Hundal Tips India to be a Force in Manila

RAJ Hundal believes India will be the surprise packages of the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool.
 
The sixth staging of the World Cup will begin on Tuesday, September 6 and India have failed to win a match in the five previous years.
 
However, Hundal believes himself and new team-mate Amar Kang will cause a few surprises, starting with a victory over the 12th seeded Finland side that includes former World Champion Mika Immonen.
 
“This is the first World Cup where India have got two through-and-through pool players,” said Hundal at a press conference to launch the World Cup and the World Pool Masters.
 
“The partner I had before (Dharminder Singh Lilly) is a lovely guy and a great player but didn't spend all year playing pool and also concentrated on other games like snooker and billiards.
 
“I'm confident if I don't play at my best then we can still win and he (Amar) can carry me. But if we both play well then we're going to take some beating. I'm definitely confident.
 
“Against Finland the bookmakers may make them the favourites but I don't see it that way.”
 
The World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player pairings from 31 different nations, with Philippines having two sides as hosts.
 
Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante have won the title in 2006 and 2009, while Dennis Orcollo was in one of the Filipino teams that reached the 2010 final before losing to China's Li He-wen and Fu Jian-bo.
 
All the action takes place at the SM City North EDSA in Manila and Orcollo, who is now partnered by Ronnie Alcano, was expecting a Filipino duo to be in contention to win the $60,000 winner's prize.
 
He said: “Of course we will try and keep our country there and together with my co-players we will try and make sure the Philippines are in the final.”
 
“It's really tough as you have all the best players in the world here and it's only short games,” added Reyes.
 
“Sometimes it comes down to luck and when we won our last tournament (beating Germany in the final) we were lucky.”
 
Each match of the World Pool Masters will be broadcast live on Solar Sports from September 3 to 5 with every clash in the World Cup also being shown live on the same station from September 6 to September 11.
 
For all the latest results, reports and interviews from the Masters and the World Cup, visit the official website www.matchroompool.com.