Outland
Prins Alexanderlaan 37
3068 PN
Rotterdam
Holland
www.worldcupofpool.com - for LIVE scoreboard and more!
www.matchroomsport.com
www.outland.nl
Tuesday-Sunday 25-30 September 2007
The Holland A team celebrate their first win at the World Cup of Pool
Feijen and Van den Berg delight home crowd
HOLLAND A began their campaign with a fine 8-5 victory after a hard-fought performance from Indonesia.
Dutch duo Nick van den Berg and Niels Feijen went 3-0 up but had to a tough fight on their hands after the Asian pair went 5-4 in front.
A delighted Feijen was full of praise for their opponents. He said: "These guys play on the Asian Tour against the Taiwanese and Philippines so they must be good.
"Read More..." for the details.
"We played solid though and made some tough shots but when it went to 4-4 I said to Nick that we were going to have to grind it out.
"When you're winning the crowd is super. When Nick made that tough shot on the 7, the whole room exploded and it really tested out the venue's acoustics.
"We've got Japan next and they're playing well but if we play good, we'll drill anyone."
The pairing of Feijen and van den Berg were among the favourites to win the whole tournament and made a good start by winning the lag in this first to eight match.
But they needed a bit of luck to claim the opening two racks as they were presented two good opportunities after an Indonesian player had missed a relatively easy looking shot. They ran out the third to quickly move 3-0 ahead.
However, Indonesia had a good opportunity in the fourth when a two-rail kick-shot on the 4-ball left it close to the pocket. Indonesia did not take full advantage but were soon back at the table when Feijen missed with an attempt to roll the 6-ball up the right-hand rail.
This time they accepted the chance to gain their first rack of the tournament. They soon gained their second courtesy of a 4-9 combination for 3-2.
Indonesia looked on course to tie the game at 3-3 but then recklessly lost position. Yang left Zulfikri with a difficult 9-ball, who missed his tight cut attempt and the score was 4-2.
Feijen made another costly error in the seventh when he over-cut a shot along the rail and the score moved to 4-3, in a match that looked like going all the way.
A fortunate bank shot on the yellow 1 helped the Asian duo claim the next, their fourth in five racks to make the score 4-4 after trailing 3-0.
Just when Indonesia where taking control, Zulfikri produced a dry break, the first in six matches of the tournament and it would be a question of whoever holds their nerve would advance.
Niels Feijen made a superb kick-shot to sink the 1-ball and, with no position on the 2-ball, van den Berg produced an entertaining jump shot but Feijen missed a long red three to give the advantage once more to the Indonesians. A 4-6 combination, which seemed to take an eternity to drop as the away side moved into the lead for the first time.
It did not last long as a missed bank opportunity on the red three by Yang saw the momentum swing again and Feijen downed the 9-ball for 5-5.
The crowd at the Outland nightclub were being treated to a thrilling encounter and Holland moved ahead when they took advantage of a foul from Zulfikri who completely missed an attempt to hit the three.
Feijen, who was been cheered on by a number of members of his family, and van den Berg then moved to the hill and one away from victory. A spectacular kick shot on the 7-ball from van den Berg set up the final win and he then pocketed the last 9-ball to make the score 8-5.
France show their class to move into last 16
TWO seeded teams had already been eliminated on the opening day of the 2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool.
Russia and Spain, seeded 16 and 12 respectively, were already out and ninth seeds Italy were trying to avoid a similar fate, but faced a tough task against the French pairing of Vincent Facquet and Stephan Cohen.
France made a bright start as they won two of the first three for a 2-1 lead in this race to eight match, held at the Outland nightclub in Rotterdam.
Stephan Cohen downed the 9-ball in the fourth rack as the advantage moved to 3-1 and with the winner's break format Italy were facing the prospect of being another shock loser.
It was an impressive performance from the French as they extended the scoreline to 4-1 in their favour.
Cohen and Facquet were producing a near-flawless effort to keep the Italians stuck in their seats. It became worse for the Italians as France ran through the sixth rack for 5-1, only three away from victory.
After a lengthy safety exchange in the seventh, France were again at the table and it was a consistent and near-flawless, if unspectacular, march on to the last 16, where China would be waiting.
