Germany 7 - 1 Malaysia
Canada 7 - 1 Malta
Switzerland 7-3 Belgium
THERE were comfortable wins for Germany, Canada and Switzerland at the 2014 Betway World Cup of Pool as the opening session of day three unwound at the Mountbatten Centre, Portsmouth. There is just one more round one game remaining as India and England B slug it out in the opening game of Thursday evening.
In the opening game, 2011 champions Germany - Thorsten Hohmann and Ralf Souquet - had too much for Malaysia, represented by Alan Tan and Ibrahim Amir, as they coasted to a 7-1 victory.
"We're obviously very happy with the result and the performance," said a delighted Hohmann.
"I missed a bank shot in the first rack but after that we didn't make too many mistakes. We got a little fortunate getting balls after the break, that is very important and we were able to string a few racks together so that helped our confidence.
"We are still trying to figure out the speed of the table but I think this match will set us up positively for the rest of the tournament," he added.
His partner Souquet said, "The break is huge. We were a little fortunate after the breaks to get a shot on the lowest ball, and twice it was tight but we were able to get out and string three or four racks together and that was key."
The Germans will be playing Canada in the second round after Alex Pagulayan and John Morra looked in good shape as they took care of late subs Malta by 7-1. Tony Drago and Alex Borg have had little luck over the years in the Betway World Cup and that continued as they crashed out of the event. The Maltese pair had come in for Vietnam who had travel difficulties and could not make it to Portsmouth.
Commented John Morra: "We haven't had a lot of chance to play together in the build up to this tournament but we have played together in this tournament before so we know where we are at.
"Against Germany we will have to stick to our game plan. We both played them both in individual tournaments and we all have wins over each other. If we repeat what we did today then we should be ok."
In the final match of the session, Switzerland completed a trio of one-sided wins as they overcame another substitute team, Belgium, who were replacing Thailand. The duo of Ronni Regli and Dimitri Jungo have recorded some decent wins in previous editions of the event, and they looked solid enough today, although Serge Das and Olivier Mortier gifted some chances. They can now look forward to a round two match against Holland tomorrow afternoon.
"We are looking forward to playing Holland, the reason we are in the tournament is to play against the best players," said Regli.
Jungo added, "Holland are one of the favourites but in the last two years we have won against some of the best teams in this tournament."
Now in its ninth year, the Betway World Cup of Pool features 32 two-player teams from around the world battling it out for a $250,000 prize fund. The defending champions are the Philippines who will be among the favourites to claim a record-breaking fourth World Cup.
All tickets are priced at £5 (afternoons) and £10 evenings and are available from the venue or www.seetickets.com
Diamond Billiards are the Official Table of the 2014 World Cup of Pool; the Official Cloth is supplied by Iwan Simonis and the Official Balls are Super Aramith. Predator is the Official Cue of the event.
Luke Riches, Matchroom Sport: luke.riches@matchroom.com
Notes: Matchroom Sport are one of the world's leading producers of televised sport and are responsible for over 1,000 hours of original programming across a range of sports. Based in the UK and chaired by charismatic founder Barry Hearn, the World Cup of Pool is one of a stable of pool events that include the World Pool Masters and the Mosconi Cup.