Mosconi Cup Kicks Off
Matchroom Press Release:
16th December
D Day has arrived. Tonight at the Hotel Zuiderduin, Egmond aan Zee, Holland the two six-man teams representing the United States and Europe will enter the packed arena to contest the 12th annual Mosconi Cup.
Played out over four days, it features a series of singles and scotch doubles matches with the first team to reach 12 points lifting pool’s most prestigious trophy.
Team captains Johnny Archer and Oliver Ortmann are the men responsible for who plays and when and tonight’s order of play for the three doubles matches is:
Niels Feijen & Steve Davis v Charlie Williams & Tony Robles
Oliver Ortmann & Thomas Engert v Johnny Archer & Gabe Owen
Mika Immonen & Marcus Chamat v Earl Strickland & Rodney Morris
With the doubles pairings critical, both captains explained the reasoning behind their decisions:
“Earl and Rodney have both got that loose kind of style and I believe that they will mix well, said Archer.
“I think Gabe Owen needed to go out with one of the older more experienced players to settle him down early and Tony Robles and Charlie Williams are real good friends and have a similar style. If it doesn’t work we’ll change it but we’re all really excited!”
For Ortmann the pairings more or less picked themselves. “Myself and Thomas Engert know each very well; we’ve been playing together since we were juniors so that was the first decision, he said.
“Mika and Marcus have been friends for a long time so that was an easy choice. Steve Davis and Niels Feijen felt comfortable together on the practice table and we’ve put them out first because Niels can’t wait to get out there and it will be good for the Dutch crowd.”
Let battle commence!
For more information and match updates, visit www.mosconicup.com
Mosconi Cup Teams Announced
Promoters Matchroom Sport have announced the teams for this year’s Mosconi Cup. Johnny Archer captains the American team; he is joined by Rodney Morris, Gabe Owen, Tony Robles, Earl Strickland and Charlie Williams. Germany’s Oliver Ortmann heads up the European team, which also includes Marcus Chamat, Steve Davis, Thomas Engert, Niels Feijen and Mika Immonen.
The Mosconi Cup takes place December 16-19 at the Hotel Zuiderduin in Egmond aan Zee, Holland.
“Killer Pixie” gets shot at redemption
Alex Pagulayan has earned a return trip to the finals of the World Pool Championship, set for Sunday night in Taipei City, Taiwan. The fiery Filipino (now living in Canada) came up short against little-known Thorsten Hohmann in the finals of the WPC in 2003. This year, the “Killer Pixie” will meet an even more obscure opponent, 25-year-old Pei-Wei Chang from Taiwan, who shocked Johnny Archer 11-10 in the quarterfinals and then came back from a 6-1 deficit against Sweden’s Marcus Chamat to win his semifinal match, 11-9.
Check out http://www.billiardsdigest.com/tournaments/index?tournament_id=11 for BD’s on-the-spot coverage, or check out the event’s Web site at http://www.worldpoolchampionship.com
Host Country Celebrates WPC
The field of 128 of the world’s best 9-ballers has been whittled to eight at the World Pool Championship in Taipei, Taiwan, and the host country has a lot to celebrate. When play begins on Saturday evening (Taipei time), no less than half the field will hail from Taiwan, including two-time world champion Fong-Pang Chao (1993, 2000). Here are the matchups for the quarterfinals, which will be immediately followed by semifinal matches:
Pei-Wei Chang (Chinese Taipei) vs. Johnny Archer (USA)
Alex Pagulayan (Canada) vs. Fong-Pang Chao (Chinese Taipei)
Marcus Chamat (Sweden) vs. Marlon Manalo (Philippines)
Po-Cheng Kuo (Chinese Taipei) vs. Ching-Ching Kang (Chinese Taipei)
Check out http://www.billiardsdigest.com/tournaments/index?tournament_id=11 for BD’s on-the-spot coverage, or check out the event’s Web site at http://www.worldpoolchampionship.com
Team USA Captures Sixth Sraight Mosconi Cup
After Team Europe drew first blood in the 2001 Mosconi Cup, Team USA won the next 12 matches to claim its sixth straight Mosconi Cup title at York Hall in Bethnal Green, England, Dec. 20-23. The 12-1 victory for Team USA is the most decisive win in the eight-year history of the annual Ryder Cup-style event, which Team USA has now won seven times.
Only the pairing of Niels Feijen and Mika Immonen was able to scratch the scoreboard with a 5-3 triumph over veteran U.S. duo Johnny Archer and Nick Varner. But from then on, Team USA dominated play. The young American pair of Charlie Williams and Cory Deuel built Team USA’s lead with two convincing victories over Steve Knight and Marcus Chamat by a combined score of 10-3. Archer and Varner then closed out the event by redeeming themselves from the Day 1 loss with a 5-1 win over Immonen and Team Europe captain Ralf Souquet.
Mosconi Cup Lineup Set
Matchroom Sport released its Team USA and Team Europe rosters for the popular Mosconi Cup, held at York Hall in Bethnal Green, England, Dec. 20-23. The two six-man rosters were respectively selected in consultation with the Billiard Congress of America and European Pocket Billiard Federation.
Five-time Player of the Year Earl Strickland will return as captain of the American squad, which is rounded out by Corey Deuel, Johnny Archer, Jeremy Jones, Nick Varner and Charlie Williams. All but Varner and Williams were members of last year’s Cup-winning team.
