PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool
First Round Matches
There were wins for Finland, Italy and Vietnam as the first round of the 2006 PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool moved towards its conclusion at the Newport Centre, South Wales.
There is just one opening round match - Scotland v Holland - before the last 16 matches commence this evening.
Team Finland comprised of 2001 World Pool Champion Mika Immonen and former Euro Tour winner Markus Juva looked good as they eased their way into the second round at the expense of Ireland's Tommy Donlon and Paddy McLaughlin this afternoon.
In the end it was the class and top-level experience of the Scandinavian duo that told against the plucky Irish opposition.
"I'm very pleased with the result. Ireland made a few break and runs but also a few decisional errors and I think their lack of experience was the reason they lost," said Immonen after the match.
They now face the Italian pairing of Fabio Petroni and Angelo Millauro had a little too much experience for the South African duo of Yulan Govender and David Anderson and ran out comfortable 9-3 winners.
In the most amazing of matches, for all the wrong reasons, the Vietnamese duo of Thanh Nam Nguyen and Chi Dung Luong made their way into the last 16 with a come-from-behind 9-8 win over the Croatian duo of Philipp Stovanovic and Ivan Kralj.
The match became a comedy of errors in the closing stages as it became a team who couldn't win against a team that didn't want to win!
The Croatians were beset by nerves to the point where they could barely make a clean connection with the cue ball and every time the Vietnamese were gifted an opportunity they didn't seem to want to take it.
Trailing 8-6, the Vietnamese stayed around long enough to record a 9-8 victory to progress to the next round.
Results
First Round
Canada 9 - 5 Thailand
Malaysia 9 - 3 Qatar
Czech Republic 9 - 6 Poland
Philippines 9 - 0 Malta
Taiwan 9 - 6 India
England 'B' 9 - 6 Korea
Russia 9 - 3 Hungary
Hong Kong 9 - 8 Sweden
Japan 9 - 0 Indonesia (Walkover)
Spain 9 - 8 England A
USA 9 - 6 Singapore
Germany 9 - 2 Wales
Finland 9 - 5 Ireland
Italy 9 - 2 South Africa
Vietnam 9 - 8 Croatia
