2008 World Cup Of Pool Teams Announced

Matchroom Sport Press Release:

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HOSTS Holland A have a thrilling match in the opening round of the 2008 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool as they take on neighbours Belgium on the opening night of the competition. The event, which features 32 two-player teams from around the world, will be staged at Outland in Rotterdam from Tuesday, October 7 to Sunday, October 12.

Nick van den Berg and Niels Feijen, ranked fifth and sixth respectively in Europe, are in the Holland A side and one of the favourites to win the title. They will be backed by a large, passionate crowd as they begin their campaign against the Belgian duo of Serge Das and Noel Bruynooghe.

This pairing produced a huge shock in last year’s event when they defeated the highly-fancied Taiwanese team, which included former World Champion Wu Chia-ching. But the Dutch outfit remained confident of securing an opening day victory.

"On paper we're much stronger and it's a good draw for us but in a race to eight anything can happen," said van den Berg. "Maybe it's a good tactic to practice with them beforehand as they don't live too far away! Last year we saw lots of Belgian fans and a lot of Dutch fans so there will be a big crowd. The bigger the better.

"If you look at the level of pool in Belgium and Holland then there's not much rivalry as we have better players in Holland but Belgium finished fifth in last year's World Cup. "We're really looking forward to it and have a good chance to win the whole tournament as we're both on the top of our game.

"In the last two years, especially last year in Holland, we wanted to win so badly for the Dutch public. We put so much pressure on ourselves that we lost matches but this time we have to go into it with less pressure. We have to take it just as any other tournament and see where it ends, but I'm really confident we can do well."

This will be the third time Feijen and van den Berg have represented Holland but Feijen admits they have not been at their best yet. "We've lost 7-8 twice now in the second round but I feel we have the quality easily to go all the way," said Feijen.

"It would be awesome to win this title in front of the home crowd. The Dutchies haven't won an event yet in Holland, we've had three semi-finalists in the World Pool Masters but no finalists yet. "I would just love to make the finals together with Nick. It would be cool to play on the final day in front of a packed house there.

"The World Cup of Pool is a very spectacular event and it's cool for the spectators as they see the players consulting each other on occasion and winning or losing together as a team."

Holders China, who defeated Finland 11-10 in a thrilling 2007 final, will again be represented by Li He-wen and Fu Jian-bo. They will kick-start the event as they meet India's Sumit Talwar and Alok Kumar in the tournament's opener.

Reigning World Champion Daryl Peach and European No.1 Mark Gray make up a strong looking England team, but they will have to be at their best to get past Malta's Tony Drago and Alex Borg.

The USA pairing of Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris face newcomers Iceland, while the Philippines outfit of Francisco Bustamante and Dennis Orcollo play in the last first round match against Denmark.

Schedule(seeded teams in brackets)

Round 1 - race to 8 (winners break throughout)

Tuesday October 7, Afternoon session - 2pm
India v China (1), Hong Kong v Switzerland (16), Korea v Finland (8)

Tuesday October 7, Evening session - 7pm
TBC v Italy (9), England (5) v Malta, Belgium v Holland A (3)

Wednesday October 8, Afternoon session - 2pm
France v Canada (12), Thailand v Poland (13), Austria v Vietnam (14)

Wednesday October 8, Evening session - 7pm
Qatar v Germany (4), Iceland v USA (6), Holland B v Taiwan (7)

Thursday October 9, Afternoon session - 2pm
Croatia v Spain (11), Malaysia v Russia (15), Australia v Japan (10) Thursday October 9, Evening session - 7pm
Denmark v Philippines (2)

Second round - race to 8

China or India v Hong Kong or Switzerland, Belgium or Holland A v Austria or Vietnam

Friday October 10, Afternoon session - 2pm
TBC or Italy v Korea or Finland, Thailand or Poland v Qatar or Germany, Holland B or Taiwan v Australia or Japan.

Friday October 10, Evening session - 7pm
Malta or England v France or Canada, Croatia or Spain v Iceland v USA, Malaysia or Russia v Denmark or Philippines.

Saturday, October 11
Quarter-finals - race to 9

Saturday October 11, Afternoon session at 1pm, evening session at 6pm
Two quarter-finals in each session.

Sunday, October 12
Semi-finals - race to 9.
Afternoon session at 1pm

Evening session at 6pm. Final - race to 11

Competing Teams (All teams / players are subject to confirmation)

Asia
1	China		Li He-wen & Fu Jianbo
2	Hong Kong		Lee Chenman & Qualifier
3	India		Sumit Talwar & Alok Kumar
4	Japan		Naoyuki Oi & Satoshi Kawabata
5	Korea		Jeong Young-Hwa & Kim Woong-Dae
6	Malaysia		Ibrahim Bin Amir & Lee Poh Soon
7	Philippines		Francisco Bustamante & Dennis Orcollo
8	Taiwan		Wu Chia-ching & Wang Hung-hsiang
9	Thailand		Nitiwat Kanjanasri & Dechawat Poomjang
10	Vietname		Nguyen Thanh Nam & Luong Chi Dung
North America
11	Canada		Tyler Edey & Edwin Montal
12	USA		Shane Van Boening & Rodney Morris
Others
13	Australia		Stuart Lawler & John Wims
14	Qatar		Fahad Mohammadi & Bashar Hussain
15	TBC
Europe
16	Austria		Martin Kempter & Jasmin Ouschan
17	Belgium		Serge Das & Noel Bruynooghe
18	Croatia		Ivica Putnik & Philipp Stojanovic
19	Denmark		Martin Larsen & Kasper Kristoffersen
20	England		Daryl Peach & Mark Gray
21	Finland		Markus Juva & Mika Immonen
22	France		Vincent Facquet & Stephan Cohen
23	Germany		Ralf Souquet & Thomas Engert
24	Holland A		Niels Feijen & Nick van den Berg
25	Holland B		Dutch qualifying tournament to be held in September
26	Iceland		Bjorgvin Hallgrimsson & Kristjan Helgason
27	Italy		Bruno Muratore & Fabio Petroni
28	Malta		Tony Drago & Alex Borg
29	Poland		Radoslaw Babica & Mateusz Sniegocki
30	Russia		Konstantin Stepanov & Ruslan Chinahov
31	Spain		David Alcaide & Carlos Cabello
32	Switzerland		Marco Tschudi & Dimitri Jungo

THE World Cup of Pool will be produced by Matchroom Sport into 31 1-hour highlights programmes which will be seen on stations throughout the world.