However, Cohen missed a long attempt on the 1-ball in the next and a successful 1-9 combination made the score 2-6 but gave Italy a route back in to the match.
Muratore spectacularly banked the 1-ball into the right middle pocket but momentum was instantly lost as Petroni missed, not the first time tonight, as he saw an attempt on the 4-ball prove unsuccessful.
That gave France a chance to move to the hill, which they did with the scoreboard showing 7-2. When Muratore missed a pot on the 2-ball that left it hanging over the top right pocket and the rest of the match was a formality with France easing to a 8-2 victory.
Philippines survive scare against brave Scotland.
DEFENDING champions Philippines scraped into the last 16 of the 2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool.
But Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante held on to secure a thrilling 8-6 triumph against the brave Scottish pairing of Pat Holtz and Michael Valentine.
It looked a simple task for the Filipinos as they raced into a 6-1 lead but the Scottish duo then won six of the next seven racks to leave the number one seeds sweating.
Once again, the Philippines were playing in front of a large crowd as Filipino fans at the Outland Nightclub in Rotterdam, Holland were desperate to catch a glimpse of their heroes.
Philippines won the lag but with no shot after the break Reyes had to play safe and the same player later kicked in the 1-ball and Bustamante finished off the rack by sinking the 9-ball.
However, both Bustamante and Reyes missed shots in the second rack, on the 1-ball and 3-ball respectively to give the Scots a chance, which ended with Michael Valentine making the score 1-1.
If they were to have any chance of causing a huge shock, they would have to play at their best and not make any mistakes.
But when Holtz undercut an attempt on the 2-ball it looked like being costly - and it was as the score moved to 2-1. It quickly became 3-1 as Philippines broke and ran through the fourth rack.
Scotland had a rare opportunity in the fifth as Reyes scratched off the break to give the Scots ball-in-hand.
It all went wrong for the British pair though as Valentine over-hit a positional shot to give Holtz a tough pot. He sunk the ball but made life difficult for Valentine on the 7-ball as he was shooting into a blind pocket.
Valentine missed to gift Philippines another rack for a 4-1 lead and they then ran out the next for 5-1 and on course for a comfortable victory.
With the winners-break format, Scotland would be lucky to get another shot against two of the best players in the world. Philippines extended their advantage further by running through the next as well for a 6-1 lead.
After spending a long time in their chairs, Holtz and Valentine were given another opportunity when Bustamante fouled on the break and sent the cue-ball crashing to the floor.
Scotland, with ball-in-hand, did the rest to bring a bit of respectability to the scoreline. Valentine and Holtz had not done much wrong but were still a long way behind, due to the talent of their opponents.
After Bustamante missed with a cheeky 1-9 combination, Scotland were back at the table and reduced the deficit to 3-6.
The turning point of the tenth rack came when Valentine attempted a jump shot and was aiming to clear the 9-ball to hit the 3-ball. But it went wrong as he clipped the top of the 9-ball to give Philippines ball-in-hand and they capitalised to move to the hill at 7-3.
There was to be another twist as a rare Bustamante mistake, when he left the 1-ball hanging over the bottom right pocket, kept the match alive and Scotland continued fighting as the scoreboard ticked over to 4-7.
It was a brave performance from Scotland as they would not give up as they also claimed the next two racks to make it 6-7 and leave the defending champions sweating.
The Scottish dream ended in the next rack when Valentine missed a long pot on the 7-ball and Philippines delighted their fans by securing a tense 8-6 victory.
The Chinese pair of Li He-wen and Fu Jian-bo were not at their best today
Croatia, China & Japan Advance
The PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool got underway today at Outland in Rotterdam, Netherlands as Croatia, China and Japan all advanced to the second round of the $250,000 event.
In the opening game of the tournament, Croatia stunned the 16th seeds Russia with a shock victory in an error-strewn encounter. Both sides looked nervous with all four competitors playing below their best.
However, the Croatian pairing of Philipp Stojanovic and Ivica Putnik did enough to book their place in the last 16 and set up a match against Philippines or Scotland .
In a scrappy opening rack, 15-year-old Ruslan Chinakov, the youngest player in the tournament, and partnered by European No.1 Konstantin Stepanov, scratched and that enabled Croatia to move through the balls with Stojanovic sinking the 9-ball.
