Pro9 - Europe's No.1 Pool Player Resource

2008 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool
Outland
Prins Alexanderlaan 37
3068 PN
Rotterdam
Netherlands
www.worldcupofpool.com
www.matchroomsport.com
www.outland.nl

Tuesday-Sunday 7-12 October 2008

Dutch hopeful of home World Cup of Pool glory

HOSTS Holland A have a thrilling match in the opening round of the 2008 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool as they take on neighbours Belgium on the opening night of the competition.

The event, which features 32 two-player teams from around the world, will be staged at Outland in Rotterdam from Tuesday, October 7 to Sunday, October 12.

Nick van den Berg and Niels Feijen, ranked fifth and sixth respectively in Europe, are in the Holland A side and one of the favourites to win the title.

They will be backed by a large, passionate crowd as they begin their campaign against the Belgian duo of Serge Das and Noel Bruynooghe.

"Read More..." for the details.

This pairing produced a huge shock in last year�s event when they defeated the highly-fancied Taiwanese team, which included former World Champion Wu Chia-ching.

But the Dutch outfit remained confident of securing an opening day victory.

"On paper we're much stronger and it's a good draw for us but in a race to eight anything can happen," said van den Berg.

"Maybe it's a good tactic to practice with them beforehand as they don't live too far away! Last year we saw lots of Belgian fans and a lot of Dutch fans so there will be a big crowd. The bigger the better.

"If you look at the level of pool in Belgium and Holland then there's not much rivalry as we have better players in Holland but Belgium finished fifth in last year's World Cup.

"We're really looking forward to it and have a good chance to win the whole tournament as we're both on the top of our game.

"In the last two years, especially last year in Holland, we wanted to win so badly for the Dutch public.

"We put so much pressure on ourselves that we lost matches but this time we have to go into it with less pressure. We have to take it just as any other tournament and see where it ends, but I'm really confident we can do well."

This will be the third time Feijen and van den Berg have represented Holland but Feijen admits they have not been at their best yet.

"We've lost 7-8 twice now in the second round but I feel we have the quality easily to go all the way," said Feijen.

"It would be awesome to win this title in front of the home crowd. The Dutchies haven't won an event yet in Holland , we've had three semi-finalists in the World Pool Masters but no finalists yet.

"I would just love to make the finals together with Nick. It would be cool to play on the final day in front of a packed house there.

"The World Cup of Pool is a very spectacular event and it's cool for the spectators as they see the players consulting each other on occasion and winning or losing together as a team."

Holders China , who defeated Finland 11-10 in a thrilling 2007 final, will again be represented by Li He-wen and Fu Jian-bo.

They will kick-start the event as they meet India 's Sumit Talwar and Alok Kumar in the tournament's opener.

Reigning World Champion Daryl Peach and European No.1 Mark Gray make up a strong looking England team, but they will have to be at their best to get past Malta 's Tony Drago and Alex Borg.

The USA pairing of Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris face newcomers Iceland , while the Philippines outfit of Francisco Bustamante and Dennis Orcollo play in the last first round match against Denmark .

2008 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool
Schedule
(Seeded teams in brackets)

Tuesday, October 7
Round 1 - race to 8 (winners break throughout)
Afternoon session - 2pm
India v China (1)
Hong Kong v Switzerland (16)
Korea v Finland ( 8 )

Evening session - 7pm
TBC v Italy (9)
England (5) v Malta
Belgium v Holland A (3)

Wednesday, October 8
Afternoon session - 2pm
France v Canada (12)
Thailand v Poland (13)
Austria v Vietnam (14)

Evening session - 7pm
Qatar v Germany (4)
Iceland v USA (6)
Holland B v Taiwan (7)

Thursday, October 9
Afternoon session - 2pm
Croatia v Spain (11)
Malaysia v Russia (15)
Australia v Japan (10)

Evening session - 7pm
Denmark v Philippines (2)

Second Round
Race to 8
China/India v Hong Kong/Switzerland
Belgium/Holland A v Austria/Vietnam

Friday, October 10
Afternoon session - 2pm
TBC/Italy v Korea/Finland
Thailand/Poland v Qatar/Germany
Holland B/Taiwan v Australia/Japan

