WCOP 2009 - Day 2 Update

Matchroom Sport Press Release:

Finland Ease Home In Scandinavian Clash

IN THE all Scandinavian clash to get day two underway at the PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool, the Finnish pair of Mika Immonen and Markus Juva completed a comfortable 8-3 win over old rivals Tom Storm and Marcus Chamat of Sweden.

Taking place over six days at the SM Mall North Annex in Manila, the World Cup of Pool features 32 x two player teams chasing a $250,000 prize fund. The entire event is live on Solar Sports and CS9 in the Philippines.

Finland, who lost hill-hill to China in the final of the ’07 event, always had the match under control as they moved into a 4-0 lead following a few misses from the Swedes. The match never really took off as a spectacle, as Finland always kept sufficient distance between themselves and their opponents.

They will now face old foes China in the next round and will as ever, be hard to beat.

"This is the fourth year Markus and I have been in this competition and I think we got away with it a bit this time," said Immonen.

"We haven't been practising together, it's just not been possible but we're both very similar players and very good together. Mika is such a fantastic player and I think I'm good at getting the best out of him so we complement each other very well," added Juva.

Italy Make Round Two

In the second match of the first session, Team Italy, made up of Fabio Petroni and Bruno Muratore, were always one step ahead to their opponents, Austria and they held them off for an 8-5 win.

The Italians lead 4-2 and 6-3 and although the Austrian pair of Jasmin Ouschan and Martin Kempter, who reached the quarter-finals of last year’s event, losing narrowly to the USA, could not reproduce their previous form as the Italians ran out the winners.

First Round Results So Far

Italy 8 – 5 Austria
Finland 8 – 3 Sweden
Philippines B 8 – 3 Qatar
USA 8 – 7 Malta
Indonesia 8 – 3 India
Spain 8 – 3 Australia
China 8 – 5 Korea
France 8 – 1 Canada

For more information, visit MatchroomPool.com