The Final
Philippines 3–11 Austria
Austria are BetVictor World Cup of Pool Champions for a second time after storming to an 11-3 victory over Philippines at the Morningside Arena, Leicester, live on Sky Sports and DAZN.
Mario He and Albin Ouschan were exceptional in the final, delivering blow after blow to the Filipino pairing of Jeff De Luna and Carlo Biado.
Both teams had won this event previously; Philippines in 2006, 2009 and 2013 and Austria in 2017. Ouschan and He lifted the trophy that year and made the final 12 months ago, but this was the first time the Filipino pairing of Biado and De Luna had reached the title match together.
Austria had defeated Croatia, Hong Kong, Greece and Spain to reach the final and only conceded eight racks from the quarter-final until the moment they lifted the trophy.
Philippines – who defeated Czech Republic, Albania, Canada, and Netherlands en-route – won the lag in the final and De Luna took the attacking shot on a risky 2-ball cut. When he missed it, Austria pounced to draw first blood. Ouschan then failed on an open 1 and Philippines cleared, only for De Luna to send the cue off the table when breaking in the third and this time it was Austria who completed the set.
Another mistake by 2016 World 9-Ball champion Ouschan allowed Philippines to level again. From that stage, though, Austria opened up a big lead, winning on Philippines’ break and running out from their own to get 4-2 ahead. Their clinical shooting took them to 6-2 but Biado responded when he needed to with a nice 5/9 combo.
Austria, though, weren’t going to allow their opponents back into it and quickly took out two more games for an 8-3 lead and soon they had 9. He then took out a 2/9 to take his team to the hill and Austria claimed their second BetVictor World Cup of Pool title in the very next rack after De Luna missed a 3/7 and Austria cleared for the win.
“I feel really great, I am really happy to win,” said He. “It means the world, especially playing with Albin. We play great together and it is a joy for me to play with him.
“I was a little nervous in the first round but Albin helped me out and after that I played really well. I didn’t feel like this when we won in 2017. It is a great feeling, and also because I had to miss the Mosconi Cup.
Ouschan added: “I was quite nervous and didn’t feel great in the final but Mario played super strong all tournament, it is great to have him. I made some positional errors but he helped me out; he played so strong, especially in the final. I am more than happy to win again.
“There is no secret. We practice doubles three days a year, so there is no big secret but we are a good pair. We know each other very well and travel around the world together all year. Maybe that is the secret, I don’t know but we are good friends and we make the perfect pairing.”
The BetVictor World Cup of Pool was broadcast live in over 100 countries around the world, including on Sky Sports and DAZN.
The BetVictor World Cup of Pool is sponsored by Rasson Billiards, who supply the Official Table; the cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc. Predator are the Official Cue of the event and Kamui the Official Chalk and Tip.
2019年美式9球世界盃在英國 Leicester 落下帷幕。由Albin Ouschan和Mario He組成的上屆亞軍奧地利隊在決賽中11-3血洗奪冠大熱門菲律賓，自2017年首度奪冠後時隔一年再捧杯，三年豪取兩冠一亞。
美式9球世界盃杯又稱花式雙打世界盃，是美式撞球雙打領域最頂尖賽事，通常由32支隊伍參與。首屆美式世界盃於2006年在威爾士紐波特舉辦，每年一屆，並於去年將舉辦地首度落戶中國，但本年度賽事又重新遷回英國舉辦。
在此之前，中國隊和菲律賓隊都以三次冠軍的成績平分秋色，菲律賓隊在世界杯元年由名宿Efren Reyes、Francisco Bustamante拿下首屆世界盃冠軍，隨後傅儉波和李赫文這對金牌搭檔為中國拿到了花式撞球領域真正意義上的首個世界冠軍，去年，吳珈慶與劉海濤組合追平了菲律賓的奪冠次數。而作為決賽的另一方，Ouschan和Mario He則連續第三年挺進決賽，此前分別取得一冠一亞。
菲律賓可以走到今天，得感謝新軍捷克隊的不殺之恩，一場毫無懸念的比賽因為菲律賓的慢熱幾乎讓他們首輪即宣告打道回府。隨後的比賽中，菲律賓隊的狀態逐漸有所起色，公認的短板De Luna也發揮上乘，在剛剛結束的半決賽中，菲律賓隊9-6輕鬆擊敗荷蘭殺入決賽，後者曾連續阻擊奪冠賠率並列榜首的美國和中國。
下半區，奧地利隊擁有不錯簽運，首輪輕鬆擊敗歐洲區選拔賽突圍的克羅埃西亞。他們僅僅是在第2輪稍稍遇到考驗，最終還是有驚無險的淘汰中國香港。隨後奧地利隊開啟屠殺模式，將希臘和西班牙掃地出門。不過同西班牙的半決賽也暴露出奧地利隊尤其是Ouschan本屆賽事穩定性稍差的毛病，雙方選手中邪一般連續上演不可思議的低級失誤，奧地利隊只是憑借更好的運氣才淘汰倒楣透頂的西班牙闖入決賽。
決賽採取21局11勝，三角框擺球，9號球擺在置球點輪流衝球。比賽前半段，雙方在衝球上都不理想，連續互破對手衝球局，甚至以暴力衝球聞名遐邇的De Luna直接將多顆球全部衝飛台面。第6局，雙方差距第一次來到兩局，Biado 7叫8走位失誤，讓De Luna先前一記壓哨長台翻袋外加完美的高桿吸庫走位變得毫無意義，奧地利隊4-2暫時領先。
De Luna漂亮翻袋的慶祝似乎也敗完本方人品，奧地利隊打出一波4-0的小高潮瞬間擴大領先優勢並使局數過半。菲律賓隊利用衝球之後的59碰拿下本方首個衝球局止住頹勢，隨後奧地利隊Mario He又打出精彩絕倫的長台翻袋 1號傳9號，將比分優勢進一步拉大，而菲律賓隊則有了放棄跡象。
休息回來，菲律賓隊衝球仍舊毫不給力，還偏偏把9號停在袋口。Mario He直接2號傳9號拿到賽點。此時，Mario He才獻上全場首次失誤，還是一桿衝球洗袋。不過菲律賓人早已崩盤。儘管Ouschan強行挖坑，仍舊難不住狀態爆棚的Mario He，後者連續拼進高難度進球鎖定勝利，11-3，奧地利時隔一年再奪冠！
小刘
