SM City North EDSA Mall
Metro Manila
Philippines
www.matchroomsport.com
1-6 September 2009
Team Spain - David Alcaide and Rafael Guzman.
Photographs by Joseph Ventura and © Matchroom Sport.
Alcaide Gifts England In Act of True Sportsmanship
ENGLAND have advanced into the quarter-finals of the 2009 PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool after beating Spain 8-6. It was an exciting match with neither team getting the upper hand.
The critical moment came in the 13th rack when Spaniard David Alcaide called a foul on himself when he adjudged himself to have double hit the cue ball.
It was a marvellous moment of sportsmanship as Alcaide was clearly the only person in the building to know what had happened as the ref missed it, as had the English team and everyone else but it was a fine example of honesty from Alcaide.
"David called a foul on himself and the referee had missed it and the players did as well," said England's Darren Appleton. "But I've known David three or four years and he showed what he is all about and a great sportsman."
"Read More..." for the details.
Appleton's team-mate, Imran Majid, added: "We had to battle hard to stay in the match, they played some good stuff and we played some good stuff.
"We needed to win so we will take it and look forward to the next match. To be honest, we're just pleased to get over that one."
The victory means England meet local heroes Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante, the Philippines B team that won the first competition back in 2007.
"To play in the Philippines and to play the best two players of all time will be fantastic," added Appleton. "Efren is the greatest player to have picked up a cue so we have nothing to lose. As long as my partner manages to put the white ball in the right spot we will be alright."
Team Philippines A - Dennis Orcollo & Ronnie Alcano.
Photographs by Joseph Ventura and © Matchroom Sport.
Philippines A Hit a Gear
PHILIPPINES A consisting of Dennis Orcollo and 2006 World Champion Ronnie Alcano finally hit a gear at the SM Mall North Annex in Manila as they won eight racks in row to overturn Russia and book their spot in the quarter finals of the PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool where they will play Poland.
Looking less than comfortable in their first round match against Thailand yesterday, they didn’t look much better in the early stages as a comfortable looking Konstantin Stepanov, the former European No.1 and his partner the 17 year-old Ruslan Chinakhov opened up a 3-0 lead.
The big pro-Pinoy crowd were soon silenced as their orange-clad heroes struggled to get to grips with a situation that was running out of their control. Fortunately for them, an attack of nerves got to Chinakhov and he made some critical misses that turned the momentum in the home teams favour.
As they won the racks and took the lead, the Philippines started to play the relaxed quality pool that they were capable of and in the end they ran out comfortable winners.
“It was tough at first but we started to play well and the crowd were great. There are lots of good teams in this event but we feel good that we are starting to play well,” said Orcollo.
Team Poland - Mateusz Sniegocki and Radoslaw Babica.
Photographs by Joseph Ventura and © Matchroom Sport.
Super Poland March On
TEAM POLAND produced another great performance at the SM Mall North Annex in Manila as they took down the fancied Chinese Taipei side by 8-5 to book a spot in Saturday’s PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool quarter-finals.
The dynamic duo of experienced Radoslaw Babica and very solid up-and-coming Mateusz Sniegocki had too much for the lacklustre duo of Yang and Lai, who had no real sparkle throughout and looked there for the taking.
By contrast, the two Polish players, both hailing from Poznan, looked a very tight unit in parts and seemed to be enjoying the centre stage experience.
"We practice a lot and we played good. But there was a lot of pressure for us in this match and we made some mistakes but we still advanced and I'm glad we're winning," said Sniegocki.
The Taiwanese started well, going into a 3-1 lead as they set about their task in a workmanlike way. A miss by Yang though, let the Poles back in and they took the fifth and the next two in quick succession to establish a 4-3 lead.
It was a match of two halves though as the second half of the game became bogged down with plenty of misses as the two sides struggled to gain any momentum. The Poles though kept their noses in front.
The closest Chinese Taipei came was at 5-6 down but the Poles finish off a messy final two racks to secure the victory and with it a quarter-final match against neighbours Russia or Philippines A.
Team Holland - Niels Feijen & Nick van den Berg.
Photographs by Joseph Ventura and © Matchroom Sport.
Holland oust Japan
In a dour encounter, Holland made their way to Saturday’s quarter-final stages at the expense of Japan at the SM Mall North Annex where they will now meet Germany.
The Dutch pairing of Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg seemed to take every second available from the shot clock as they methodically worked their way around the table accumulating the racks as they kept Japan at bay.
The opening stages were fairly level as the teams kept it tight at 3-3 but the ultra-prepared Dutch team, with former Mosconi Cup coach Johan Ruijsink in their corner, cashed in on some lax play from the Japanese to move into a 5-3 lead.
With some flag waving fans in the audience, Satoshi Kawabata and Hayato Hijikata, gave them something to cheer about when they took the next to keep themselves in it.
