Bangkok Convention Centre
Centara Grand at Central World
Bangkok
Thailand
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11-17 July 2011
Ding Junhui & Liang Wenbo - Team China
CHINA ON TOP OF THE WORLD
China have won the 2011 PTT-EGAT Snooker World Cup after they defeated Northern Ireland in a thrilling final.
The Chinese duo of Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo completed a 4-2 victory over the Irish pair of Mark Allen and Gerard Greene at the Bangkok Convention Centre.
This is the first time China have ever won the title and Ding was delighted with his side’s achievement.
“When the last World Cup was held (in 1996) I was nine and had only just picked up my first cue a few months before,” said Ding.
“We both played really well. We got off to a good start and were 3-0 ahead but in the fourth frame I missed a blue to make it 3-1. I had a good chance to win that frame and when we were 3-0 up I thought we would finish it in the fourth.
“We’re the best two players from China and I’m very proud of China and us to win the World Cup.
“You don’t get many chances to play in this tournament and this is the first time I’ve played in it but I hope I can play in this more times and win more times.
“Liang played very well and better than last season. Last year there was a lot of pressure on him but you need to understand he will come back and play better and better.”
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Breaks of 84 and 46 helped China move into a 3-0 lead but a 115 from Greene in the fourth and 69 from Allen in the fifth made it 3-2 but Ding and Liang’s effort of 89 in the doubles saw them lift the trophy and collect the $200,000.
Allen believed it was always going to be difficult to recover from their poor start.
He said: “We were up against it from the start and in the first two frames China played flawless snooker. It was about digging in and staying in the match and we managed to win two frames.
“But they played better snooker so deserved to win. It’s disappointing but we found ourselves 2-0 down through no fault of our own.
“We came here with expectations to do well and tried to play well in every match.
“If someone had said we would get to the final then we would’ve taken it but being in the final you never want to finish runners-up.
“We’ve won a bit of money to put in the bank but it’s a shame we couldn’t lift the trophy.”
Earlier in the day, Northern Ireland won a 4-3 thriller against Hong Kong but tournament favourites Wales lost 4-1 to China in the other semi-final.
"We lost one on a respotted black and one on a black,” said Mark Williams.
“We've tried our best in hard conditions. We were two balls away from it being 3-1 and I should've won against Liang and if Matthew potted the red in the last he would've dished up and we're back in it.
"The three favourites - Wales , Scotland and England - went out early but if it was best of nine there's no way the likes of Scotland would be out so soon. One frame opens it up for everybody.
" China only qualified through their last match and could've gone out. But it's another tournament Barry (Hearn) has put on and we would all rather be playing.”
ENGLAND REMAIN UNDEFEATED AS BIG NAMES ADVANCE IN THAILAND
Hong Kong vs. England
England crashed out of the PTT-EGAT Snooker World Cup as they slumped to a surprise quarter-final defeat against Hong Kong .
The English side of Mark Selby and Ali Carter, ranked third and sixth in the world, were favourites to beat a Hong Kong pairing that included amateur Fung Kwok Wai and world number 23 Marco Fu.
But the Asian team recorded a 4-3 victory on day six at the Bangkok Convention Centre in Thailand .
"They were just lucky at the end of the day," said a furious Carter.
“We never performed but we never had to to be able to beat them. On five or six occasions with them in all sorts of trouble they got out of the snooker at the fourth attempt and fluked it where we couldn't hit it. We couldn't buy a lucky shot.
"Hong Kong are used to playing in these conditions but we don't get to play in conditions like that in the UK and that's a big advantage for them.
"But at the end of the day we missed too many balls and that's why we didn't get through.
"We played terribly as a team and never won a doubles game. That was not out fault as it's very difficult to get any sort of rhythm when the frames are an hour.”
Scotland were left distraught as they also lost a deciding frame – against Northern Ireland - in the match of the tournament so far.
Both sides had chances to win before the duo of Mark Allen and Gerard Greene defeated John Higgins and Stephen Maguire.
Reigning World Champion Higgins and current world number eight Maguire were hotly-tipped to win the $200,000 first prize.
"I'm absolutely gutted," said Higgins. "Fair play to Northern Ireland as they played some good stuff and Stephen didn't get a chance in his singles games - he was frozen out.
"The story of the match is my two terrible misses on two reds; the last red in the first frame against Mark and then the red at the end of the last frame when I was 20 up. If you miss those you don't deserve to win.”
China advanced into the semi-finals but their 4-1 victory over Republic of Ireland was a controversial one.
Ireland's Ken Doherty believed China should have been docked a frame as Liang Wenbo started his singles match against Fergal O'Brien without a bow-tie.
Doherty said: "Liang turned up to play without his dicky bow on in the second frame and that's a dress code violation.
"The referee didn't realise it at first and Liang just gets a letter and fine for a dress code violation but he should've been docked a frame.
"If you play in one of the biggest tournaments, which this is, every advantage makes a difference.
"I'm not saying it would have had a big bearing on the match and it's not sour grapes but if they got docked a frame you never know what would've happened.”
Wales maintained their impressive performance with a 4-2 victory over an Australian side that included 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson.
"The Welsh team are looking good and I think they'll go on to win it,” said Robertson. “They have the world number one Mark Williams and Matthew Stevens as well and they're good friends off the table which is important."
ENGLAND REMAIN UNDEFEATED AS BIG NAMES ADVANCE IN THAILAND
Mark Selby - England
England maintained their undefeated record at the PTT-EGAT Snooker World Cup to march into the quarter-finals – and avoid a Saturday showdown with Scotland.
