USA AND CHINESE TAIPEI are both in the medals as the first two quarter-finals of the 12BET World Cup of Pool took place at the York Hall, East London. With the longer race to 9 racks in play, both successful teams pulled away from their opponents as they secured comfortable victories.
Featuring 32 two-man teams from around the globe, the 12BET World Cup of Pool is into its 11th year as reigning champions Chinese Taipei attempt to become the first team ever to successfully defend the title at the York Hall.
Defending champs Chinese Taipei are on course for a repeat as they coasted past Japan by a comfortable 9-2 scoreline. The duo of Ko Pin Yi and Chang Yu Lung are starting to find their form at a critical time and their strong breaking game was too much for Naoyuki Oi and Hijikata Haya.
They had only two break and runs but their safety play and shot-making enabled them to win seven consecutive racks to win the match.
Commented Ko, “I am very happy. We didn’t leave too much and didn’t make many mistakes and we were lucky on the break.
“Nobody has defended the title before but we believe we can do it. We both played well today and didn’t give Japan too many chances. It was our best performance of the week so far. We will keep working on the break so that we can keep getting better.”
It was a disappointing end to the week for the Japanese after their semi-final appearance in 2015. However, their main man Naoyuki Oi, was magnanimous in defeat; “Ko is super amazing, and Chang played well too – Chinese Taipei could be the champions again this year. We will come back again next year and we will train and we can win the title.”
In the second match of the session, Team USA – Shane Van Boening and Skyler Woodward – put on a text book display as they went from 2-4 down against the Finnish pair of Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen – to a 9-4 win as they left their opponents rooted to their seats. In fact, Finland only got back to the table once more, but could not make the most of it.
2017 has been the USA’s best showing since their last winning year in 2008 and Van Boening looks to be firing on all cylinders, ably supported by Woodward.
Van Boening said, “We didn’t make any mistakes at the end and that saved us. When you come out here and play your best you don’t worry about who you play, you just shoot your best. I think whoever wins our semi-final will win the tournament.”
“I was shooting too quick so I told myself that was the problem and that I needed to slow down and after that I played perfect, I didn’t miss a ball for the rest of the match. It will be a tough game (against Chinese Taipei) but it will be a tough game for them too,” added Woodward.
衛冕冠軍中華台北隊在八強賽中以9:2輕取了日本隊進入到半決賽。柯秉逸和張玉龍在關鍵時刻找回狀態，再加上他們強勁的衝球表現，讓大井直幸與土方隼斗無法招架。雖然僅有兩次開球後一桿清台，但憑藉著他們的安全球及準度的發揮，讓他們得以連續拿下7局贏得比賽。
柯秉逸賽後說到: “我很高興，我們並沒有給對手留下太多機會，也沒有出現太多失誤再加上我們在衝球上獲得些運氣。此前沒有人衛冕過冠軍，但我相信我們能夠做到。我們今天的發揮都很好，沒有給日本多太多的機會，這是我們這星期以來最好的表現。我們會繼續再衝球上下功夫，繼續進步。”
對於在2015年打進到半決賽的日本隊而言，這樣的結果無非是令他們所失望的。然後，日本隊的靈魂人物大井直幸也在賽後展現出其極高的運動家氣度，並說道: “柯秉逸的表現非常棒，張玉龍也表現得很好，他們今年很有機會能再次奪冠。我們回去繼續訓練，明年再來挑戰，相信我們能拿下優勝的。”
第二場進行的八強賽由Shane Van Boening 和 Skyler Woodward所組成的美國隊對上Mika Immonen與Petri Makkonen所代表的芬蘭隊。美國隊從原先的2-4落後，在逮住機會後只給芬蘭隊再有一次機會回到球台上，但他們無法充分有效地掌握住機會，最終就讓美國隊以9-4逆轉搶下勝利。
“我們在後半段並未出現任何失誤，而那也拯救了我們。當你站到場上比賽時，不需要擔心你的對手是誰，儘管做好自己。我想誰贏了半決賽 誰將會拿下冠軍。” Van Boening說道。
Woodward 則補充說道。”我發現我的節奏打得太快了，我告訴了我自己這個關鍵問題，並且需要慢下來些，而在那之後我沒有出現過任何失誤，我表現得非常好。對上中華台北會是艱難的一場比賽，但相對的對他們來說也會是場艱難的比賽。”
Play continues on Saturday evening with the second two quarter-finals:
18.30
China v Philippines
Austria v England
Broadcast for six days live on Sky Sports in the UK; the tournament is available live in over 100 countries around the world. A comprehensive list of countries and networks broadcasting the World Cup of Pool can be found here: http://www.matchroompool.com/world-cup-of-pool/#watchlive
The 12BET World Cup of Pool will carry a $250,000 prize fund including $60,000 for the champions. The event will be produced by Matchroom Sport Television and televised live on Sky Sports as well as other stations around the world.
12BET World Cup of Pool Tickets are on sale now at www.matchroompool.com priced at just £10.00 per evening session (Tuesday to Sunday) and £8.00 per weekend afternoon session. Tuesday to Friday afternoons are free. A season ticket covering all sessions is priced at £60.00.
2017 12BET World Cup of Pool is sponsored by Rasson Billiards who supplies the Official Table; the cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc. Predator is the Official Cue and Chalk of the event.
Luke Riches, Matchroom Sport: [email protected]
Notes: MATCHROOM SPORT is one of the world’s leading producers of televised sport and is responsible for over 1,000 hours of original programming across a range of sports. Based in the UK and chaired by charismatic founder Barry Hearn, they operate three pool events; the Mosconi Cup, the World Cup of Pool and the World Pool Masters. In addition, the company produce a multitude of events in darts, snooker, tenpin, golf, fishing, ping pong, gymnastics, netball, basketball and boxing.
12BET is a global betting and gaming brand committed to offering its members a first class experience every time they visit the site. 12BET have sponsored several high-profile football teams having done deals with Sevilla FC, Wigan Athletic and Hull City FC. They have also had associations with Crystal Palace, West Bromwich Albion, Newcastle United and Birmingham City FC. 12BET sponsorships have gone beyond football with 12BET sponsoring the UK Championships and World Open in snooker and the English Badminton Championships.