Albin Ouschan got off to the perfect start as he began the defence of his World Pool Championship title at the Marshall Arena, Milton Keynes live on Sky Sports in the UK/Ireland and DAZN in the USA, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy as well as other networks worldwide including Matchroom.Live and Viaplay.
The Austrian faced a tricky opening encounter against Hong Kong’s Lo Ho Sum to begin proceedings on Table 1 and he lived up to expectations to deliver a 9-3 victory. Ouschan came into the tournament in hot form after winning the inaugural Premier League Pool title and he got off to the best of starts to amass a 6-3 lead in the Race to 9 contest. The Mean Machine continued his way to set up a Winners’ Qualification match against Daniel Maciol in which the Pole was no match for the two-time world champion as he romped into the Last 64 in a 9-1 win.
This year sees the World Pool Championship take on a new double elimination structure. The afternoon session saw all 128 players play their opening match. The losing 64 moved to tomorrow’s Losers’ Round 1 whilst winners faced off in Winners’ Qualification in tonight’s session. The losing players from the evening moved immediately into tomorrow evening’s Losers’ Qualification where they will meet the winners of tomorrow’s Losers’ Round 1 matches.
Two upsets involved two potential 2022 Mosconi Cup prospects for the USA as Skyler Woodward found himself on the end of a defeat to Italy’s Daniele Corrieri to fall into Losers’ Round 1 whilst there was joy for Shane Wolford. Wolford faced 2021 semi-finalist David Alcaide to book a place in the Last 64 and the American admitted after a thrilling 9-7 win from behind 7-5 down. Afterward, Wolford admitted it was perhaps his biggest win to date. Alcaide could have to face compatriot Jose Alberto Delgado but that’s only if Delgado beats Ho Sum.
Matchroom Pool YouTube fans were treated to a vintage Jayson Shaw display in the afternoon as he overcome Vincent Halliday 9-2 on Table 2, but the two-time Mosconi Cup MVP faltered against Michal Gavenciak in a 9-7 loss. The loss means Shaw will face the winner of Jakub Koniar and Roman Hybler in Losers’ Qualification tomorrow evening.
Live (2023) Nineball World No.1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz danced through his opening matches relatively unscathed with a 9-0 whitewash over Albania’s Besar Spahiu before closing out Table 1 action in a satisfying 9-3 win over Dang Thanh Kien of Vietnam. Sanchez Ruiz’s efforts see him get a day off tomorrow and a Last 64 tie with Corrieri on Friday morning.
Action returns tomorrow with Wiktor Zielinski in Table 1 action against Bulgaria’s Kristina Zlateva from 11 am UK time on Sky Sports Arena, DAZN, Viaplay, and networks worldwide.
Thursday 7th April – 11:00 am UK time – Afternoon Session
ROUND 2 Finland 1-7 Netherlands Slovakia 7-6 Czech Republic
Netherlands fired a warning shot to the rest of the field as they stormed into the quarter-finals of the World Cup of Pool with a near-perfect 7-1 victory over an out-of-sorts Finland.
Slovakia are also through to the last eight having beaten Czech Republic in the tournament’s first hill-hill match, while Great Britain B’s Allison and Kelly Fisher crashed out 7-3 in round one to the Filipino pairing of Jeff De Luna and Roberto Gomez.
Niels Feijen has twice been a World Cup runner up, in 2013 and 2014, both playing alongside Nick van den Berg. Marc Bijsterbosch stepped up in 2017 after Van den Berg retired, and their 7-1 drilling of Petri Makkonen and Casper Matikainen was probably the best performance the new Dutch duo have put in together.
Finland, and particularly their rookie Matikainen, struggled at the table but in contrast the Netherlands were near faultless in booking their place in the quarter-finals.
“We played well, with confidence and we did a good job,” said Bijsterbosch. “We can’t complain today, but we aren’t there, we have to prepare for the next match and we have to keep going.
“We know Finland are a really good team but we looked at our own game and we really, really hit it off today, it was a great match,” said Feijen. “We are really enjoy this, we played a great match and we get some time to enjoy that.
“I felt really good, Marc, if you leave him tough he is still central so that gives me a lot of confidence too. If we keep playing like this, we are dangerous.”
