Giants of World Pool Line up for Manila Showdown

PREVIOUS Championship winning duos of Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante (Philippines 2006) China's Hewen Li and Jianbo Fu (2007) and 2008 victors Rodney Morris and Shane Van Boening (USA) will all be the SM City North Mall from 1-6 September in pursuit of the PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool.
 
With 32 two teams competing, representing 31 nations, event promoters Matchroom Sport in association with Solar Sport of the Philippines, can announce the players taking part in pool's most prestigious team event.
 
And some of the biggest names in world pool will be lining up to try their luck and a shot at the $60,000 top prize.
 
Former World Champions Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann will be leading the charge for Germany and highly fancied Dutchmen Nick Van Den Berg and Niels Feijen will be flying the orange flag.
 
Also in the running will be current World 10 Ball Champ Darren Appleton and he will be representing England in partnership with Imran Majid.
 
Other big European names coming to Manila include Tony Drago (Malta), Marcus Chamat of Sweden and Finland's 2001 World Pool Champion Mika Immonen.
 
The 2009 PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool features 32 teams representing 31 countries competing in a straight knock-out tournament over six days for a $250,000 prize-fund.
 
Making a less arduous journey will be Taiwanese superstar Ching-Shun Yang, who will be partnered by comebacking Chia-hsiung Lai. The Vietnamese duo of Luong Chi Dung & Nguyen Thanh Nam who reached the semi-finals in 2006, will be looking to go one stage further this time.

Possible betting favourites for the competition are Filipino duo Dennis ‘Robocop' Orcollo and Ronnie ‘Calamba' Alcano, and they will be highly confident going into the event.
 
For the first time in the history of the competition there will be an all-female team as representing Korea are Ladies World No.1 Ga Young Kim and Yun Mi Lim.
 
 
EUROPE (15)
 
Holland (Niels Feijen & Nick van den Berg)
England (Imran Majid & Darren Appleton)  
Germany (Ralf Souquet & Thorsten Hohmann)
Poland (Mateusz Sniegocki & Radoslaw Babica)    
Finland (Markus Juva & Mika Immonen)    
Italy (Bruno Muratore & Fabio Petroni)      
Spain (David Alcaide & Rafael Guzmann)
Russia (Ruslan Chinakhov & Konstantin Stepanov)
Sweden (Marcus Chamat & Tom Storm)
Austria (Martin Kempter & Jasmin Ouschan)         
France (Stephan Cohen & Vincent Facquet)
Belgium (Serge Das & Pascal Budo)
Denmark (Kasper Kristoffersen & Bahram Lotfy)    
Croatia (Ivica Putnik & Philipp Stojanovic)
Malta (Tony Drago & Alex Borg)
 
ASIA (13)
 
China (Hewen Li & Jianbo Fu)
Hong Kong (Kenny Kwok & Lee Chenman)  
India (Dharminder Singh Lilly & Raj Hundal)
Indonesia (Muhammad Bewi Simanjuntak & Muhammad Zulfikri)
Japan (Satoshi Kawabata & Hayato Hijikata)           
Korea (Ga Young Kim and Yun Mi Lim)                   
Malaysia (Ibrahim Bin Amir & Lee Poh Soon)         
Philippines 1 (Dennis Orcollo & Ronnie Alcano)     
Philippines 2 (Efren Reyes & Francisco Bustamante)
Singapore (Keng Kwang Chan & Lian Han Toh)
Taiwan (Ching Shun Yang and Chia Hsiung Lai)      
Thailand (Nitiwat Kanjanasri & Surethep Phoochalam)
Vietnam (Luong Chi Dung & Nguyen Thanh Nam)
 
REST OF THE WORLD (4)
 
Australia (Lou Condo & Greg Jenkins)         
Canada (Tyler Edey & Jason Klatt)
Qatar (Bashar Hussain & Mohammed Ali Bin Ali)
USA (Rodney Morris & Shane Van Boening)