World Team Championships: Down to the Final 16

Photo Courtesy Tai Chengzhe/China Foto Press & the WPA.

By: Markus Noé

Over the past few days the group stage has been playing out at the World Team Championships in Beijing,China. Thus far there is not much to report in the way of upsets as all the heavy hitters have moved on through to the final 16 knock out stage. This particular format has opposing countries play six sets which include 8-ball men’s doubles, 8-ball men’s singles, 9-ball women’s singles, 9-ball men’s singles, 10-ball mixed scotch doubles and a 10-ball men’s singles.

With there being a large gap in talent and experience among the 25 teams, upsets were hard to come by. It is understandable that a weaker team might steal a set or two but to win enough to get through to the knock out stage is a long shot for many countries in this format. Team U.S.A (Corey Duel, Hunter Lombardo, Oscar Dominguez, Jennifer Barretta) the sole North American representation at this event beat Bulgaria 5-1 and moved on to the final 16, which will be a single elimination knock out stage.

Photo of Team U.S.A  from Corey Duel Facebook Page, Corey Duel, Jennifer Barreta, Hunter Lombardo, Oscar Dominguez

The knock out stage begins Thursday with the semi-final played Friday and the final on Saturday. The last time Canada was represented at this event they finished in the quarter-finals. The team we would have sent, Jason Klatt, John Morra, Erik Hjorleifson and Brittany Bryant in my opinion would have been one of the few teams capable of upsetting some of the power houses. It has been three years since their last team outing and all have gained lots of valuable international experience since then.

It should be noted that out of the 25 teams who participated in this years Championships. A fair amount of these teams are funded by their governments or local associations with some teams even provided with coaches. This would mainly be true for the European and Asian countries.  Support such as this is something that is lacking for North American players at the moment. Check in for daily updates from the knock-out stages starting tomorrow.

Final 16
1.China 1 vs. Singapore
2.Poland vs. Croatia
3.Philippines vs. Indonesia
4.Chinese-Taipei vs. Austria
5.China II vs. Sweden
6.Great Britain vs. Vietnam
7.Germany vs. Russia

8.Japan vs. USA