With the winners-break format, Croatia had the upper-hand, but this did not last long as Russia was soon back at the table. They had a piece of fortune when Chinakhov nearly scratched with the cue-ball hanging over the left middle pocket.
But it did not drop and that enabled Russia , the tournament's 16th seeds, to claim the second, before Croatia restored their lead by winning the third.
For the first time in the competition, a team successfully ran out a rack as Croatia moved 3-1 in front. Each side shared one of the next two racks to make it 4-2.
It should have become 4-3 but Russia missed a glorious chance when Stepanov failed with an attempt on the 9-ball, before Putnik banked it into the bottom right pocket.
Croatia suffered a painful 8-9 defeat in the opening round against Vietnam in 2006, but were looking a good bet to make round two this time.
It was proving to be a tough match for Chinakhov as he missed yet another pot, this time on the 4-ball as the scoreboard ticked over to 6-2. The Russians pulled one back, although Stepanov had a heart-stopping moment as the 9-ball rattled into the jaws of the pocket before finally dropping.
In the next, Croatian Stojanovic produced a good effort to bank the blue-2, although later brought the opponents back to the table with a failed attempt at the long range 4-ball and it was 6-4, as the Russians won two successive racks for the first time.
This match was proving to be a comedy of errors and Croatia moved to the hill after Stepanov produced a poor shot that failed to sink a routine-looking shot on the 3-ball.
The 12th rack seemed to be one that neither side wanted to win as the 1-ball was repeatedly missed, but Russia kept their slim hopes alive as they eventually downed the 1-ball and held their nerve for 7-5.
Stepanov then played the last shot Russian shot of the competition and the disappointment was clear to see as the blue-2 stayed out once again and Croatia did the rest for an 8-5 victory.
CHINA eased into the second round with an emphatic 8-1 victory against South Africa .
The Chinese pair of Li He-wen and Fu Jian-bo were not at their best though as they gained a big slice of luck on three occasions and profited from some errors from the outclassed South Africans.
China won the lag but gave the South Africans a chance when Li He-wen, a semi-finalist at the 2006 World Pool Championships, missed a shot at the brown 7.
But Juan de Beer failed with an attempt at the 9-ball into the right side pocket before Fu Jian-bo held his nerve with a stunning long pot to put his country ahead.
It was a similar story in the second as another Li error went unpunished as Clinton Roussouw this time failed to down the 9-ball before Li made up for his mistake.
Many people had dismissed the South Africans as having little chance of winning but Li, for the third time in this match, failed with a crucial shot as South Africa recorded their first rack of the game.
China were not performing at their best but three successive flukes showed it was going to be their day.
Li He-wen enjoyed good fortune on a number of occasions as the ball failed to make the intended pocket, but then bounced off into another.
Despite Li He-wen struggling with his game, he was repeatedly helped out by his team-mate, although the South African's were finding it hard to spend any length of time at the table.
China eventually won 8-1 and will now play either France or Italy in the second round on Friday, September 28.
JAPAN looked good value as their team of Naoyuki Oi and Satoshi Kawabata made light work of the strong looking Spanish pairing of David Alcaide and Antonio Fazanes to record an 8 – 2 win.
The crucial moment in the opening rack came when Naoyuki Oi fouled to give the Spaniards ball-in-hand. A stunning 4-6 combination from David Alcaide set up Spain and they made it 1-0 with a flawless rack one.
However, Japan was helped by a lucky shot that saw the scores become 1-1. Satoshi Kawabata was at the table and smashed an attempt at the blue-2, which missed by some distance but the ball then cannoned into the 9-ball and it slowly crept into the bottom left pocket.
Oi did the business in the third to seal the rack and give Japan a 2-1 lead but that was harsh on the Spanish duo as they had done little wrong but were still losing.
With both the 2 and 3 balls being made on the break in the fourth, Japan were well positioned to extend their advantage and they did so with Kawabata ending the rack.
A 2-9 combination from Alcaide made it 3-2 before the pivotal moment of the whole encounter.
Fazanes went for power with his break shot but hit the balls so hard that the cue ball flew into the air and one of the balls out the pack ended up on the carpet.
Commentator Jim Wych, the Voice of Pool, stated that he had never seen that happen in the time he has been commentating, and Spain hardly had another shot in the entire match due to the sometimes-brutal nature of the winner-break format.