Czech Republic lead their match against Slovakia 4-2 but with the chance to go 5-3 ahead failed to capitalise when Polach missed the 9; Gavenciak also failing to conclude the rack with a long pot. Koniar took the easy 9 left for him, and Slovakia led for the first time in the match when they went 5-4 up.
The tenth went the way of the Czechs, but Slovakia regained their lead after a dry break to reach the hill at 6-5 up. The next rack was a reversal of its predecessor; this time Slovakia breaking dry and Czech Republic taking advantage to join their opponents on the hill.
Gavenciak was breaking but again came up dry. Polach played safe and though Urban’s reply seemed to have done enough, Koniar played off the side rail to make the 1. It didn’t present his side with the opportunity to clear, though, and at his next visit he scratched on the 2.
The table didn’t look easy and even when Urban missed a straight 4, Czech Republic fell safe. Koniar then benefited from a bit of fortune in making the 4 trying to escape a snooker and this time the roadmap was there, and Slovakia cleared the table for a place in the quarter-finals where either Russia or Japan will await.
The session had opened with a highly-anticipated round one match between Great Britain B and Philippines. The all-female British pairing looked to have settled quickly and took the second rack to keep the scores level early on. However, De Luna and Gomez were breaking well and managed to open up a 5-1 lead before Great Britain B next won a rack. Despite falling further behind, Fisher and Fisher cut the gap to 6-3 but that was to be their last rack as Philippines took the next to close out a 7-3 win.
“We had a great time out there,” said Allison. “it has been a while for me and I really enjoyed it. There were some good shots in there but we never got going. We had a nice start to the match and we were never really frozen out but some of the games were a bit awkward. At this stage for me the most important thing is to have fun out there and I really enjoyed it.”
“We are competitors so we are disappointed, of course,” said Kelly. “In the match we never really got the chance to get going, everything fell a bit awkward. Me and Allison are great friends off the table, we gel well together, and we have loved every moment and had fun.”
Round one concludes on Tuesday evening with USA taking on Australia, Great Britain C in action against South Africa and Great Britain A up against Belarus.
The World Cup of Pool is broadcast live globally including on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Full broadcast details can be found at matchroompool.com.
ROUND 1 RESULTS Japan 7-1 Croatia Czech Republic 7-4 Hungary
Austria 1-7 Slovakia
World Cup of Pool debutants Slovakia stunned defending champions Austria, knocking out the No.1 seeds with a brilliant 7-1 victory on the opening afternoon at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes.
Albin Ouschan and Mario He have reached the last three World Cup finals, lifting the trophy in 2017 and 2019. However, Jakub Koniar and Jaroslav Polach barely gave their opponents a chance as Slovakia proved exactly why they had been invited for the first time. A little luck along the way helped but Koniar and Polach looked calm at the table as they ran four of the seven racks won to advance to the second round.
“It is amazing,” said Koniar. “We had a little bit of luck in the beginning but with the 1-ball on the spot and winner breaks, you can even beat the best team in the world.
“We knew we could win. I have beaten Albin a few times, Jaro has won against both players in the Austrian Bundesliga, so we knew if we played our best game we could win.
“We practiced the break all last weekend together,” added Polach. “We played a hard break, the cue ball control was good, and we had a little bit of luck, but from 2-1 to 6-1 they weren’t at the table. In this game you can beat anybody in the world.”
Slovakia will face Czech Republic in the second round after a 7-4 success over Hungary for the Czechs.
“It will be a federal derby,” said Jaroslav. “We play every year something like the Mosconi Cup between Czech Republic and Slovakia. It hasn’t played last year because of Covid so now we will play one scotch doubles to see who is best!”
The event opened with Japanese favourite Naoyuki Oi, alongside debutant Masato Yoshioka, up against Croatian duo Philipp Stojanovic and Roberto Bartol.
Yoshioka earned his first appearance in the World Cup on the back of a fine run of form prior to the Covid-19 lockdown. A win in the Kansai Open in his homeland and a bronze medal at the World 10-Ball Championship helped him rise to Japanese No.1 and World No. 36.
