Chinese Taipei Win the World Cup of Pool

By: Erik Hjorleifson

The World Cup of Pool held in London, England came to a close this past Sunday. The tournament featured 32 teams in a Scotch Doubles format. The event was a single knockout with the first two rounds being a race to 7, the quarter and semi finals were race to 9 and the final was a single race to 10 for the championship honors. The first round saw some tournament favourites taking an early exit including Canada, U.S.A, China and Germany.

Round two saw some exciting matches including a hill-hill thriller between Japan and Holland which saw the 2014 Runner-up Holland relegated to the bleachers. The team of England B would also begin their impressive march to the final defeating a strong Filipino side of Carlo Biado and Warren Kiamco by a score of 7-4 marking the earliest exit by a Filipino team in history.

The Quarter finals featured:

England A vs Romania
Chinese Taipei vs Austria
Japan vs Qatar
England B vs Finland

The Quarter finals featured 2 less experienced teams in Qatar and Romania and they fell by 9-4 and 9-3 score lines respectively. The other two matches could have gone either way and England B had their second impressive win of the tournament over past champions Finland defeating them by a score of 9-7. The quarter finals also saw Chinese Taipei which featured Ko Pin Yi fresh off his victory at the world 9-ball championships against team Austria which included breakout star Albin Ouschan, Taipei would take the match this time by a 9-5 score.

The semi finals were both closely contested affairs which saw Chinese Taipei advancing over 2014 Champion England A with a 9-6 win and England B which featured Mark Gray and Darryl Peach continued there fairy tale tournament defeating Japan 9-7 ending a strong showing from the Japanese side.

The final would feature two touring veterans in Gray and Peach against two of the most successful players in the world from Taipei Chang Yu Lung and Ko Pin Yi. England would obviously be the crowd favorite with the tournament being held in England and they were able to get off to a good start with a 5-2 lead. In game 8 the first crack in the armour for the English side came as Gray miscued on the 8 allowing Taipei to bring it back to 5-3. From there Taipei tied the match at 7-7 and got to the hill first at 9-8, England had a chance to make it hill hill but it was not to be and the team from Taiwan became the 2015 champions. This title adds to Taipei team member Ko Pin Yi's resume for the 2015 season which is unrivaled in the history of billiards he is now the current World 9-ball, World 10 ball and World Cup of Pool Champion, pretty amazing if you think about it.

Final Results:

Chinese Taipei $60 000
England B         $30 000
England A         $15 000
Japan
Qatar                 $9000
Romania
Austria
Finland

World Cup Of Pool: Japan Eliminates Holland

No nerves here for Toru Kuribayashi and Naoyuki Oi

By: Markus Noé

Today the World Cup of Pool entered its third day of play. The majority of the afternoon and evening sessions consisted of the final matches of the first round in this 32 player event. This first round has seen a few upsets which have included top contenders China, U.S.A and Canada all being eliminated in the first round. Other top seeded teams went into the day trying to avoid this trend.

The Greek pairing of Nick Ekonomopoulos and Alex Kazakis were up against Aloysius Yapp and Chan Keng Kwang of Singapore. At first glance you would have to put the experienced team from Greece as the favourites, however Kwang has been on this stage before and Yapp the 19 year old 2014 World Junior Champion is also very capable. It should also be mentioned that just last week at the World Championships in Qatar Yapp finished in the top 16.

This match was back and forth as you can see for yourself in the video above, which had a "guest" commentator Canadian #1 John Morra. This match went back and forth with Singapore coming back from 2-0 down to go ahead 3-2. From there the Greeks tied the match and exchanged racks to 5-5. In this rack Ekonomopoulos made one of several errors in this match by scratching off the 2 ball trying to get shape for the 3. Singapore was able to run out this rack to get 6-5 up in this race to seven.

Yapp coming with a big shot for Singapore. 

In the next rack Ekonomopoulos made another error, this time a positional one. leaving Kazakis a very tough back cut. However if anyone could make it, it was Kazakis who before this attempt had not missed a pot the entire match. That being sad he rattled the attempt but at first it appeared he was fortunate to leave it safe. However the young up and comer Yapp stepped up with the bridge and fired a full table cross corner setting the table up for the run out and the 7-5 mild upset.

