Ralf Souquet and Dominic Jentsch
Finland 7-2 Austria
Korea 7-2 Estonia
Germany 7-4 Malta
Defending champions Finland – Mika Immonen and Petri Makkonen - are through to the second round of the 888.com World Cup of Pool following a comfortable 7-2 win over Austria as the six-day tournament got underway at the York Hall in East London.
They won five racks in a row from 2-1 down to seal victory, after Austria, represented by Jasmine and Albin Ouschan, looked set to go 3-1 ahead. Jasmine, though, miscued pocketing the brown 7 and lost position. Trying to catch up left her with a tough cut on the 9 ball which she left in the jaws of the corner pocket.
After that the tide turned as the confident Finnish duo sprinted for the line.
“It’s always tough in the first match. We were a bit jittery and they had a chance for 3-1 but it was a tough one for Jasmine on the 9 and she jarred it. We got in control, didn’t look back and closed door,” said Mika Immonen.
“We’re happy to get over the first hurdle. It was nerve-wracking but we’re just trying to stay positive for next match.” He added.
The 2013 888.com World Cup of Pool runs from Tuesday September 17 to Sunday, September 22 at the famous York Hall in Bethnal Green, East London. The field features 32 teams from 31 countries in a single elimination format. The total prize fund is US$250,000 with $60,000 going to the eventual champions.
Korea (Ham Won Sik and Ryu Seung Woo), a semi-finalist in Manila in 2011, progressed to the round of 16 with a win over European qualifiers Estonia made up of Erki Erm and Dennis Grabe. It was an error-strewn match that never looked like catching fire and there were countless ball in hand opportunities in the first half of the game, as neither side really took advantage of them.
The Koreans though surged ahead in the closing stages to take the match and can look forward to a round two match against Finland.
The final match of the session saw Germany put paid to Maltese hopes with a 7-4 win. The German pair of veteran Ralf Souquet and debutant Dominic Jentsch were fancied from the off but soon found themselves 4-1 down to Tony Drago and Alex Borg.
As with most turnarounds, it hinged on a single incident when Tony Drago, thinking that the Germans had made no contact with the object ball, picked the cue ball up and positioned it.
However, there was no such foul committed, and the ball in hand went to the Germans who converted the rack. From there, they didn’t miss as they took the next five for the victory.
Commented Souquet, “The score was 4-1 to them and we were hoping for mistake as we just couldn’t get going. They had some nice easy outs so we had to hope for something but didn’t expect that!
“We’re going to relax and try and stay focused as our next match won’t be any easier. We will work on our game, mainly on our breaks but when it comes to shooting we are ready,” he added.
Play continues this evening with three more first round matches:
Holland v Scotland
England B v Portugal
Philippines v Croatia
For live streaming of the 888.com World Cup of Pool go to http://www.pool.livesport.tv/home
The 2013 World Cup of Pool runs from 17 – 22 September and takes place at the York Hall, London. For those wanting to watch the action in person, all tickets are available from www.seetickets.com (Search ‘World Cup of Pool’)
