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.
Big Apple Day Two Complete
The big name matches are piling up at the Master Billiards 9-Ball Challenge in Queens NY. Multiple battles deserve star billing on Friday evening, with Thorsten Hohmann facing Rodney Morris on one side of the arena while crowds also gathered around the Danny Harriman/Young Hwa Jeong match and a Jose Parica/Danny “Kid Delicious” Basavich battle.
By 9PM, Parica, Morris and Harriman were the ones still standing in the winners bracket. Other strong contenders still in the fight include George ‘Ginky’ San Souci, returning from his declared retirement to play in this event, and the always dependable Ralf Souquet.
Saturday morning will feature a marquee match between Francisco Bustamante and Johnny Archer with the cameras of worldpool.com running at 11:00 AM EST. The match will be available for internet PPV at Worldpool.com.
Online brackets are updated with all of Friday’s winners at http://www.azbilliards.com/bigapple2004/brackets.cfm
Japan Cup Day 1 complete
Shuji Nagata
After the first day of play, Efren Reyes, Francisco Bustamante, Ralf Souquet, Thorsten Hohmann and Mika Immonen are joined by Antonio Lining, Ramil Gallego, Young Hwa Jeong, Charlie Williams, Hiroshi Takenaka, Shintaro Sugaya, Terukazu Mukai, Go Takami and Syuji Nagata on the winners side.
Warren Kiamco and Dennis Orcullo did take early trips to the one loss side, but are still playing. Mike Massey has been eliminated.
Japanese players are performing well on their home turf. Go Takami upset Warren Kiamco 9-6 and Shuji Nagata beat Antonio Gabica 9-1 on day one.
The tournament runs until June 13th with a wheelchair event beginning Thursday and a Women’s division beginning June 12th.
Further information from the event is available on the official website at http://www.ibcjapancup.com/
Reyes win San Miguel Tour Taipei Stop
It was a different opponent in the finals, but the same result for Efren Reyes over the weekend at the San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour stop in Taipei.
Reyes, vieing for his third tour win this season, faced off against Young-Hwa Jeong from Korea in the finals and trailed 10-8 late in the match. Reyes lived up to his ‘Magician’ nickname and took advantage of some great shotmaking to win the next five games and the title.
Reyes won $10,000 for first with Jeong pocketing $5000 for second. Reyes countryman Warren Kiamco and Chatchawal Rutphae from Thailand finished in a tie for third.
Efren Reyes Takes Mid-Atlantic 9-Ball Crown
The ever-humble Reyes chalked his win up to luck.
Efren put in a stunning run to get to the finals, holding his opponents to the single digits in race-to-11 games. He defeated Leonardo Andam, 11-5, Mike Lebron, 11-3, Tony Robles, 11-7, Jose Parica, 11-5, Jim Rempe, 11-3, and Francisco Bustamante, 11-6, before losing to Jeong, 11-8, and taking at trip to the losers’ side. Once there, he defeated Bustamante again, 11-8, to earn himself the final rematch with Jeong.
Both finalists were in top form for the duration of the tournament, and the final showcased nearly flawless play by both competitors. Reyes felt that the turning point in the final was a single missed shot by Jeong, coupled with a dose of luck: “I was behind 4-3 and Young missed a shot. This is when I got lucky, because the gods smiled on me and I knew it was my chance to win. I am very lucky.”