World Cup of Pool: Super Poland Paste the Belgians – Lacklustre Chinese Taipei Take Win

POLAND put in one of the best performances so far at the PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool as they restricted the Belgian pair of Serge Das and Pascal Budo to the role of spectators, running out 8-0 winners at the SM Mall North Annex in Manila.
 
The pairing of Radoslaw Babica and Mateusz Sniegocki, currently ranked 19th and 15th in Europe respectively, looked in tip top shape as they kept the Belgians in their chairs, allowing them up for occasional visits to escape from safeties.
 
Belgium got to the table in the third but Budo, making his World Cup of Pool debut, scratched to give ball in hand to the Poles. It was the story of the match for the Belgians.
 
The ever-youthful looking Babica, once known as the Choirboy, but now a seasoned pro, and his team mate Sniegocki looked in fine fettle as they ran out the third to leave Belgium in trouble.
 
There was no respite as the Poles ran through the racks and with a white-wash on the cards, they kept their foot firmly on the pedal to run out clear winners. They now meet Chinese Taipei in the second round.
 
“I know Chinese Taipei will be favourites in our second round match but we watched them earlier and they made a few mistakes. So, if we can play like this we have a real chance,” said Babica.
 
“For us, this will be a good chance to show our countrymen that we can win something and we will be doing our best.”
 
EARLIER CHINESE Taipei won a hard fought match 8-6 against Singapore to advance to the next round but it wasn't pretty as both teams struggled to get anything going.
 
The team consisted of Ching-Shun Yang, a consistent performer at the highest level over the years, and Chia-hsiung Lai, who last played in a Matchroom Sport pool event back in 2001 when he appeared in the World Pool Masters (coincidentally also in  shopping mall).
 
That followed a great run at the WPC the previous July where he went all the way to the semis only to be beaten by Ralf Souquet. Since then he has more or less disappeared off the international scene until this week.
 
The pair didn't seem to gel but had enough to get past the dogged Singaporean pair of Toh Lian Han and Chan Keng Kwang.
 
In fact, Singapore looked in the driving seat as they broke at 6-6 in what was effectively a race to two. There was a dry break though and that seemed to sum up Singapore's day.