That was to be their final contribution to the game as the Dutch took the next three games to book their last eight spot.
“It should be an exciting match against Germany because they’re both good guys and great players and ex World Champions,” said Feijen.
“It could be a huge advantage that we play like this a lot in practice and if we do it right we come out on top tomorrow,” added Van den Berg.
Team China - Li Hewen and Fu Jianbo.
Photographs by Joseph Ventura and © Matchroom Sport.
China and Germany Into Last Eight
IN A RE-RUN of the 2007 final, China repeated their victory over Team Finland by a comfortable 8-3 score line the SM Mall North Annex in Manila, in sharp contrast to the hill-hill 11-10 thriller in the final two years ago.
It was the same two teams contesting the match as at Rotterdam in ’07 – Fu Jianbo and Li Hewen for China and Mika Immonen and Markus Juva for Finland.
In front of another great Manila crowd, Finland won the opening two racks before China levelled things with two in quick succession.
China took the next and then ran out from the break in the sixth game to put a bit of distance between themselves and Finland at 4-2. A loose safety from Fu in the next gave Finland a chance and they took advantage to reduce the deficit.
There was some drama in the eighth rack as Immonen played a kick shot off the rail and connected with the 1-ball. The Chinese players claimed that no ball then hit a rail but referee Cielo Lopez did not call a foul.
All four players then viewed the TV replay with head referee Michaela Tabb and they showed that Lopez was absolutely correct. The gentlemanly Chinese duo then apologised to the ref and their opponents for wasting their time.
The Chinese put the incident behind them as they took the next two games to move into a 6-3 lead.
Finland had the opportunity in the tenth after Fu missed the 1-ball but the next shot saw a dejected Immonen scratch. He looked furious with himself and his mood wasn’t helped as China went on to win the rack and move to the hill at 7-3.
China could see the finish line but needed to wait before they could cross it as an illegal break gave Finland an opportunity to stay in the match. Immonen though, left the 3-ball on and knew that could be their last shot in the competition as he slumped back to his seat.
China went on to win the match and book a quarter-final encounter with defending champions USA. It means the winners of the last two events will meet in one of the quarter-finals on Saturday.
Team Germany - Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann.
Photographs by Joseph Ventura and © Matchroom Sport.
Big Guns Beginning to Fire
THE SECOND match of the afternoon was an all-European clash between the heavily fancied German duo of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann and French veterans Stephan Cohen and Vincent Facquet.
Both teams recorded heavy first round victories – 8-0 v Hong Kong and 8-1 v Canada respectively but the smart money was with the Germans.
France were also the last unseeded team in the competition following the departure of Indonesia yesterday but they got off to a bad start as they lost the opening rack. A perfect safety by tactical genius Ralf Souquet left Facquet with a tricky two-rail escape.
Unfortunately for him, he hit the 4-ball instead of the 2-ball and Germany used the ball in hand well to lead 1-0. The French though, returned the favour and Souquet failed to get out of the snooker and with ball in hand it become 1-1.
France started to look good as they took the next two racks to go into a 3-1 lead but a bad miss on the 1 ball by Cohen derailed their momentum and it was soon 3-2.
The Germans have worked well on and off the table this week as Hohmann was now sporting a trimmed hairstyle after having his locks shaved by Souquet yesterday. Part-time barber Souquet helped tie the scores at 3-3.
Germany almost took the next on three fouls but Cohen saved his team on the last attempt and even managed to pocket the blue 2. That led to them taking that rack to regain the lead at 4-3.
Cohen scratched in the next to allow the Germans to level it and they quickly moved into the lead at 5-4.
France seemed to go off the boil as Germany coasted towards victory and when Cohen missed the 9 ball in what was the final rack of the match, it was all over.
"We didn't perform the way we wanted. I missed two balls and Thorsten missed one and misjudged a few but it's a team event,” said Souquet.
"We both have to improve, take the mistakes we made and try to make fewer in future. We were lucky that France gave a chance to comeback,” he added.