The English team of Mark Selby and Ali Carter remain on course for the $200,000 top prize after beating Northern Ireland 3-2 in the group decider.
A defeat would have left them facing the feared Scottish duo of reigning World Champion John Higgins and world number eight Stephen Maguire.
“We didn’t want to play Scotland in the quarter-finals,” admitted Carter. “Not taking anything away from Hong Kong but on paper they’re not as strong.
"Scotland are the favourites to win it and that’s a team you don’t want to face.
"In the football World Cup you want to avoid Brazil or Argentina , not because you can’t beat them, but because you know it’s going to be a tough match.”
The World Cup is being held for the first time since 1996 and features 20 teams from 19 nations competing in a week of action at the Bangkok Convention Centre in Thailand."
England have now recorded victories over Brazil , Belgium , India and Northern Ireland and Selby is pleased with their results so far.
He said: “We can’t get any better than four wins from four matches. We’ve done well in some of them and not so well in others but we came here to win the group and that’s what we’ve done.
“Winning tournaments is what we play snooker for and what we aim to do but you’re doing it for yourself and it’s massive. But to win it for England would be more special.”
Scotland began the day knowing they could be eliminated but a 3-2 victory over Hong Kong ensured their spot in the next phase.
“It was going to be very rare to see a 5-0 loss or win and it would’ve been some freak results today for us to have gone out, said Higgins.
“It’s better that the format is now the best of seven and it gives you more frames to be relaxed. But it’s going to be so tough to win the tournament as there will be eight top teams left but at least we have a chance.”
A 3-2 defeat against Pakistan on the opening day had left Ireland fighting an uphill battle to survive and they needed to take two frames off of the formidable Welsh pair of Mark ams and Matthew Stevens.
Wales won the opening two singles matches and Ireland looked to be heading out but then claimed a tight doubles win before Ken Doherty defeated Stevens in the final frame, although Wales won the match 3-2.
"It was tough going out there," said Doherty. "We were playing two of the best players in the world in one-frame shootouts.
"When it got to 2-0 down we were under a lot of pressure but as the questions were asked we answered them.
"We can only get better. We haven't played as well as we can do but we have grafted our hearts out.
"The last time I played a last frame decider would have been against John Higgins in 2005 in Malta and before that Paul Hunter in the World Championship in 2003.
"It was like when I played Ronnie O'Sullivan here in the 1996 World Cup semi-final. It was 9-9 and went to a tie-breaker, which I won.”
China won the last match of the day as their 4-1 success over Thailand 1 squeezed out Malta and set up a quarter-final against Republic of Ireland . Wales meet Australia and Scotland play Northern Ireland in the other quarter-finals.
PTT-EGAT SNOOKER WORLD CUP | |||
BANGKOK - THAILAND | |||
THE TEAMS | |||
| 1. |  | Afghanistan | Mohammad Rais Senzahi & Saleh Mohammad |
| 2. |  | Australia | Neil Robertson & Steve Mifsud |
| 3. |  | Belgium | Bjorn Haneveer & Luca Brecel |
| 4. |  | Brazil | Noel Rodrigues & Fabio Luerse |
| 5. |  | China | Ding Junhui & Liang Wenbo |
| 6. |  | Egypt | Wael Talat & Yasser Al-Sherbini |
| 7. |  | England | Mark Selby & Allister Carter |
| 8. |  | Germany | Patrick Einsle & Lasse Munstermann |
| 9. |  | Hong Kong | Marco Fu & Fung Kwok Wai |
| 10. |  | India | Aditya Mehta & Pankaj Advani |
| 11. |  | Malta | Tony Drago & Alex Borg |
| 12. |  | Northern Ireland | Mark Allen & Gerard Greene |
| 13. |  | Pakistan | Sahid Aftab & Muhammad Sajjad |
| 14. |  | Poland | Kacper Filipiak & Krzysztof Wrobel |
| 15. |  | Republic of Ireland | Ken Doherty & Fergal O'Brien |
| 16. |  | Scotland | John Higgins & Stephen Maguire |
| 17. |  | Thailand 1 | James Wattana & Dechawat Poomjaeng |
| 18. | | Thailand 2 | Passakorn Suwannawat & Thepchaiya Un-Nooh |
| 19. |  | UAE | Mohammed Shehab & Mohammed Al Joaker |
| 20. |  | Wales | Mark williams & Matthew Stevens |
PTT-EGAT SNOOKER WORLD CUP | |
BANGKOK - THAILAND | |
THE GROUPS | |
| GROUP A 1. Wales 2. Republic of Ireland 3. Pakistan 4. Germany 5. Egypt | GROUP B 1. China 2. Australia 3. Malta 4. Thailand 1 5. UAE |
| GROUP C 1. England 2. Northern Ireland 3. India 4. Belgium 5. Brazil | GROUP D 1. Scotland 2. Hong Kong 3. Thailand 2 4. Afghanistan 5. Poland |
PTT-EGAT SNOOKER WORLD CUP | ||||
BANGKOK - THAILAND | ||||
THE QUARTER-FINALS | ||||
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PTT-EGAT SNOOKER WORLD CUP | ||||
BANGKOK - THAILAND | ||||
THE SEMI-FINALS | ||||
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PTT-EGAT SNOOKER WORLD CUP | ||||
BANGKOK - THAILAND | ||||
THE FINAL | ||||
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