Team Japan Toru Kuribayashi and Naoyuki Oi

One of the first matches in the second round featured Nick van den Berg and Niels Feijen of Holland vs Toru Kuribayashi and Naoyuki Oi of Japan. The team from Holland who came into this tournament as the number 3 seed were big favourites to win this entire event, especially after coming off two runner-up finishes in 2013 and 2014.

It was the Japanese team who got off to a good start going up 3-1, 5-3 and 6-4 before Holland was able to capitalize off a missed run out opportunity. They were able to run out this rack and break and run the next to tie the match at 6-6. It looked as if the comeback was theirs for the taking however Feijen scratched in the side leaving the table wide open

The two characters from Japan quickly began to run out this rack. After Oi made the 6 ball it was evident that Kuribayashi was going to try the 7-9 combination which was lined up straight to the corner pocket for the win. Before he could bend down to shoot the obvious shot Kuribayashi's partner Oi yelled out, " 9 Ball- we miss, Europe win! Come on Japan!" as the crowd erupted in laughter. The 9 Ball was made and team Japan moved onto the quarter-finals. You can watch the entire match in the link below.

Another notable win was England "A" vs Korea, the local favourites easily won this match 7-0. Listed below are the entire match results from today. Check back daily at www.cuesportnation.com for updates.


Thursday Results:

Thursday 24th afternoon
R1 Spain (11) 3-7 Czech Republic
R1 Finland (10) 7-4 Belgium
R1 Greece (7) 5-7 Singapore

Thursday 24th Evening:
R1 England B (15) 7-4 Sweden
R2 Holland (3) 6-7 Japan

R2 England A (1) 7-0 Korea (16)

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.

Dafabet World Cup of Pool Begins September 22

By: Erik Hjorleifson

The World Cup of pool, one of the most prestigious events on the international pool calendar is set to kick off in London, England On Tuesday. This event will feature 32 teams from around the world in a single knockout race to 8 format. As with all Matchroom Sport even in recent history the 9 ball will be racked on the spot which will make the break more of a skill shot rather than a foregone conclusion. The event will be a single knockout and the pressure that comes with short race single knockout tournaments is huge, along with the fact that the players are playing for their country not only themselves.

The tournament is seeded based on W.P.A rankings on paper some of the favored teams include:

Ko Pin Yi and Chang Yu Lung (Taiwan) 5 to 1
Karl Boyes and Darren Aplleton (England) 6 to 1
Niels Feijen and Nick Van Den Berg  (Holland) 7 to 1
Carlo Biado and Warren Kiamco (Philippines) 7 to 1
Mike Dechaine and Shane Van Boening (USA) 10 to 1
Ralf Soquet and Thorsten Hohmann (Germany) 14 to 1

Odds courtesy of bet365.com  http://www.bet365.com/home/FlashGen4/WebConsoleApp.asp?&cb=105802030819

The draw is seeded so the first round should not produce to many upsets but you never know with the short race format. From my observations the closest first round match will be between the Philippines and Russia who will feature Konstantin Stepanov and Ruslan Chinakov both world class players. For our North American fans Canada will play France in the first round and the U.S will play Qatar.

Brackets can be seen  http://www.matchroompool.com/world-cup-of-pool/#draw
Regardless of the supposed favorites, teamwork will be an important ingredient to success in this years tournament. Teams that have experience playing together include:

Ralf Soquet and Thorsten Hohmann
Karl Boyes and Darren Appleton
Nick Van den Berg and Niels Feijen
Jason Klatt and John Morra

The event will be live streamed at www.livesport.tv Cuesport Natikon will be following the action all week.

Ko Pin-Yi Narrowly Beats SVB to Claim World 9 Ball Title

Ko Pin Yi with Shane Van Boening. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

By: Markus Noé

This morning around 6:30 am eastern standard time the semi-finals of the World Championship got underway. They were played simultaneously, however with the luxury of having each table streamed at this event it was not a problem to watch both. In one semi-final, American Shane Van Boening took on Ko Pin-Chung, while Wu Jai-qing played the other Ko brother Ko Pin-Yi.