In their opening match, he actually looked the more comfortable of the pair, his experienced partner struggling at times with cue-ball control. Croatia, though, were really struggling. Japan only ran out one rack, so even with the winner breaks format the Europeans had chances, but they were only able to take one of them and Japan eventually won 7-1, a result which meant TV viewers were treated to another colourful Oi interview.
“It was a very fast match today, the table was playing very quick with the new ball and the new cloth. It was difficult but my teammate was confident,” he said, before treating those watching to a victory dance. “In the next round it will be Russia, they have the World Champion, or Switzerland who are very good, they have strong players. But Japan will play to win.”
After Japan’s cruising first-round victory, the clash between Czech Republic (Petr Urban and Michal Gavenciak) and Hungary (Oliver Szolnoki and Vilmos Foldes) was a more attritional affair. The Czech team’s preparations were hit when Roman Hybler had to withdraw less than a week before the event, but Urban proved a worth deputy.
The first six racks were shared before the Czech team pulled ahead and moved to the hill at 6-3 up. Hungary fought back briefly but their campaign was ended when Urban and Gavenciak won the 11th for a 7-4 victory.
The World Cup of Pool continues from 5:30pm (UK time) this evening with three more first round matches; Russia will face Switzerland, Greece take on Serbia and Estonia are up against Belgium.
The World Cup of Pool is broadcast live globally including on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live. Full broadcast details can be found at matchroompool.com.
Eklent Kaci’s Albanian team are among a number of nations now confirmed for the World Cup of Pool, which will take place this May 9-14 at Stadium MK, Milton Keynes, live on Sky Sports.
Mosconi Cup winner Kaci will again be joined by Besar Spahiu after the pair defeated Russia at the 2019 World Cup before falling agonisingly short against Philippines, suffering a 7-5 defeat.
A host of European teams are now confirmed, as well as Kuwait (Omar Al-Shaheen and Bader Abdullah Alawadhi), and Australia, who will again be represented by Justin Sajich, this time partnered by Ivan Li.
Serge Das will return for Belgium alongside Kevin Lannoye, while Bosnia & Herzegovina will make their World Cup of Pool debut with Sanjin Pehlivanovic and Ajdin Piknjac. Philipp Stojanovic and Roberto Bartol will represent Croatia, while the Czech Republic pairing will be Roman Hybler and Michal Gavenciak.
Young Danish star Mickey Krause will make his debut in the Matchroom arena with Bahram Lotfy as the 20-year-old’s partner.
Estonia’s Denis Grabe and Mark Magi, who famously fell out after losing a hill-hill second round match at the last World Cup of Pool, will be hoping nothing comes between them this time around. Oliver Szolnoki and Vilmos Foldes are teaming up for Hungary and there’s a World Cup debut for Lithuania, represented by Pijus Labutis and Kęstutis Žadeikis.
The World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player teams and is played to a straight-knockout format, with a total prize fund of $250,000.
Team Austria (Albin Ouschan and Mario He) will defend their title in Milton Keynes, but competition will be tough with some of the biggest names in pool already confirmed. They include, three-times winners Philippines (Jeff De Luna and Roberto Gomez), USA (Skyler Woodward and Billy Thorpe), and Great Britain A (Jayson Shaw and Chris Melling).
The final teams will be announced shortly and the draw for the World Cup of Pool will be made soon after all teams have been confirmed. The World Cup of Pool will be broadcast live on Sky Sports, DAZN and Matchroom.Live, with further international broadcasters to be confirmed.
Friday evening was a tale of contrasting fortunes as Qatar put on a masterful performance to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in their history and the Philippines crashed out, failing to make the last eight for the first time in the tournament’s history. In the other match of the session, Finland once again won to look on track for their third semi-final in three years.
Taking place at the York Hall in London, the Dafabet World Cup of Pool features 32 two-man teams from around the globe competing for a $250,000 prize fund. Televised live in over 40 countries around the world, the event is now entering its tenth year.
Team Qatar who had looked so good in their win over the USA in the opening round, continued in the same rich vein of form as they beat the Czech Republic 7-3 to move into the World Cup of Pool quarter-finals for the first time.
Both Waleed Majid and Bashar Hussain played superbly, as they dominated the Czechs and made the most of their chances to secure a great win.
