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With the start of the 2004 Taiwan World Pool Championship just over three weeks away, the draw for the opening round groups has been made and there are plenty of tough matches in prospect.
116 competitors representing 42 countries have been announced to date with the remaining 12 players to come through from pre-tournament qualifying events.
The first round in Taipei consists of 16 groups comprising eight players with each group headed by two seeds. The remaining six players are then drawn out of the bag based on geographical areas.
No.1 seed and defending champion, Thorsten Hohmann, heads up Group 1 where he will face the likes of Ramil Gallego of the Philippines and the USA's Shawn Putnam.
Further down, one of the toughest groups appears to be Group 4 where Ching-shun Yang (Chinese Taipei), Markko Lohtander of Finland, America's Tony Crosby, Filipino hot-shot Lee Van Corteza, Michael Schmidt of Germany and England's fast improving Daryl Peach will all be vying for the four slots in the last 64 knock-out.
First Round matches start on Saturday 10th July and conclude on Tuesday 13th - Judgement Day!
Groups List:
Group 1
Thorsten Hohmann Germany
Alan Rolon Puerto Rico
Shawn Putnam USA
Ramil Gallego Philippines
Erik Weiselius Sweden
Marco Tschudi Switzerland
Giovanni Orozco Costa Rica
Taipei Qualifier 1
Group 2
Efren Reyes Philippines
Tony Drago Malta
Corey Harper USA
Shintaro Sugaya Japan
Thomas Hasch Germany
Markus Juva Finland
Alok Kumar India
Taipei Qualifier 9
Group 3
Earl Strickland USA
Takeshi Okumura Japan
Marco Valencia Panama
Patrick Ooi Fook Malaysia
Radoslaw Babica Poland
Vittorio De Falco Italy
Dave Reljic Australia
Kevin Uzzell England
Group 4
Ching-shun Yang Chinese Taipei
Markko Lohtander Finland
Tony Crosby USA
Lee Van Corteza Philippines
Michael Schmidt Germany
Daryl Peach England
Gustavo Espinoza Argentina
Taipei Qualifier 10
Group 5
Johnny Archer USA
Tom Storm Sweden
Al Logan Canada
Seung-woo Ryu Korea
Imran Majid England
Yulan Govender South Africa
Hanni Al-Howri UAE
Taipei Qualifier 3
Group 6
Mika Immonen Finland
Charlie Williams USA
Cliff Thorburn Canada
Chin-Ching Kang Chinese Taipei
Christian Reimering Germany
Michael Valentine Scotland
Emile Reira Australia
James Kay England
Group 7
Francisco Bustamante Philippines
Thomas Engert Germany
Steve Lillis USA
Pei-Wei Chang Chinese Taipei
David Alcaide Spain
Marco Barcarcic Slovenia
Phil Wilkinson Australia
Taipei Qualifier 5
Group 8
Alex Pagulayan Canada
Che-wei Fu Chinese Taipei
John Schmidt USA
Ibrahim Bin Amir Malaysia
Rico Diks Holland
Tommy Donlon Ireland
Richard Wolff Aruba
Taipei Qualifier 8
Group 9
Ralf Souquet Germany
Steve Davis England
Mike Davis USA
Alan Tan Malaysia
Vilmos Foldes Hungary
Pat Holtz Scotland
Kamarudin Yudharman Indonesia
Taipei Qualifier 2
Group 10
Fong-pang Chao Chinese Taipei
Warren Kiamco Philippines
Danny Harriman USA
Hiroshi Takenaka Japan
Stefan Sellberg Finland
Martin Kempter Austria
Jimmy Henry New Zealand
BPPO Qualifier
Group 11
Hui-kai Hsia Chinese Taipei
Alex Lely Holland
Ernesto Dominguez Mexico
Akikumo Toshikawa Japan
Marc Holtz Luxembourg
Andreja Klasovic Serbia & Montenegro
Siaw Wieto Indonesia
Raj Hundal England
Group 12
Oliver Ortmann Germany
Rodney Morris USA
Chris Orme Canada
Hung-hsiang Wang Chinese Taipei
Thorsten Schober Germany
David Anderson South Africa
Nigerian Qualfier Nigeria
Kevin Smith Engalnd
Group 13
Niels Feijen Holland
Shin-young Park Korea
Frank Alvarez USA
Hisashi Yamamoto Japan
Raymond Hauge Norway
Gabriel Carral Spain
Matthew McInnes New Zealand
Taipei Qualifier 6
Group 14
Satoshi Kawabata Japan
Marcus Chamat Sweden
Max Eberle USA
Jang-su Lee Korea
Fabio Petroni Italy
Ivica Putnik Croatia
John Lopez Peru
Taipei Qualifier 4
Group 15
Young-hwa Jeong Korea
Kunihiko Takahashi Japan
Luc Salvas Canada
Chia-ching Wu Chinese Taipei
Niclas Bergendorff Sweden
Konstantin Stepanov Russia
Phil Reilly Australia
Sascha Trautmann Germany
Group 16
Jeremy Jones USA
Jose Parica Philippines
Lino Castillo Panama
Po-cheng Kuo Chinese Taipei
Nick van den Berg Holland
Kasper Kristoffersson Denmark
Surathep Phoochalam Thailand
Taipei Qualifier 7