SVB continued his high level of play from the day before in his semi-final match, beating the younger brother from Chinese Taipei 11-1. For those that did not watch SVB's three rounds yesterday none of his opponents were able to get past 5 games. Going into the final it really did not look like anyone was going to take this World Title away from him.

Wu Jai-qing. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

In the other semi-final match up between the two Asian prodigies, it was a much closer affair. Ko Pin-Yi who won the World 10 Ball Championships earlier this year in the Philippines barely edged out Ja-qing 11-10. This sent Ko Pin-Yi into his second World Championship final of the year and looking for his second title.

Ko Pin-Yi. Photo Courtesy of Richard Walker. 

The final began with some nervous moments for both players and it was apparent in this alternative break format, that "holding serve" would be very important. At 4-4 it was Ko's break and he had a shot at a reasonable 2-9 combination. However at the elite level these players rather not risk the shot in most cases because any combination can be missed. Ko fired at the 2-9 in the corner pocket and missed it, however he hit it hard enough that it went two rails and he lucked the 9 into the side pocket. There were several more rolls like this throughout the match that kept it close, otherwise SVB in my opinion would have run away with this set as well because he was breaking and running nearly every one of his racks.

Shan Van Boening. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

Unfortunately for overseas pool fans like myself the stream went down for a good 20 minutes or so in the middle of the match. By the time the stream came back on it was 10-10 and it was more of the same as each player was holding their serve. At this point it appeared as SVB would go on to lose 13-12 because Ko was the one who was breaking on the hill. However at 11-12 for Ko, SVB broke what otherwise was an excellent break shot however he was slightly hooked on the 2 ball. This forced him to push out to a kick shot which his opponent had the option to give back to him, and is what ended up happening. In an attempt to kick safe SVB left the 2 ball wide open and the rack at the mercy of Ko Pin Yi.  SVB knowing the end was near, started to take off his glove and looked a bit demoralized as he could only look on as Ko knocked in the last few balls to win his second World Championship of the year.

As a North American pool fan my heart goes out to SVB because I know how much flak he has gotten for his overseas performances. However I think he proved himself to be over that hump of not being able to perform outside the U.S in both this years World Championships but also by winning the last two World Pool Masters. However when you are at the caliber of SVB and in talks for not only being one of the greatest from this generation but one of the best of all time, that empty space on the trophy case where a world title should be sticks out.

It was slightly ironic however that the one player that has given the American fits in the past few years, Ko Pin-Yi was the one other player who made it through the 128 player field to deny him his world title. Congratulation to Ko Pin-Yi for making history by winning his second World Championship this year which  and $30,000, this is truly an amazing feat. I would also like to thank Richard Walker for all the great photo's he has sent us this week and a thank you to the organizers of the World Championship for what really was a first class stream. The next big event will be the World Cup of Pool next week in England. This is a scotch doubles event, the two North American teams will be Shane Van Boening/Mike Dechaine and John Morra/Jason Klatt, visit us next week for full reports.      

Then There was 4: SVB Shocks Orcollo 11-1 at the World Championships

Final four left, Ko Pin Chung, Ko Pin Yi, Shane Van Boening, Wu Jai-qing. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

By: Markus Noé

Today in Doha, Qatar the 32 remaining players returned the play down to final four. As this is a single elimination format three rounds were played today. There were some big names left such as John Morra, Shane Van Boening, Wu Jia-qing, Mika Immonen, and of course the highly touted Ko brothers.

John Morra. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

Being a Canadian I will be honest, a little more than my fair share of attention was directed on my friend and countrymen John Morra. He has had an incredible 2015 thus far with several top finishes including a second place at Turning Stone in January and followed that up shortly after with a second place at the China Open. The day started with a match against one of the top players from Great Britain, Mark Gray. This was a thrilling match and at times did not look good for the Canadian hopeful as he was down 10-8 in a race to 11. He was able to make the comeback and win 11-10 which was no easy feat considering this is an alternate break format.