The Japanese pair raced through the racks, including the first golden break of the tournament when Naoyuki Oi struck gold in the ninth as Japan moved into a 7-2 lead an on to the hill.
In the decisive rack, Kawabata left Oi with a tough cut into the bottom right pocket so decided to bank the 9-ball instead into the left side pocket for a convincing 8-2 success.
But the scoreline was extremely harsh on Spain , who made fewer errors than the other two winners so far - Croatia and China - but were on their way out of the tournament.
Results
Croatia 8 - 5 Russia
China 8 - 1 South Africa
Japan 8 - 2 Spain
Play continued in the evening with three further matches:
Philippines 8 - 6 Scotland
France 8 - 2 Italy
Holland A 8 - 5 Indonesia
2007 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 |
2007 PARTY POKER.NET | |
WORLD CUP OF POOL | |
THE TEAMS | |
| Australia | Stuart Lawler and Shaun Budd |
| Austria | Martin Kempter and Albin Ouschan |
| Belgium | Noel Bruynooghe and Serge Das |
| Canada | Edwin Montal and Alain Martel |
| China | Li He-wen and Fu Jian-bo |
| Croatia | Philipp Stojanovic and Ivica Putnik |
| Denmark | Bahram Lotfy and Kasper Kristoffersen |
| England | Daryl Peach and Imran Majid |
| Finland | Mika Immonen and Markus Juva |
| France | Stephan Cohen and Vincent Facquet |
| Holland A | Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg |
| Holland B | IAlex Lely and Rico Diks |
| Germany | Oliver Ortmann and Christian Reimering |
| Hungary | Vilmos Foldes and Balazs Miko |
| India | Dharminder Singh Lilly and Manan Chandra |
| Indonesia | Ricky Yang and Muhammed Zulfikri |
| Italy | Fabio Petroni and Bruno Muratore |
| Malta | Tony Drago and Alex Borg |
| Japan | Naoyuki Oi and Satoshi Kawabata |
| Korea | Ryu Seung-woo and Kim Woong-dae |
| Malta | Tony Drago and Alex Borg |
| Philippines | Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante |
| Poland | Radoslaw Babica and Mateusz Sniegocki |
| Qatar | Bashar Hussain and Fahad Mohammadi |
| Scotland | Pat Holtz and Michael Valentine |
| Singapore | Chan Keng Kwang and Toh Lian Han |
| South Africa | Juan de Beer and Clinton Rossouw |
| Spain | David Alcaide and Antonio Fazanes |
| Switzerland | Dimitri Jungo and Marco Tschudi |
| Taiwan | Wu Chia-ching and Yang Ching-shun |
| USA | Rodney Morris and Corey Deuel |
| Vietnam | Thanh Nam Nguyen and Luong Chi Dung |
2007 PARTY POKER.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
THE LAST 32 | ||
Philippines (1) | 8 : 6 | Scotland |
Croatia | 8 : 5 | (16) Russia |
France | 8 : 2 | (9) Italy |
China (8 ) | 8 : 1 | South Africa |
Holland A (5) | 8 : 5 | Indonesia |
Japan | 8 : 2 | (12) Spain |
Austria (13) | 0 : 0 | Australia |
Germany (4) | 0 : 0 | Singapore |
Taiwan (3) | 0 : 0 | Denmark |
Holland B (14) | 0 : 0 | Belgium |
Canada (11) | 0 : 0 | India |
Vietnam (6) | 0 : 0 | Korea |
England (7) | 0 : 0 | Poland |
Finland (10) | 0 : 0 | Qatar |
Switzerland (15) | 0 : 0 | Hungary |
USA (2) | 0 : 0 | Malta |
2007 PARTY POKER.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
THE LAST 16 | ||
Philippines | 0 : 0 | Croatia |
France | 0 : 0 | China |
Holland A | 0 : 0 | Japan |
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
2007 PARTY POKER.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
THE QUARTER-FINALS | ||
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
2007 PARTY POKER.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
THE SEMI-FINALS | ||
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |
2007 PARTY POKER.NET | ||
WORLD CUP OF POOL | ||
THE FINAL | ||
--- | 0 : 0 | --- |