From the outset, Qatar looked a solid unit combining power with a bit of artistry as they eased into a 3-0 lead as they broke and ran from the off. Bashar missed their first ball of the match as he twitched on the 2 ball but after Czech’s Roman Hybler had missed it also, Waleed played a sensational carom off the two onto the rail and then onto the 9 for 4-0.
The Czechs got their name on the scoreboard in the next and won a drawn out sixth rack to make it 2-4 but when Hybler scratched on the 2 ball, it was a chance that Qatar grasped to move to 5-2. Waleed missed a long 2 ball in the next and the momentum went back to the Czechs who cleared for 3-5.
Hybler though missed the 2 ball in the ninth after the Czechs had pushed out and Qatar had put them back in. Majid slid it home along the rail and he and Bashar coped well with a tricky layout to reach the hill at 6-3.
The Czechs got to the table in the next but a clumsy safety from Michal Gavenciak left the 7 ball on and Bashar Hussain played a great cross bank to pot it and set up the win.
Commented Bashar, “We are delighted to reach the quarter-finals for the first time, and we know everybody watching in Qatar will be very happy. We played very well against USA and we were very happy with the performance tonight; we didn’t make too many mistakes.
“Beating USA gave us a big confidence boost. They are a big team with big players and that gave us a lot of confidence, which we have built on with the win today. Japan is a very good team but if we can keep the same rhythm and the same focus we know we can win,” he added.
Finland and Singapore shared the opening four racks as both sides looked a little nervy but it was Finland who took the lead for the first time as Petri Makkonen played an outstanding positional shot to leave the 7 ball for his partner Mika Immonen.
Chang Keng Kwan badly missed into the centre pocket for the second time in the match and that left three easy balls for Finland and instead of 3-3, the score became 4-2.
A poor shot from Chang saw him pocket the 1 ball but nudge the 2 and leave it in unpottable position. Aloysius Yapp’s safety caught the knuckle of the centre pocket and left it on and Finland ran out to increase their lead.
A dry break from Makkonen though, got the Singaporeans back to the table but they couldn’t capitalise and Finland reached the hill at 6-3 and from there they finished the last rack off for an excellent win.
“We weren’t super pleased with that performance; we had a couple of unforced errors and a couple of bad positional shots but we got away with it because Singapore weren’t in great form. But we will take it and there were some positives; our run-outs were pretty good and we played a more consistent game. We just need to get the breaks going and clear the table,” said Immonen.
England B – Daryl Peach and Mark Gray – started out as the big outsiders against Team Philippines but got off to a great start with some solid play and no mistakes as they took a 4-1 lead against the highly fancied Filipinos.
Warren Kiamco and Carlo Biado looked nervous and made some uncharacteristic errors to help the English on their way. However, a dry break from Peach gave the Philippines a chance and they ran the table out to get 1-4.
They took the next and when Gray scratched on the 2 ball following a push out, the Filipinos ran out to get within one of the English. A scratch from Peach left a tricky table but when Biado sunk the 9 ball to tie it up at 4-4, it began to look ominous.
That was as long as the comeback lasted. There was a safety battle on the 2 ball in the next but Biado left a look at it and Gray potted it down the side rail to set up the rack and restore the lead. In the next came an even bigger blow for the Filipinos. Placed in snooker by Biado, Peach outrageously fluked the 3 ball and obtained shape on the 4 and England B cleared for 6-4. They ran the next for an outstanding victory against the odds.
Gray said, “We had a great start with some good outs and we were playing well. But from 4-1 up Daryl got kicked in off on a break and we didn’t have much luck.; I played a good shot on the 2 to try and carom the 6 in and there was no gap but somehow the white scratched in off and the game turned to 4-4 and you are playing a best of five to get into the quarter-finals.
“We have a great chance of reaching the final. We haven’t had easy matches but we have beaten two good teams. We have played the Finnish lads many a time on the Euro Tour and we both have good head-to-head records against them so I am confident we can win that match.”
Peach added, “There were a few twists and turns but we were trying to win each mini interval 2-1 and we did win most of them 2-1. That gives you a short-term target. We played well and deserved the win.
“Finland is a tough match but so was that. It is a longer race so there is more time to settle down. They are a very good team as proven in the past when they have won it but my and Mark are a good team too and reached the final the only time we played the World Cup together, so we could be in for a good match.”
