Team China’s return to the World Cup of Pool was a successful one coming from 3-0 down to defeat Syria 7-3 at Pazo de Feiras e Congresos de Lugo, Spain in partnership with The Asociación Gallega de Billar Pool (AGP), Xunta de Galicia and EIDF Solar live on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in Spain, the USA, Italy, and Brazil, Viaplay in Scandinavia, the Baltics and Poland and broadcasters worldwide.
China led by Wu Jia Qing and Wang Can struggled to get a grip of proceedings early on against Syria’s Mohammad Soufi and Zaid Al-Shariti with the debutants making their opposition sweat at 3-0 down.
Soufi and Al-Shariti‘s attacking style was troublesome as much entertaining and a miss on the four at 3-0 up proved to be costly as China stepped up to deliver vital blows to keep them in it back at 3-2 before 3-3 after a brief safety exchange where Syria struggled to cope with the hooks left on the table by Wu and Wang.
At 4-3 down, Al-Shariti scratched on a tricky jump to bring China up who soon made it 5-3 and they’d won five on the spin. Mistakes were part of Syria’s downfall but China tapped into their counterpart’s struggles to leave tricky lies with no real sight of the object ball when necessary. Wu and Wang stepped up to finish off the final two racks and bag a victory that sees the three-time former winners meet Singapore tomorrow afternoon.
China: Wang Can 王燦 (R) and Wu Jia Qing 吳珈慶 (L)｜©Taka G. Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
In the second match of the session, Vietnam’s 17-year wait for their next win in the World Cup of Pool was ended after overcoming Kuwait in a hotly contested match-up where Abdullah Alyousef and Bader Alawadi threatened to spoil the Duong Quoc Hoang and Nguyen Anh Tuan efforts. Vietnam was 5-0 up before Kuwait had eyes on some meaningful table time. Tuan fired a wild five ball which brought Kuwait in to take their first rack at 5-1 and then a second for 5-2. A costly error from the Vietnaise on what should have been an easy 1-5 combo let Kuwait in for 5-3 and the contest was well and truly alive out of nowhere.
At 5-3 down, Alyousef left a two ball hanging in the jaws of the pocket which allowed Vietnam in to reach the hill before closing out an important victory in their chapter of Nineball to meet Great Britain tomorrow evening.
Vietnam: Nguyen Anh Tuan 阮英俊 (R) and Duong Quoc Hoang 楊國煌 (L)｜©Taka G. Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
Japan’s Naoyuki Oi and Masato Yoshioka reunited in hopes of a safe passage to the next stage against Italy’s Francesco Candela and Daniele Corrieri with the pair together for a second year in a row. Oi and Yoshioka set the early pace for a 2-0 lead and Corrieri‘s error on the two in the third allowed them in for a 3-0 advantage. It wasn’t going well for Italy and they lost another rack for 4-0 and Japan were coasting.
In the fifth, it was a dog fest where eventually Italy came out on top after some back and forth for 4-1 down. At 6-2 to Japan, Italy threatened the come back again and they pulled it to 6-4 with Oi and Yoshioka looking the lesser likely to come through but in the end Japan did prove too much.
Japan: Naoyuki Oi 大井直幸 (R) & Masato Yoshioka 吉岡正登 (L)｜©Taka G. Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
Thursday, 29 June (eve) Match Odds
USA 1/9 – 5/1 South Korea
Albania 8/11 – 1/1 Poland
Austria 1/3 – 9/4 Bosnia
The 2023 World Cup of Pool will be played alongside the 31st Galician Team Pool Billiards Championship, which will bring together more than 1,000 players in the Pazo de Ferias y Congresos de Lugo, where more than 40 tables will be in action. The participants in this tournament considered the biggest in Europe, will compete for the regional titles and the prizes arranged by the Galician Association of Pool Billiards.
TICKETS
Additional tickets for the 2023 World Cup of Pool are now on sale with allocations selling out within 24 hours. Buy tickets here from only €10
©Taka G. Wu/Matchroom Multi Sport
2023 雙打世界盃 – 中國隊逆轉擊敗敘利亞 下輪對陣新加坡
2023 撞球雙打世界盃第三日爭奪繼續在西班牙盧戈進行。中國隊時隔多年回歸世界盃舞台，在 0-3 落後的情況下連勝7局，擊敗10號種子球隊敘利亞，將在下一輪遭遇上屆亞軍新加坡。
首輪比賽在經過兩天爭奪後，還剩最後四場。中國隊 (吳珈慶 & 王燦) 迎戰10號種子敘利亞隊 (Mohammad Soufi & Zaid Al-Shariti)。敘利亞隊因當家球星 Soufi 在世錦賽上的表現而名聲大噪，從實力上講還是與非種子球隊中國隊有不小差距。不過一開場，敘利亞還是對中國隊造成了極大的威脅，趁著吳珈慶/王燦的全新組合立足未穩配合生疏，敘利亞隊早早取得 3-0 的領先優勢。好在隨後撿回一局之後，中國隊牢牢佔據場上主動，同時也將一昧猛攻的策略適當調整。敘利亞隊防守端多次出錯，中國隊連勝7局，贏得開門紅，他們將在下一輪挑戰首輪死裡逃生的上屆亞軍新加坡。
越南 (楊國煌 & 阮英俊) 與科威特 (Abdullah Alyousef & Bader Alawadi) 同樣是亞洲內戰。越南開場 5-0 確立領先優勢。科威特在同樣是世錦賽黑馬 Alyousef 的帶領之下一度連勝 3局看到翻盤希望，不過頑強的越南人最終笑到最後，7-3 終結懸念。日本隊 (大井直幸 & 吉岡正登) 與義大利 (Francesco Candela & Daniele Corrieri) 的進程同樣如此。歐洲弱旅義大利隊並未因比分落後而繳械，反而先後拿下 4局，雖然終場以 4-7 敗給日本隊，但這趟世界盃之行也算是沒有空手而歸。