Cheng Yu-Hsuan andChang Jung-Lin
Round Two
Germany 5-7 China B
England 0-7 Philippines
Chinese Taipei 7-1 Greece
China B, the Philippines and Chinese Taipei all powered through to the last eight of the 2018 World Cup of Pool at the Luwan Arena, Huangpu District in Shanghai, as the quarter-final line-up begins to take shape ahead of the weekend.
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 across the globe including two from host nation China. Running from 15th to 20th May, the event is on live TV in over 100 countries around the world.
In the opening match of the session, China B - Kong Dejing and Wang Ming – won a scrappy encounter against Germany as the pairing of Souquet and Filler made far too many errors for a race to seven match and were made to pay the price.
Commented Kong, “I was really nervous at the beginning but later on I stepped up and we took advantage of our opponent’s mistakes. We are very proud to reach the quarter-finals.”
The second match saw Team Philippines motor past England 7-0. The English pair of Mark Gray and Imran Majid spent the vast majority of the match as spectators as Carlo Biado and Jeffrey De Luna put on a clinic.
Commented Biado, “At the start of the match I felt a bit shaky but I said to myself, stay focus, relax and just play the game. Anybody can win and there will be pressure in the remaining games. Anything can happen.”
De Luna was looking ahead to their quarter-final match against the youngsters from China B, “We practised hard last night before we came here. China B have top players, they are good young players. We will prepare for a tough match.”
In the final match Greece paid the price for an early mistake to go 2-0 ahead. It was their last effective contribution to the match as Chinese Taipei took the next seven racks for victory.
It was an object lesson for Nick Malai and Alex Kazakis as a single miss effectively ended their World Cup hopes, while Chang Jung-Lin and Cheng Yu-Hsuan cashed in on the Greek error in the most clinical way.
Cheng, “I am really happy because we played an almost perfect game with just one dry break. This was one of our best performances on TV. It doesn’t matter who we are against in the next round, we just have to play our own game.”
Play continues on Friday evening with three more second round matches.
Finland v USA
Spain v Sweden
Australia v China A
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.
