World Cup of Pool following a comfortable 7-2 win over Austria as the six-day tournament got underway at the York Hall in East London.
They won five racks in a row from 2-1 down to seal victory, after Austria, represented by Jasmine and Albin Ouschan, looked set to go 3-1 ahead. Jasmine, though, miscued pocketing the brown 7 and lost position. Trying to catch up left her with a tough cut on the 9 ball which she left in the jaws of the corner pocket.
After that the tide turned as the confident Finnish duo sprinted for the line.
“It’s always tough in the first match. We were a bit jittery and they had a chance for 3-1 but it was a tough one for Jasmine on the 9 and she jarred it. We got in control, didn’t look back and closed door,” said Mika Immonen.
“We’re happy to get over the first hurdle. It was nerve-wracking but we’re just trying to stay positive for next match.” He added.
The 2013 888.com World Cup of Pool runs from Tuesday September 17 to Sunday, September 22 at the famous York Hall in Bethnal Green, East London. The field features 32 teams from 31 countries in a single elimination format. The total prize fund is US$250,000 with $60,000 going to the eventual champions.
Korea (Ham Won Sik and Ryu Seung Woo), a semi-finalist in Manila in 2011, progressed to the round of 16 with a win over European qualifiers Estonia made up of Erki Erm and Dennis Grabe. It was an error-strewn match that never looked like catching fire and there were countless ball in hand opportunities in the first half of the game, as neither side really took advantage of them.
The Koreans though surged ahead in the closing stages to take the match and can look forward to a round two match against Finland.
The final match of the session saw Germany put paid to Maltese hopes with a 7-4 win. The German pair of veteran Ralf Souquet and debutant Dominic Jentsch were fancied from the off but soon found themselves 4-1 down to Tony Drago and Alex Borg.
As with most turnarounds, it hinged on a single incident when Tony Drago, thinking that the Germans had made no contact with the object ball, picked the cue ball up and positioned it.
However, there was no such foul committed, and the ball in hand went to the Germans who converted the rack. From there, they didn’t miss as they took the next five for the victory.
Commented Souquet, “The score was 4-1 to them and we were hoping for mistake as we just couldn’t get going. They had some nice easy outs so we had to hope for something but didn’t expect that!
“We’re going to relax and try and stay focused as our next match won’t be any easier. We will work on our game, mainly on our breaks but when it comes to shooting we are ready,” he added.
Play continues this evening with three more first round matches:
The 2013 World Cup of Pool runs from 17 – 22 September and takes place at the York Hall, London. For those wanting to watch the action in person, all tickets are available from www.seetickets.com (Search ‘World Cup of Pool’)
Manuel Gama & Guilherme Sousa, Denis Grabe & Erki Erm
Sarajevo, Bosnia & Hercegovina: In the qualifying event for Matchroom's World Cup of Pool, teams Portugal and Estonia have qualified for the main event.
The World Cup of Pool will be held this year from September 17th to 22nd, in York Hall, Bethnal Green, London, Great Britain. This prestigious event features 32 teams from all over the World. The last 2 spots were played for today in Sarajevo, organized by IBPF. Ten teams started into the competition (Albania, Bosnia & Hercegovina, Estonia, Ireland, Lithuania, Macedonia, Portugal, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia).
Teams Portugal and Estonia went into the deciding matches undefeated. Through the loser's round, teams Bosnia & Hercegovina and Albania qualified for the play-offs. The Bosnian's had to deal with Estonia while Albania took on Portugal. Dino Cerimagic and Alen Muratovic waved the flag for Bosnia & Hercegovina, but in the end the two Estonians Denis Grabe and Erki Erm were too strong for them, defeating them with 8:4. Team Portugal, consisting of Manuel Gama and Guilherme Sousa, had a tougher fight with the two Albanian players Nick Malai and Edmond Zaja. That match went to 7:7 with the Portuguese being the luckier team in the end, winning with 8:7.
In a one-sided match, defending Champion Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) ousted Victoria Nagorna (UKR) from the 9-ball individuals.
In the beginning, Ouschan seemed to be of it. She missed some easy shots during her warm up what obviously annoyed her.And it looked like it would be an exciting match. After 4 racks, the score was 2:2. But then Ouschan stopped making mistakes and Nagorna committed more and more of them. Maybe she could not control her nerves but Ouschan grew stronger with each mistake her opponent made. No wonder, she claimed rack after rack and took the match with 7:2.
Other notable results in the women’s division include Caroline Roos (SWE) terminating Natalya Seroshtan’s (RUS) hopes for another medal in the individual competition of this year’s Dynamic European Championships.
In the men’s division, Arjan Matrizi (ALB) surprisingly defeated Nick van den Berg (NED) quite clearly with 9:3. Bahram Lotfy (DEN) took the match over Erki Erm (EST) by a whisker with 9:8. Serge Das (BEL) erased Poland’s top player Radoslaw Babica with 9:6 off the flowcharts.
There will be one more round of 9-ball individuals today. The last round will be played in the team competition.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.epconline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
Tuesday, 27 March 2012: In a match that was not as close as many spectators expected it to be, Mario He (AUT) outfought Petri Makkonen (FIN) with 8:4.
Makkonen should have gone in front but he missed an easy 6-ball in the first rack and instead of him drawing first blood against He, he allowed the Austrian to go ahead. In the next few racks, Makkonen could be watched when making mistakes on relatively easy shots whereas He seemed to be more “in the zone” and focussed. No wonder, the scoreboard showed 5:1 in favour of He after 6 racks. Then Makkonen seemed to get a bit better into game. He fired the 8-ball over one rail into the called pocket and made the 2:5. Was that the turning point for him? Not according to He’s liking. Mario He allowed Makkonen to take two more racks but played very strong and won the match with 8:4. As a summary it can be stated that Makkonen made too many avoidable mistakes and was not able to benefit from He’s few errors.
Other notable results from the 8-ball quarterfinals include Francisco Diaz (ESP) overpowering Ruslan Chinakhov (RUS) with 8:7. With the same result, Artem Koshovyi (UKR) remained victorious over Tomasz Kaplan (POL). In the women’s division, Jasmin Ouschan (AUT) and Marika Poikkijoki (FIN) both won their matches and will now face each other in the upcoming semi-finals.
Earlier today, the first two rounds of 9-ball were played. Erki Erm (EST) defeated Konstantin Stepanov (RUS) with 9:6. Artem Koshovyi (UKR) fell to Milinko Vukajlovic (SRB) with 7:9. In the clash of two very experienced players, Ralf Souquet (GER) remained the upper hand over Bruno Muratore (ITA) with 9:2. Denis Grabe (EST) lost to Francisco Diaz (ESP) with 7:9. IN the wheelchair division, Henrik Larsson (SWE) received an unexpected defeat against Eduard Karamatic (CRO) with 4:7.
The event is hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the federation website www.epconline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office