Mika Immonen. Photo Courtesy of Richard Walker 

From there he met up with the always dangerous Mika Immonen who at one time or another has won virtually every major title. It looked to be the end for Morra's run at this year's World Championships when he was down 8-4, however Morra mustered up another epic comeback winning 11-8.


In the final 8 Morra had his toughest test to date up against Ko Pin Yi from Chinese Taipei. A few costly mistakes for Morra made a big difference in this match. At 4-4 in my opinion it could have easily been 6-2 for Morra but a few errors gave Ko some much needed momentum. From there the scoreline went to 7-6 for Ko with Morra missing a tough pot on the 4 ball to go down 8-6 and was never able to recover losing 11-6 from there.

Shane Van Boening. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

Shane Van Boening who once again this year looks poised to win his first World Championship had a great day. He started by dismantling the Spaniard Francisco Jose Diaz Pizarro 11-5. After that he played Chang Yu and won by by the same scoreline 11-5.In the next round which was the final 8, he continued on his torrid pace beating a very formidable opponent Dennis Orcollo 11-1. If SVB keeps this up we could be crowning the first American World Champion in sometime. He will face Ko Pin Chung in the semi-final while the other Ko brother will be up against Wu Jia-qing.

For those who might not remember Jia-qing he is a multiple World Champion and the youngest one ever to win a world title which he did at 16 years old. The final 4 is very intriguing as we could see an all Ko final or perhaps we could see a very deserving SVB take home his first world title. The semi-finals will be played at 6:30 am eastern standard time and the final will be at 10:30 am. You can watch the stream for free here http://live.qbsf.qa/en/qbsf. Make sure to check back in tomorrow to see who will be this years World Champion. For full results on today check the brackets here http://competition.kozoom.com/en/home/qatar/.

North American Players Making a Charge at the World 9 Ball Championships

Shane Van Boening. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

By: Erik Hjorleifson

The world best players are getting down o crunch time in Doha, Qatar. Today saw the first round of the final 64 single knockout stages take place and the field is now down to 32 players. Of the final 32, nine are from Asian countries, 6 are Filipino, 13 are from Europe and 4 are from North America. In recent years Europe and Asia have displayed their dominance on the international stage. This is the first year in recent memory that there have been 4 North Americans in the final 32. All 3 Americans that began are still in the mix and John Morra is the sole Canadian left of the 4 that started.
 

John Morra. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker.

It must be said that at this level and given the length of the race luck plays some factor in the outcome of matches.

Mike Dechaine. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

Here are some that could have gone either way today:
 
Jalal Yousef 11 Long Zhou 10
Mark Gray 11 Ralf Soquet 10
Haitao Liu  11 Imran Majid 10
Mike Dechaine 11 Cheng Hsuan 10
Francisco Diaz 11 Jing Dang 10
Hunter Lombardo 11 Mateusz Sniegocki 10
 

At the same time the nerve it takes to win these matches is very commendable. Pool players do not have the financial security that most professional athletes do and most at this stage are still fighting to turn a profit on this years trip. Luck aside the usual suspects are still finding a way to make it near the end and make it seem easy.
 

Jefferey Ignacio. Photo courtesy of Richard Walker. 

Some of the notables left in the final 32
 
Dennis Orcollo
Jeffrey Ignacio
Darren Appleton
Shane Van Boening
John Morra
Wu Jia Qing
Ko Pin Yi
Ko Pin Chung
Chang Yu Lun 

Play will get underway again at around  around 5 am eastern time tonight and for those die hard pool fans it might be time to start getting up early to watch their favourite players , here are some interesting matches scheduled for tomorrow:
 
Ko Pin Chung vs Yukio Akagariyama
Darren Appleton vs Nick Ekonomopolous
Carlo Biado vs Ko Pin Yi
Albin Ouschan vs Wu Jia Qing
 
All matches can be viewed for free at http://live.qbsf.qa/en/login stay tuned to http://cuesportnation.com/ for results throughout the remainder of the tournament.