Evening session - 7pm
Malta/England v France/Canada
Croatia/Spain v Iceland/USA
Malaysia/Russia v Denmark/Philippines

Saturday, October 11
Quarter-finals
Race to 9
Afternoon session at 1pm
Evening session at 6pm
Two quarter-finals in each session

Sunday, October 12
Semi-finals
Race to 9
Afternoon session at 1pm

Final
Race to 11
Evening session at 6pm

Competing Teams (All teams / players are subject to confirmation)

2008 PARTY POKER.NET
WORLD CUP OF POOL
THE PRIZE FUND
Winners:	US$60,000 x 1
Runners Up:	US$30,000 x 1
Semi-Finalists:	US$16,000 x 2
Quarter-Finalists:	US$10,000 x 4
Last 16:	US$5,000 x 8
Last 32:	US$3,000 x 16
Total US$250,000 * All prize money is split between the two players.

2008 PARTY POKER.NET
WORLD CUP OF POOL
ASIA
1.	China	Li He-wen & Fu Jianbo
2.	Hong Kong	Lee Chenman & Qualifier
3.	India	Sumit Talwar & Alok Kumar
4.	Japan	Naoyuki Oi & Satoshi Kawabata
5.	Korea	Jeong Young-Hwa & Kim Woong-Dae
6.	Malaysia	Ibrahim Bin Amir & Lee Poh Soon
7.	Philippines	Francisco Bustamante & Dennis Orcollo
8.	Taiwan	Wu Chia-ching & Wang Hung-hsiang
9.	Thailand	Nitiwat Kanjanasri & Dechawat Poomjang
10.	Vietnam	Nguyen Thanh Nam & Luong Chi Dung
NORTH AMERICA
12.	Canada	Tyler Edey & Edwin Montal
13.	USA	Shane Van Boening & Rodney Morris
OTHERS
13.	Australia	Stuart Lawler & John Wims
14.	Qatar	Fahad Mohammadi & Bashar Hussain
15.	TBC	TBC
EUROPE
16.	Austria	Martin Kempter & Jasmin Ouschan
17.	Belgium	Serge Das & Noel Bruynooghe
18.	Croatia	Ivica Putnik & Philipp Stojanovic
19.	Denmark	Martin Larsen & Kasper Kristoffersen
20.	England	Daryl Peach & Mark Gray
21.	Finland	Markus Juva & Mika Immonen
22.	France	Vincent Facquet & Stephan Cohen
23.	Germany	Ralf Souquet & Thomas Engert
24.	Holland A	Niels Feijen & Nick van den Berg
25.	Holland B	Dutch qualifying tournament to be held in September
26.	Iceland	Bjorgvin Hallgrimsson & Kristjan Helgason
27.	Italy	Bruno Muratore & Fabio Petroni
28.	Malta	Tony Drago & Alex Borg
29.	Poland	Radoslaw Babica & Mateusz Sniegocki
30.	Russia	Konstantin Stepanov & Ruslan Chinahov
31.	Spain	David Alcaide & Carlos Cabello
32.	Switzerland	Marco Tschudi & Dimitri Jungo

RELATED ARTICLES AT WWW.PRO9.CO.UK

2008
Dutch hopeful of home glory at PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool
Chinese duo back to defend their PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool title

2007
China win 2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool in thriller final!
2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool - Day 5 Results
2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool - Day 4 Results
2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool - Day 3 Results
2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool - Day 2 Results
2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool - Day 1 Results
2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool breaks off today!
Malaysia Out and Belgium In - Amazing last minute WCOP entry!
2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool side event - LUCKY 9!!!
PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool - The teams so far!

2006
PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool - SKY TV Schedule
PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool - Day 6 Final Results
PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool - Day 5 Results
PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool - Day 4 Results
The 2006 World Cup of Pool - Exclusive Backstage Photos
PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool - Day 3 Results
PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool - Day 2 Results
PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool - Day 1 Results
PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool Starts Today!
PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool Site Starts Today!
Draw announced for 2006 PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool
World Cup of Pool - Free tickets information

THE World Cup of Pool will be produced by Matchroom Sport into 31 1-hour highlights programmes which will be seen on stations throughout the world.

Check out the Pro9.co.uk Calendar for more tournament dates.

Comments