Gijs van Helmond and Roy Gerard will represent Holland B at the forthcoming PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool after they won through a tough qualifying event in Rotterdam last Sunday 21st September.
The dynamic duo overcame the experienced pairing of Alex Lely and Rico Diks 8-5 in the final to make their way into the 32 team event which takes place from 7-12 October at Outland Nightclub in Rotterdam.
There they will face a tough opening round match against the Taiwanese side consisting of 2005 World Champion Chia-Ching Wu and Hung-hsiang Wang on the evening of Wednesday 8th October.
With the host nation allowed two teams in the competition, current World Straight Pool Champion Niels Feijen and European No.5 Nick Van Den Berg will also fly the flag for Holland A as they face off against bitter rivals Belgium on the opening night of the event.
With just eight teams taking part in the qualifier, the emphasis was firmly on quality rather than quantity with the likes of Hudji See and Gilliano Smit competing as well as the multi-titled Lely and Diks.
Taking place at the Capelle Pool and Snooker Centre, Rotterdam, the format was double elimination, race to 8, scotch doubles.
Considered outsiders in the event, van Helmond (Nijmegen) and Gerards (Maastricht) overcame Uytenbogaardt and de Vries 8-7 in the semi-final match before taking care of Diks and Lely 8-5 to secure their spot in the World Cup.
With a total prize fund of $250,000 including $60,000 going to the winning pair, van Helmond and Gerard will have nothing to lose and everything to gain when the action gets underway on October 7th.
Taking place over twelve sessions over six days, tickets for the 2008 World Cup of Pool are priced as follows:
All weekday afternoon sessions: FREE
Weekend afternoon sessions: €3.00
All evening sessions: €5.00
An event-long pass is also available for only €25.00
All tickets are available from the Official Website of the Dutch National Pool Federation