Quarter Final Line Up
Saturday 13.30 Austria v Chinese Taipei then Japan v Qatar
Saturday 18.30 England A v Romania then Finland v England B
Results
England A (1) 7-5 Australia
Korea (16) 7-6 Malaysia
Indonesia 7-3 Germany
Romania 7-4 China
Austria (5) 7-5 Peru
France 7-6 Canada (12)
Poland (13) 7-3 New Zealand
Chinese Taipei (4) 7-5 Estonia
Holland (3) 7-3 India
Japan (14) 7-3 Italy
Czech Republic 7-3 Spain (11)
Qatar 7-5 USA (6)
Singapore 7-5 Greece (7)
Finland (10) 7-4 Belgium
England B (15) 7-4 Sweden
Philippines (2) 7-4 Russia
Round 2 Scores
Japan (14) 7-6 Holland (3)
England A (1) 7-0 Korea (16)
Austria (5) 7-2 France
Romania 7-5 Indonesia
Chinese Taipei (4) 7-3 Poland (13)
Qatar 7-3 Czech Republic
Finland (10) 7-4 Singapore v
England B (15) 7-4 Philippines (2)
The following broadcasters are screening live coverage of the Dafabet World Cup of Pool:
Sky Sports – GB and Ireland; Sky – New Zealand; CCTV – China; Nova TV – Czech Republic & Slovakia; OSN – Middle East & North Africa; ESPN 3 – USA; ESPN Latin America –Central & South America; Viasat – Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria & the Baltic states.
For fans outside those territories, Perform Group will be streaming the event via their www.livesport.tv service. In addition the Dafabet World Cup of Pool is syndicated around the world as 31 x 1 hour programmes by Matchroom Television.
Featuring 32 two-man teams from around the world, the Dafabet World Cup of pool is celebrating its tenth year as defending champion England attempt to become the first team ever to successfully defend the title. The event runs from 22nd to 27th September.
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.
Diamond Billiards are the Official Table of the 2015 World Cup of Pool; the Official Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith. The Official Cue, Chalk and Rest are supplied by Predator.
TWO MORE seeded teams crashed out of the 2015 Dafabet World Cup of Pool as the penultimate session of round one matches continued at the York Hall. The #11 seeds Spain were well beaten by unfancied Czech Republic while the seventh seeded Greece were overturned by Singapore. The other match saw former champions Finland enjoy a tidy win over Belgium.
Taking place at the York Hall in London, the Dafabet World Cup of Pool features 32 two-man teams from around the globe competing for a $250,000 prize fund. Televised live in over 40 countries around the world, the event is now entering its tenth year.
In a low quality match with plenty of errors, the Czech Republic had too much to the Spanish pair of the two Franciscos (Diaz-Pizarro & Sanchez Ruiz). In particular Sanchez Ruiz had a bit of a nightmare as he had a couple of glaring misses that helped the Czechs on their way.
Roman Hybler and Michal Gavenciak, who had reach the quarter-finals of the inaugural World Cup of Pool back in 2006, pulled away from 3-3 after being guilty of early errors themselves.
The turning point was the seventh rack as Gavenciak refused an open 6 ball in favour of laying a telling snooker. The Spanish failed to escape and with ball in hand the score became 4-3. From a powerful Gavenciak break in the eighth the Czechs ran out, and a 2/9 combo in the next made it 6-3. Spain could not recover as the Czechs booked a second round match against Qatar.
Commented Hybler, “We are really pleased to be into the second round. At the start of the match there was a lot of pressure for both teams and you could feel it. When we went 4-3 up I felt more confident and we made some good shots.
“We watched Qatar against USA last night. America was a favourite and they are out but the Qatari guys are very good. We will enjoy that match and hopefully go through to the quarter-final.”
Gavenciak added, “I wasn’t feeling my game at the start because I could feel the pressure but I relaxed as the game went on and now the first game has been won I know I will be more confident in the second match.
“The practice table doesn’t have the same pressure as the TV table and with the lighting it plays a little bit differently from the practice room.”
Finland, who has a very strong track record in the World Cup, was the better team as they disposed of Belgium to make the second round. The Finns have been champions, runners up and twice semi-finalist in the nine year history of the event and will be looking for a deep finish this year.
