World Cup of Pool Update: Qatar Shocks the U.S

Mike Dechaine and Shane VanBoening 

By: Erik Hjorleifson

The World cup of pool is underway in London and there have been some surprising upsets in the first round. Matchroom Sport is far and away the leading promoter in professional pool and their insight into rules for breaking, particularly racking the 9 ball on the spot is right on par with the direction the game needs to take. The one thing that has stuck out to me though is why their events always feature such short races. I think they have decided that one hour programming is a suitable length for a pool match and a race to 7 fits in well to the one hour schedule. Unfortunately the players are at the mercy of this short format and it leads to results that don't always represent the best players or teams winning. I wonder what the professional snooker players would say if they changed one of the most important events of the year to a race to 3?

Hussain Bashar making the final shot. 

Here are some of the upsets in the first round:

France 7 Canada 6
Indonesia 7 Germany 3
Romania 7 China 4
Qatar 7 USA 5

There were also a few near upsets:

England 7 Australia 5
Austria 7 Peru 5
Chinese Taipei 7 Estonia 5

It must be noted that the level of play around the world has dramatically increased in the last 5 years. To think that a team from Qatar could beat a team from the U.S. or a team from Romania could beat a team from China would have been almost impossible in the past but now it is a reality. There are still a few matches left in the first round, the round of 16 looks to still show most of the favourites advancing but if the first round is any indication be ready to expect the unexpected. All the matches can be viewed on live stream at  www.livesport.tv.