Thirty-one Countries Vie for World Dominance in Wales
National pride is at stake at the PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool, taking place now at the Newport Centre in Newport, Wales. Pressure is high as the scotch doubles matches are played on a straight knock-out basis.
The first round began on Aug. 22, with 32 two-man teams working together to represent their country. Thailand, represented by Tepwin Arunnath and Amnuayporn Chotipong, fell to Canadians Luc Salvas and Tyler Edey, 9-5. Team Qatar (Fahad Mohammadi and Bashar Hussain) was stymied by Malaysians Patrick Ooi Fook Yuen and Ibrahim Bin Amir, 9-3. And in an inter-continental contest, the Czech Republic, represented by Roman Hybler and Michal Gavenciak, defeated Poland’s Radoslaw Babica and Mariusz Roter.
The Phillipines, represented by Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante, were the clear crowd favorites, and rose to the occasion in round one, with a 9-0 massacre over Malta’s Tony Drago and Alex Borg. It was a tight battle between Taiwan’s Wang Hung-hsiang and Yang Ching-shun and India’s Dharminder Lilly and Alok Kumar. The tiny island nation prevailed, 9-6.
England has two teams in the running, one of which is represented by Steve Davis and Daryl Peach. It was 5-5 before the Brits were able to pull ahead of Jeong Young-hwa and Lee Gun-jae of Team Korea. On Davis’ 49th birthday, he joyously accepted their 9-6 victory.
In the second day of play on Wednesday, Aug. 23, Russia’s Konstantin Stepanov and Konstantin Zolotilov starved Hungary’s Vilmos Foldes and Gabor Solymosi of opportunities, defeating them 9-3.
Hong Kong produced a heroic performance to stun sixth- seeded Sweden in the biggest shock thus far in the PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool. Sweden, whose side consisted of former World Championship finalist Tom Storm and former World Championship semi-finalist Marcus Chamat, had been 4-1, 6-2, and 8-5 ahead in the race-to-9. But the Hong Kong pairing of Lee Chenman and Kong Man-Ho showed their character to win the last four racks to secure a place in the final 16.
Team Japan, Maasaki Tanaka and Satoshi Kawabata obliterated Indonesia’s Imran Ibrahim and Ricky Yang, 9-0. While the English “A” team of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Raj Hundal, didn’t have it quite so easy against Spain’s David Alcaide and Rafael Guzman. The crowd was gutted as the duo fell to a fast 4-0 deficit, but had their hopes back up as England got their nose in front at 8-7, but the Spaniards took the final two racks to close out a famous victory.
Team U.S.A. is composed of Rodney Morris and Earl Strickland, who had a decided victory over Singapore. The home team, Rob McKenna and Ben Davies of Wales, disappointed their fan base with a heart-breaking 9-2 loss to Germany (Thomas Engert and Oliver Ortmann).
Today, Aug. 24, three matches are left to determine the final 16. This morning, Ireland had no luck against Finland’s Mika Immonen and Markus Juva, heading home after a 9-5 loss.
The first matches of round two will begin tonight, with No. 1-ranked Phillipines and No. 3-ranked U.S.A. taking on their respective opponents. For up-to-the minute coverage at www.partypoker.com!
San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Event Underway
The 2006 San Miguel Beer Asian 9-Ball tour begins today, May 5, at the Nguyen Du Sports Hall in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
The field is divided into eight groups. Using a round-robin format, race-to-9, with alternating breaks, the winner of each group will advance to the quarterfinals. Filipino top seeds include Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan in group one, rising star “Marvelous” Marlon Manalo heading group three, Francisco “Django” Bustamante heading group four, and Efren “Bata” Reyes in group five.
Last year’s overall champion, the sensational Taiwanese Yang Ching-Shun, is the first seed in group eight, veteran Fong Pang Chao heads group seven and last year’s World Pool Champion, teenage sensation Wu Chia Ching has been listed No. 1 in group two. The fourth player Taiwanese player is Wang Huang Hsiang.
The only outsider who earned a top-seed ranking was Malaysia’s Patrick Ooi, who is heading group six. Four players will represent the host nation, Vietnam, led by Nguyen Thanh Nam and including Luong Chi Dong, Vu Trong Khai and Nguyen Phuong Thao.
Japan’s lone entry is Masaaki Tanaka. Hong Kong will be represented by Au Chi Wai. Korea’s entry is Jeong Young-Hwa who was runner-up to Reyes in Taipei in 2004. Other entries are Xu Meng and Li He-Wen of China, Nurdin Abuba and Imran Ibrahim of Indonesia, Sundeep Gulati of India, Chan Keng-Kwang of Singapore, Tepwin Arunnath and Amnuayporn Chotipong of Thailand.
Yang Ching Shun Takes Hong Kong
Yang took his second-ever San Miguel win.
The match between Hsai and Yang was the first all-Taiwanese final in the Tour. Hsia took the lead in the early part of the game until 9-6, when Yang started his comeback and won five racks in a row to defeat Hsia by 11-9. This is Yang’s second title on the tour (his first was last season); it pushed him to third in the tour’s rankings.
Yang took home US$10,000 for the win, while Hsia settled for $5,000. For more information, check out www.asian9-balltour.com.
(All information courtesy ESPN STAR Sports)
San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour Season Opens
The first event for the 2004 season of the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour is happening this weekend, at Pool Haven in the city of Clarke Quay, Singapore.
A field of 32 top Asian players, headed up by pool stars Francisco Bustamante and Efren Reyes, will vie for the $50,000 prize purse, as well as a chance at entry into the World Championships in Cardiff, Wales. The Tour is the only ranking tour in Asia for players to qualify to the World Pool Championships, and the top ten finishers will be given entries.
The rest of the stops on this five-leg tour are as follows: Ho Chi Minh City (March 13-14), Hong Kong (April 17-18), Taipei (May 7-9) and Manila (May 29-30).
Due to the outbreak of SARS, only two legs were held in the inaugural San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour last year. 2002 Busan Asian Games 9-Ball singles gold medalist Yang Ching Shun of Chinese Taipei and 1999 world champion Reyes took the two leg titles, in Singapore and Manila respectively.
For more information on the Tour, please check out www.asian9-balltour.com.
Going For Gold
American Jeanette Lee and Taipei’s Ching-Shun Yang captured the 9-ball divisions of the 6th World Games in Akita, Japan, Aug. 16-26. Lee took home the Gold Medal after beating Ireland’s Karen Corr, 9-3. Lee’s finish gave the United States a second-best 15 total Gold Medals during the Games, and a combined 31 medals to place third overall behind leader Russia (44) and second-place Germany (35) in the medal count.
Yang knocked off Germany’s Ralf Souquet, 11-8, in the final to claim the Gold Medal. Despite Souquet’s defeat, Germany’s medal count was boosted when Souquet’s countrymate Thomas Engert topped American Jon Kucharo to claim the bronze medal.
Belgium’s Bjoern Haneveer edged Filipino Marlon Manalo, 4-3, to take the snooker Gold Medal, while Spain’s Daniel Sanchez upset Dick Jaspers, 40-30, to earn the Gold in carom.
Mexico’s Ismaez Paez, who suffered a heart attack before one of his matches early in the 9-ball tournament, underwent heart surgery and is currently recovering.