2009 PARTY CASINO.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
THE LAST 32 - THE DRAW | ||
(1) USA | 8 : 7 | Malta |
Indonesia | 8 : 3 | India (16) |
(9) China | 8 : 5 | Korea |
( 8 ) Finland | 8 : 3 | Sweden |
(5) Philippines B | 8 : 3 | Qatar |
(12) Italy | 8 : 5 | Austria |
(13) Spain | 8 : 3 | Australia |
(4) England | 8 : 4 | Malaysia |
(3) Germany | 8 : 0 | Hong Kong |
France | 8 : 1 | Canada (14) |
(11) Japan | 8 : 6 | Croatia |
(6) Holland | 8 : 3 | Vietnam |
(7) Taiwan | 8 : 6 | Singapore |
(10) Poland | 8 : 0 | Belgium |
(15) Russia | 8 : 3 | Denmark |
(2) Philippines A | 8 : 5 | Thailand |
2009 PARTY CASINO.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
THE LAST 16 | ||
(1) USA | 8 : 5 | Indonesia |
(9) China | 8 : 3 | Finland ( 8 ) |
(5) Philippines B | 8 : 5 | Italy (12) |
(4) England | 8 : 6 | Spain (13) |
(3) Germany | 8 : 4 | France |
(6) Holland | 8 : 4 | Japan (11) |
(10) Poland | 8 : 5 | Taiwan (7) |
(2) Philippines A | 8 : 3 | Russia (15) |
2009 PARTY CASINO.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
THE QUARTER FINALS | ||
(1) USA | 0 : 0 | China (9) |
(5) Philippines B | 0 : 0 | England (4) |
(3) Germany | 0 : 0 | Holland (6) |
(10) Poland | 0 : 0 | Philippines A (2) |
2009 PARTY CASINO.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
THE SEMI FINALS | ||
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
2009 PARTY CASINO.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
THE FINAL | ||
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
2009 PARTY CASINO.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 | |
2009 PARTY CASINO.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
EUROPE | ||
| 1. | Austria | Martin Kempter & Jasmin Ouschan |
| 2. | Belgium | Serge Das & Pascal Budo |
| 3. | Croatia | Ivica Putnik & Philipp Stojanovic |
| 4. | Denmark | Kasper Kristoffersen & Bahram Lotfy |
| 5. | England | Imran Majid & Darren Appleton |
| 6. | Finland | Markus Juva & Mika Immonen |
| 7. | France | Stephan Cohen & Vincent Facquet |
| 8. | Germany | Ralf Souquet & Thorsten Hohmann |
| 9. | Holland | Niels Feijen & Nick van den Berg |
| 10. | Italy | Bruno Muratore & Fabio Petroni |
| 11. | Malta | Tony Drago & Alex Borg |
| 12. | Poland | Mateusz Sniegocki & Radoslaw Babica |
| 13. | Russia | Ruslan Chinakhov & Konstantin Stepanov |
| 14. | Spain | David Alcaide & Rafael Guzmann |
| 15. | Sweden | Marcus Chamat & Tom Storm |
ASIA | ||
| 16. | China | Li Hewen & Fu Jianbo |
| 17. | Hong Kong | Kenny Kwok & Lee Chenman |
| 18. | India | Dharminder Singh Lilly & Raj Hundal |
| 19. | Indonesia | Muhammad Bewi Simanjuntak & Muhammad Zulfikri |
| 20. | Japan | Satoshi Kawabata & Hayato Hijikata |
| 21. | Korea | Ga Young Kim and Yun Mi Lim |
| 22. | Malaysia | Ibrahim Bin Amir & Lee Poh Soon |
| 23. | Philippines A | Dennis Orcollo & Ronnie Alcano |
| 24. | Philippines B | Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante |
| 25. | Singapore | Chan Keng Kwang & Toh Lian Han |
| 26. | Taiwan | Yang Ching Shun and Lai Chia Hsiung |
| 27. | Thailand | Nitiwat Kanjanasri & Surethep Phoochalam |
| 28. | Vietnam | Luong Chi Dung & Nguyen Thanh Nam |
REST OF THE WORLD | ||
| 29. | Canada | Tyler Edey & Jason Klatt |
| 30. | USA | Rodney Morris and Shane van Boening |
| 31. | Australia | Lou Condo & Greg Jenkins |
| 32. | Qatar | Bashar Hussain & Mohammed Ali Bin Ali |
2009 PARTY CASINO.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
SCHEDULE | ||
TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 1 | WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 2 | |
THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 3 | FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 4 | |
SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 5 | SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 6 | |
Matchroom Sport are one of the world’s leading producers of televised sport and are responsible for over 1,100 hours of original programming across a range of sports. Based in the UK and chaired by charismatic founder Barry Hearn, the World Cup of Pool is one of a stable of pool events that include the Mosconi Cup and the World Pool Masters.
Solar Entertainment Corp, based in Makati, Philippines, is an established media with prominent positions in broadcast and cable television. The company is a leader in the creation, promotion and distributions of entertainment and sports programming services.
Solar Sports launched in 2002, the network has showcased all types of sports action both local and foreign. Solar Sports has situated itself to be the ultimate sports channel in the country.
The 2009 World Cup of Pool is sponsored by PartyCasino.net, the world’s leading online casino. Tables are supplied by Brunswick Billiards, cloth by Iwan Simonis, Super Aramith balls by Saluc and the Official Cue is Predator. The Official Rack is the Predator AeroRack.
Team Austria in action on Day 2 at the World Cup of Pool.
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