Matchroom Sport is delighted to announce that the second annual PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool will be taking place at Outland, a futuristic nightclub in Rotterdam, Holland from Tuesday 25th – Sunday 30th September.
Last year's successful inaugural event happened in Newport, Wales when the dynamic Team Philippines pairing of Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante cast aside Malta, Malaysia, Czech Republic and Germany en route to an emphatic 13-5 win over the USA in the final.
This year, the Philippines return to defend their trophy against 31 others teams containing the very best in World pool. Host nations Holland will be well supported and their two teams – Niels Feijen & Nick van den Berg and Alex Lely and Rico Diks – will have every chance to do well on home soil.
American Rodney Morris will be back, this time partnered by a resurgent Corey Deuel, and they will be hoping to go one better than last year. From Taiwan come Wu Chia-ching and Yang Ching-shun and they will certainly be one of the favourites for the competition.
Germany, England, Finland, Italy and Spain will all be looking to do well from the European contingent and from Asia, nobody will be underestimating Vietnam who arrived as rank outsiders but narrowly went out to the Americans at the semi-final stage.
This year there is a slight change in format as the tournament goes to winner-breaks from the outset and the races are to eight for the first two rounds, then nine for quarter and semi-finals and finally 11 for the championship decider.
The prize-fund stays the same at a total of US $250,000 with $30,000 going to each member of the winning team. First round losers are guaranteed $1,500 per man to soften the blow of defeat.
The venue this year is Outland, one of Holland's premier nightclubs, and Matchroom Sport will be staging the event in a different way to their normal productions, making full use of the venue's high-tech lighting system and two overlooking balconies.
Tickets for the event are generously priced at €2.50 and €4.00 and available from the usual outlets – www.matchroomsportdvd.com and select pool clubs in all the major Dutch cities.
Television production is by Matchroom Sport to their usual high standards and the event will be produced as 31 x one hour shows for distribution world-wide.
The 2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool is sanctioned by the World Pool Association and sponsored by PartyPoker.net, part of the world's leading online gaming company.
Commented Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn, “We felt that the pool world was crying out for a team event like this so decided to take the plunge last year with the World Cup of Pool. The tournament was a huge success and I'm certain that this year's will be even better.
“It's all about the players and last year they delivered some fantastic performances with top class shot-making and plenty of drama throughout.
“Of course, the Philippines will start as favourites – not many people will back against Efren and Django – but there are plenty of teams there to challenge them and there will always be at least one pool minnow that has a great week as they emerge from the pack.
“Our events have always been well supported in Holland and I hope that the 2007 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool proves no exception,” he added.
Event Information
Dates: Tuesday 25th to Sunday 30th September 2007
Venue: Outland, Prins Alexanderlaan 37, 3068 PN Rotterdam
Format: 32 x 2-man national teams, scotch doubles format, winner breaks. First and Seconds Rounds: races to 8; Quarters and Semi-Finals: Races to 9; The Final: Race to 11.
Teams:
Australia Stuart Lawler / Shaun Budd
Austria Martin Kempter / Dejan Dabovic
Canada Alain Martel / Edwin Montal
China Li He-wen / Fu Jian-bo
Croatia Philipp Stojanovic / Ivica Putnik
England Daryl Peach / Imran Majid
Finland Mika Immonen / Marcus Juva
France Stephan Cohen / Vincent Facquet
Germany Oliver Ortmann / Christian Reimering
Holland A Niels Feijen / Nick van den Berg
Holland B Alex Lely / Rico Diks
Hungary Vilmos Foldes / TBC
India Dharminder Singh Lilly / Manan Chandra
Indonesia Ricky Yang / Mohammad Zulfikri
Italy Fabio Petroni / Bruno Muratore
Japan Naoyuki Oi / Satoshi Kawabata
Korea Ryu Seung-woo / Kim Woong-dae
Malaysia Patrick Ooi / Ibrahim bin Amir
Malta Tony Drago / Alex Borg
Qatar TBC
Philippines Efren Reyes / Francisco Bustamante
Poland Radoslaw Babica / Mateusz Sniegocki
Russia Konstantin Stepanov / TBC
Scotland Pat Holtz / Michael Valentine
Singapore TBC
South Africa TBC
Spain David Alcaide / Antonio Fazanes
Switzerland Marco Tschudi / Dimitri Jungo
Taiwan Yang Ching-shun / Wu Chia-ching
USA Rodney Morris / Corey Deuel
Vietnam Luong Chi-dung / Phanh Nam Nguyen