The same pair who won in 2012 – Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen – look one of the more solid pairings in the event as they took their chances. The Belgian duo of Serge Das and Olivier Mortier had far too many errors to genuinely contend in the match as Finland ran out 7-4 winners.
“It’s great to be over the first hurdle because there have been some shocks in the first round and we avoided that and we are glad to be alive in the tournament,” said Immonen.
“Playing at York Hall is always very special. There is a great atmosphere here and it is a familiar venue. I was born in London so it is really special to play here.”
Makkonen, whose win at the German Open in the summer pushed him up to No.4 on the European rankings, said “We have confidence in both of our games and it is easy to play alongside Mika. We have to work on our breaks a bit more. The table is sliding so we have to adjust our shots but overall we played well today.”
In the final match another seeded pairing bit the dust as Greece got overturned by Singapore in a close and entertaining match. The star of the show was teenage sensation Aloysius Yapp of Singapore, who at 19 seems to have an old head on young shoulders.
With his partner, the more seasoned Chang Keng Kwang, played his part as they capitalised on some glaring Greek mistakes. Ekonomopoulus and Kazakis never looked entirely comfortable but at 5-5 the match was anyone’s but a failed attempt at a tricky combo on the 9 allowed the Singaporeans to take the rack and they ran out the last for the win.
Commented Yapp, “We played well and I am overwhelmed to beat Greece. They are a great team and Nikos has played in the Mosconi Cup, Kazakis went far in the World 9-ball last week. They are very good players so it is a great feeling for us to win.
“We are ready for Finland. We are playing very well and with this format, anyone can win.”
Results
England A (1) 7-5 Australia
Korea (16) 7-6 Malaysia
Indonesia 7-3 Germany
Romania 7-4 China
Austria (5) 7-5 Peru
France 7-6 Canada (12)
Poland (13) 7-3 New Zealand
Chinese Taipei (4) 7-5 Estonia
Holland (3) 7-3 India
Japan (14) 7-3 Italy
Qatar 7-5 USA (6)
Philippines (2) 7-4 Russia
The following broadcasters are screening live coverage of the Dafabet World Cup of Pool:
Sky Sports – GB and Ireland; Sky – New Zealand; CCTV – China; Nova TV – Czech Republic & Slovakia; OSN – Middle East & North Africa; ESPN 3 – USA; ESPN Latin America –Central & South America; Viasat – Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria & the Baltic states.
For fans outside those territories, Perform Group will be streaming the event via their www.livesport.tv service. In addition the Dafabet World Cup of Pool is syndicated around the world as 31 x 1 hour programmes by Matchroom Television.
Featuring 32 two-man teams from around the world, the Dafabet World Cup of pool is celebrating its tenth year as defending champion England attempt to become the first team ever to successfully defend the title. The event runs from 22nd to 27th September.
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.
Diamond Billiards are the Official Table of the 2015 World Cup of Pool; the Official Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith. The Official Cue, Chalk and Rest are supplied by Predator.
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.
QATAR upset the applecart at the 2014 Betway World Cup of Pool as they turned over the highly fancied Chinese Taipei pairing of Chang Yu-lung & Hsu Kai-lun to take their nation through to the second round for the first time in the event’s nine year history.
Taking place at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, the Betway World Cup of Pool features 32 two-man teams from around the world vying for a $250,000 prize fund, and it was Qatar who still has their eyes on the prize following an exciting 7-5 win.
The Middle Eastern country had played in the event from its inception in 2006 until 2010, having failed to win a game but pool in Qatar has made significant progress in recent years. The pairing of newcomer Waleed Majid and veteran Bashar Hussain shed any nerves as they moved into a 2-0 lead.
That lead became 5-2 before the Chinese Taipei pair steadied the ship as they won two racks to reduce the deficit to 5-4. Waleed bagged the 9 ball to put his side on the hill, and although Chinese Taipei grabbed one back, some superior shot-making in the 12th rack sealed a historic win for Qatar.
Commented Waleed, “We are so happy to win; we were delighted just to be at the Betway World Cup of Pool. Today we played against a strong team, one of the top five in the world. We’re hoping to make a name for Qatar in world pool.
