Two more national teams for this year's World Cup of Pool qualified
Monday, July 11, 2011: Team Switzerland and Team Estonia will be on the starting list when this year's World Cup of Pool will commence. Team Switzerland, consisting of Dimitri Jungo and Ronald Regli, defeated Team Hungary in the deciding match 8:3. The Swiss team will be joined by Team Estonia, represented by Dennis Grabe and Erki Erm. They defeated Team Denmark with a heartbreak result of 8:7.
13 teams competed in the qualifying event which was held in Hotel Alpina in Alpendorf, St. Johann in Austria today. These nations were Belgium I, Belgium II, Denmark, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Macedonia, Norway I, Norway II, Norway III, Scotland, Slovenia and Switzerland. All of these teams tried to grasp a spot in the prestigious 2011 World Cup of Pool which is organized by Matchroom Sport. The event will be held September 6 through 11 in Manila, Philippines, and will carry a prize fund of 250.000,- US$.
It already showed in the early rounds that Team Switzerland and Team Denmark were two very hot favourites for earning the ticket into the event. Both of them played constantly on a very high level and it could be seen that the teams Jungo/Regli and Lotfy/Larsen really were on a mission here today. So it was no surprise that both teams earned a spot in the final matches without losing a match so far. Switzerland defeated Macedonia, Ireland and Estonia while Denmark won over Norway III, Belgium II and Norway I. The two finalists were waiting on two other teams who had to fight their way through the loser's side.
Looking at the loser's bracket, the biggest upset of the day was the elimination of team Scotland with Jayson Shaw and Johnny Fulcher. Being probably one of the frontrunner teams in the beginning, the highlanders lost their first match 7:8 against Belgium II. Then they won two matches in a row, kicking Norway III and Ireland out of the event. In the round before earning a shot at challenging one of the two winning teams, the Scottish met team Hungary. The Hungarians made no prisoners. They did not allow Shaw/Fulcher to even take one single rack off them. 8:0 was the result in the end and a very disappointed team Scotland was executed from the qualifying event.
The two teams who made it into the finals against Denmark and Switzerland were Team Hungary and Team Estonia. The Estonians took on Team Denmark and the Hungarians had to deal with team Switzerland. While Team Switzerland left no chance for team Hungary, the duel between Estonia and Denmark turned out to be a heartbreaker. The Estonian's took a quick 4:1 lead over Denmark and things looked very promising for them although they came from the loser's side. Estonia lost in the semi-final 6:8 against the strong Swiss team. The Danish team managed to fight back and was able to tie the match at 6:6. Then, the Estonian's proved to have the better nerves and went on the hill first, leading 7 games to 6. Denmark followed them straight away, making it a hill-hill match at 7:7. In the final rack, after safeties were handed back and forth, Estonia turned out to be the luckier team and won the match and the ticket to Manila with 8:7.
The event was hosted by the European Governing Body for Pool, the European Pocket Billiard Federation (EPBF) and organized by International Billiard Promotion (IBP). For further information and reference please go to the event website www.eurotouronline.eu , follow us on twitter @EPBF_News or contact our press office.