Team Europe is comprised of captain Ralf Souquet (Germany), Marcus Chamat (Sweden), Steve Davis (England), Niels Feijen (Holland), Mika Immonen (Finland) and Steve Knight (England).
World Pool Chmpionship Final Set
For the first time since 1996, a European player will take home the top prize in pool. The final of the 2001 Admiral World Pool Championship comes down to two Europeans – Finland’s Mika Immonen and Germany’s Ralf Souquet. The winner of today’s final tilt will take home $65,000, while the loser will pocket $30,000.
Souquet, who won the World Pool Championship in 1996, coasted into the final match with wins over Marcus Chamat in the quarterfinals, and later Chia-hsiung Lai in Saturday evening’s semifinal on the main table. During his two matches, Souquet outscored both of his opponents by a total margin of 22-3.
“It’s not easy to be out there in the arena and play your best all the time but I think over the years, I’ve mastered playing on the TV tables,” said Souquet, who beat Lai 11-2.
Immonen, meanwhile, had a more difficult time with his opponents on Saturday. He beat Niels Feijen, 11-7, in the quarterfinal, then rallied from a 5-2 deficit for another 11-7 win over Alain Martel in the semifinal.
“Me and Ralf have got a lot of respect for each other and he is a real gentleman,” said Immonen. “We’ll both be concentrating on our respective games and not worry about each other.”
The final match is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. EST.
“Kaiser” Rolls On; Jones Finished
Germany’s Ralf “The Kaiser” Souquet continued his torrid play at the 2001 Admiral World Pool Championship in Cardiff, Wales. He controlled every moment of his quarterfinal match against Sweden’s Marcus Chamat, and captured an 11-1 victory.
Lone remaining American Jeremy Jones was also eliminated on Saturday. Jones, who battled a slight cold the night before, dropped his first seven games against Chia-hsiung Lai of Chinese Taipei. Lai never looked back, and held on for an 11-3 win. Jones collected $8,500 for a share of fifth place.
“We exchanged safeties early,” said Jones, “The next time I looked up, it was 7-0. I wish I could have represented the country a little further. I really wanted to win this tournament.”
U.S. Surge, Regain Mosconi Cup
Unleashing its arsenal of high-powered talend, Team USA rebounded from an 8-6 deficit to win four of five matches on Sunday at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas to win the 2003 Mosconi Cup over Team Europe, 11-9. Cup-clinching 9 ball honors went to U.S. Open winner Jeremy Jones, whose 5-3 win over Sweden’s Marcus Chamat allowed the U.S. squad to recapture the Cup it had lost to the Euros in London last December.
After suffering through a five-match drought on Saturday, Team USA opened the final day’s action with four consecutive match wins. Cup debutante Rodney Morris opened the floodgates with a energizing 5-3 win over reigning world 9-ball champion Thorsten Hohmann of Germany. Johnny Archer then tied the contest with a 5-2 thumping of Steve Davis, and Earl Strickland gave the U.S. a lead it would never relinquish with a thrilling, 5-4, win over 23-year-old Dutchman Nick Van den Berg.
The U.S. squad got perhaps its biggest boost in the next match, when Mosconi rookie Tony Robles, who had not played well through the four-day event, put together a near-perfect performance against Europe’s top player, Mika Immonen of Finland. Immonen had been unbeaten in three matches going into Sunday, and earned the MVP award as the player who scored the most match points. But Robles scored a 5-2 win to put the Americans on the hill, 10-8.
Germany’s Ralf Souquet kept Europe’s hopes alive with a 5-3 win over Charlie Williams, but Jones closed the door on Europe’s hopes against Chamat. It marks the eighth time in the 10-year history of the event that the U.S. squad came out on top.
For more Mosconi Cup highlights and photos, log on to www.mosconicup.com.
Team Europe Blitzes to Mosconi Lead
In a stunning turnaround that had members of the U.S. squad befuddled and bitter, Team Europe rolled through five straight match wins Saturday afternoon to take an 8-6 lead in the 2004 Mosconi Cup at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
Trailing, 6-3, as the third day of the Ryder Cup-styled team 9-ball tournament kicked off, the Euros earned a much-needed boost when 23-year-old Nick Van den Berg scored a 5-3 win over mistake-prone Mosconi rookie Tony Robles. Then, in what may be looked back on as the event’s critical match, Germans Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann edged the U.S. duo of Johnny Archer and Rodney Morris, 5-4, to trim the overall score to 6-5 in the race-to-11.
With European fans becoming more boisterous by the game, snooker legend Steve Davis pitched an unlikely 5-0 shutout against Earl Strickland. Strickland was livid before and after the match, as Mosconi producers Sky Sports aired a pre-match promo that centered on the volatile Strickland’s actions during a match against Davis at the World Pool Championships in Cardiff in July. At that event, Strickland battled the pro-Davis crowd, the match referee, and Davis himself.
Scandanavians Mika Immonen and Marcus Chamat then topped Charlie Williams and Jeremy Jones, 5-3, in the final doubles match to give Europe its first lead of the event at 7-6. The day finished with Souquet pocketing a table-length kick at the 8 ball in the case game for a 5-4 triumph over Jones.
For more match highlights and photos from the 2004 Mosconi Cup, log on to www.mosconicup.com.