“If you break and you get a good spread you can win the racks and in the short format you can win any match. It was great to play with Bashar – he is a very, very good player with lots of experience and we make a good partnership. We enjoy playing together and as the tournament goes on hopefully as a pairing we can get better.”
China overcame a scare against qualifiers the Czech Republic before coming through in the closing straights to secure a second round berth. The Czech pair of Roman Hybler and Michal Gavenciak, who had played in the inaugural event back in 2006, looked in great shape as they reached the hill first at 5-3.
However, that was their last gasp as the Chinese pair of Wang Can and Dang Jinhu found that extra gear to carry them across the line.
Wang Can commented, “This is our first time as partners in this event so we feel like novices. In the match we supported each other well and we had to fight hard because Czech Republic played very well, it was a really tough test in our first match.”
In the opening match of the session, perennial dark horses Poland kept up their consistent recent World Cup of Pool record with a solid win over Australia. The Poles were quarter-finalists in 2009, ‘10 and ’11 and followed that up with a narrow defeat to Finland in the 2012 final.
Australia, on the other hand, has still yet to win a match at the Betway World Cup of Pool with eight first round defeats in eight attempts. The Polish pair of Karol Skowerski and Mateusz Sniegocki can look forward to a rematch with Finland in the second round.
There are three more first round matches on Wednesday evening as last year’s runners-up Holland face Sweden, 2008 winners USA take on Croatia and England A are up against Spain
Now in its ninth year, the Betway World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player teams from around the world battling it out for a $250,000 prize fund. The defending champions are the Philippines who will be among the favourites to claim a record-breaking fourth World Cup.
All tickets are priced at £5 (afternoons) and £10 evenings and are available from the venue or www.seetickets.com
WITH THE ANNUAL World Cup of Pool set to get underway on the 23rd September, the full line-up of players can now be confirmed and it is arguably the strongest set of players ever assembled in the nine year history of the event.
There are 12 World Champions competing as well as six US Open Champions and countless European and Asian Champions. In addition the field also contains seven former World Cup winners and nine World Pool Masters champions, making it a must-see tournament for UK pool fans.
Taking place at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth from Tuesday 23rd to Sunday 28th September, there are 16 first round matches over the first three days.
Now in its ninth year, the World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player teams from around the world battling it out for a $250,000 prize fund. The defending champions are the Philippines who will be among the favourites to claim a record-breaking fourth World Cup.
The event starts on Tuesday 23rd September and there are two sessions daily at 12 noon and 6.00pm during weekdays and then 1.00pm and 6.00pm at the weekend. Team USA get their campaign underway on Wednesday 24th September.
All tickets are priced at £5 (afternoons) and £10 evenings and are available from the venue or www.seetickets.com
Diamond Billiards are the Official Table of the 2014 World Cup of Pool; the Official Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith. Predator is the Official Cue of the event.
THE EUROPEAN QUALIFYING event for the 2014 World Cup of Pool gets underway tomorrow (Tuesday) in Portoroz, Slovenia with a first round match-up against China awaiting the victors. There are eight two-man teams taking part with the winning team gaining a sport at the Mountbatten Centre, Portsmouth where the World Cup takes place from 23rd to 28th September.
With a $250,000 prize fund on offer, there will be everything to play for and the European qualifiers have got a superb record of upsetting the odds in recent years. Last year, Hungary KO’d China in the first round and then Russia to reach the quarter finals and in 2011 both Switzerland and Estonia turned the form book on its head when they beat China and England respectively in the first round in Manila.
All qualifying matches will be streamed live by Kozoom via their streaming platform. Please go to www.eurotouronline.eu or www.eurotouronline.com and click on the logo ‘Qualifier World Cup of Pool’.
Commented a Matchroom Sport spokesman, “There is plenty of strength in depth in European pool and the performances of the qualifiers down the years is testament to that. “The winners will go into the main event as unknowns and will have nothing to lose and every chance of upsetting the odds!”
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 other stations around the world and then syndicated internationally as 31 x 1 hour programmes.
All tickets are priced at £5 (afternoons) and £10 evenings and are available from the venue or www.seetickets.com
Diamond Billiards are the Official Table of the 2014 World Cup of Pool; the Official Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith. Predator is the Official Cue of the event.
