There was more action at the Luwan Arena, Huangpu District in Shanghai, as the World Cup of Pool continued with three more first round matches and there were wins for Scotland, Germany and the China B team.
The $250,000 tournament originated in 2006 and has since moved around the world before touching down in Shanghai. The World Cup features 32 pairs from around the globe including two from host nation China. Running from 15th to 20th May, the event is live in over 100 countries around the world.
Team Scotland – Jayson Shaw and Scott Gillespie
The opening match looked fairly even on paper with only Jayson Shaw’s partner Scott Gillespie being the unknown quantity amongst the four players. Gillespie is well known as an English 8 Ball player north of the border but has little previous experience at 9 ball.
The Canadian duo of Jason Klatt and veteran Alex Pagulayan opened up a 3-0 lead but were soon left in the traps by the excellent Scots who eventually ran out 7-3 winners.
Commented Gillespie, “It’s my first ever appearance on Sky so I am delighted. When you have Jayson Shaw on your team it makes it a slight bit easier. We are over the moon to win.
“I play English 8-ball but the last few weeks I have been practising with Jayson so he has given me a lot of tips.”
Shaw said, “I have been in Scotland playing golf in the day and practicing at night. We have been putting in a lot of hours together and I knew if we could come here and settle a little bit we could do well.
“The first few racks we didn’t really settle and they got a good lead but I told Scott, let’s stay positive and we will get a few chances and we did. We are happy to be in the next round.”
Ralf Souquet & Joshua Filler of Germany
In the second match, the German pair of elder statesman of European pool, Ralf Souquet and its newest young star Joshua Filler, fired out a warning shot to their rivals as they cantered past an inexperienced Indonesian pair by 7-0.
The final match of the evening saw the young China B team overcome some nerves before hitting their stride to beat an over-matched South Africa side. The score line was 7-2.
Wang said, “In the first rack I was really nervous and when I tried to pot the 9 ball it didn’t go in, but later it felt more relaxed. The crowd was cheering for us and that helped us to improve.”
Team China B
Play continues on Wednesday afternoon with three more first round matches.
Spain (7) v Vietnam
Philippines (4) v New Zealand
Chinese Taipei (3) v Albania
2018 World Cup of Pool sponsored by Iwan Simonis who supply the Official Cloth; the Official Balls are Super Aramith by Saluc, and Predator is the Official Cue of the event.