PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool
First Round Matches
Russia 9 – 3 Hungary
Hong Kong 9 – 8 Sweden
Japan 9 - 0 Indonesia (Walkover)
Play continued this afternoon at the 2006 PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool with two more matches and an easy passage in to the second round for Japan as opponents Indonesia failed to materialize for their 4.00pm match.
The story of the session was Hong Kong's sensational come-from-behind victory over sixth seeds Sweden as the seasoned duo of Marcus Chamat and Tom Storm threw away a big lead to let the fighting Hong Kong pair of Lee Chenman and Kong Man-ho back in.
The Swedes lead 4-1, 6-2 and 8-5 but Hong Kong recovered from a shaky start to dig in and mount a come back. With the match poised at hill-hill, Chenman potted a tough long 8 ball and left his opponent perfect on the 9 to seal victory.
A clearly delighted Chenman commented, "All through the match we were thinking stay strong and when we went to 8-7 down I really thought we could win it.
"We were a bit nervous in the early stages as we weren't really used to that type of set up and arena. Tom and Marcus have been playing under these types of conditions for years so I knew it would take a little time to adjust.
"When we went 4.1 down the pressure was off a bit and we knew we had nothing to lose.
Of the critical 8 ball in the final rack, Chenman said "I'm a good shot-maker and I was confident I could pull it off. Some parts of my game aren't as good as the top players but I knew I could pull that one off under pressure.
"We were 2/1 to win the match with the bookmakers and the fact that no-one fancied us to win made it all the more satisfying. I think you could say we're very happy with the result!"
In the first match of the session, underdogs Russia turned over the fancied Hungarian pairing of Vilmos Foldes and Gabor Solymosi 9 - 3.
The duo of Konstantins Stepanov and Zolitilov always looked in control and ran out comfortable winners.
The final match of the afternoon never happened as the Indonesian team failed to obtain the necessary visas at the last minute and could not make the journey to Newport.
That put Team Japan into the second round without a ball being struck in anger.
