World Cup Of Pool (9-14 May2021) $250K Prizemoney

spartan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
So what you're saying is USA has a shot?
Not much of a shot - they have very tough draw in last quadrant cos they have to clear Philippines , Great Britain A to get into semis

Semifinalists
Russia or Japan or Slovakia > I like Slovakia
Holland or Finland or Greece > Finland
Poland or Germany > Poland
USA or Philippines or Great Britain A > Great Britain A
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Something similar happened with a call in the Championship League Pool - it was called a bad hit but it was an obviously wrong call, and they said it could not be reviewed. I understand that you don’t want players arguing with calls, but in this case the table ref could have discussed it with the timer and decided to let this shot stand. It didn’t impact the shot at all. They could have just let the other team shoot rather than giving ball in hand.
Guess I understand where Matchroom is coming from here. After all, they set the standard when it comes to keeping the play moving and don't want time wasting controversies.

That said, this was an instance of the referee committing an error in procedure and I'd suggest than in this extremely rare instance, an exception should be made. Bad calls happen and I'm just about OK with disallowing a challenge. Errors in procedure are different. An improbable error in referee procedure occurred at the Predator Championship League event, and in one case, the nine ball was racked as the corner ball. Imagine if that had been double hill and the nine went in on the break.

I just don't feel that players should ever be victimized by procedural errors committed by the referees.
 

skogstokig

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Semifinalists
Russia or Japan or Slovakia > I like Slovakia
Holland or Finland or Greece > Finland
Poland or Germany > Poland
USA or Philippines or Great Britain A > Great Britain A

didn't japan and russia play well? they should be favourites imo
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
well they have the best shot in many years, since taiwan, china, and the top pinoys are absent. between them i think they have the most trophies, esp china
This looks pretty wide open. It's reminiscent of the Mosconi Cup of 2020 in that few are playing well in their first match. However, just as was the case at the Mosconi, the level of play is sure to rise and I think we'll start seeing the best players (at least the ones that are still left) getting into stroke.
 

Monti

Active member
Not much of a shot - they have very tough draw in last quadrant cos they have to clear Philippines , Great Britain A to get into semis

Semifinalists
Russia or Japan or Slovakia > I like Slovakia
Holland or Finland or Greece > Finland
Poland or Germany > Poland
USA or Philippines or Great Britain A > Great Britain A
Hope you didn’t put too much on Poland!
 

MattPoland

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
I didn’t bet but Spain was my pick to win it. Quite the shocker.

Even Filler started showing some weakness in his match missing balls and failing elementary safeties.

What an odd year.
 

YoungAtHeart

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
The field is weak this year (not in terms of ability but in lack of experience in playing in these kind of tournaments) so they actually have half a chance of doing ok. Darren has been playing English pool recently and not played stellar. Karl will tell us he has not picked up a cue but I doubt that's entirely true. Not the most deserving entry on form but it's certainly good for the tournament to have two more big names in there.

I think the alternatives were to convince two UK based Chinese snooker players to give it a go (they would be competitive at 9 ball) or find a couple of semi-recognisable pros from another country who just happen to be in the UK (which would likely be the case in London in normal times but not during covid times).

It will.be interesting to see whether they take it seriously and dig deep, or see it as a freeroll. Either way I'm looking forward to it.
Mark Gray & Imran Majid would of been a more deserving option
 

Swighey

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Mark Gray & Imran Majid would of been a more deserving option
Yep, couldn't agree more. I guess with one day notice Boyes was already there and they just needed one more player to get there. I certainly don't begrudge them - Darren in particular has given so much back to the game.
 

MattPoland

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Why does Great Britain get 3 teams?
It starts with it being Matchroom’s event and they get to do whatever they want with it. So in addition to having a competitive team, they also put a women’s team in because fans like seeing it as proven by the CLP event and it’s easy logistically to add another team from the home country. Out of interest, I bet they pull in a strong women’s team from China one year because people want to see that real bad.

Then COVID-related travel issues made some issues with teams not able to come so adding another home country team is again logistically easy. And Appleton/Boyes are easy picks because they are Matchroom staples. Matchroom loves staple players that play ball with them.
 

sjm

Older and Wiser
Silver Member
Why does Great Britain get 3 teams?
For starters, the host nation at the World Cup of Pool has always gotten two teams.

This year, Albania withdrew from the event the day before it began, and Matchroom had to move fast. Boyes was already on hand as a commentator. Appleton, who lives about two hours drive from the event, spoke of how he had to rush to the venue and get tested in order to be ready to participate. I applaud Matchroom for finding a team to replace Team Albania at a moment's notice.

Yes, having three teams from the UK does look a bit silly, but it was a sensible solution.
 

Bob Jewett

AZB Osmium Member
Staff member
Gold Member
Silver Member
So I guess Darren Appleton no longer lives in the U.S?
I'm pretty sure they go by citizenship rather than residence. That's pretty standard for international events that have "country of player" ties.
 

westcoast

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
For starters, the host nation at the World Cup of Pool has always gotten two teams.

This year, Albania withdrew from the event the day before it began, and Matchroom had to move fast. Boyes was already on hand as a commentator. Appleton, who lives about two hours drive from the event, spoke of how he had to rush to the venue and get tested in order to be ready to participate. I applaud Matchroom for finding a team to replace Team Albania at a moment's notice.

Yes, having three teams from the UK does look a bit silly, but it was a sensible solution.
Makes sense in some ways considering Albania canceled.
 
For starters, the host nation at the World Cup of Pool has always gotten two teams.

This year, Albania withdrew from the event the day before it began, and Matchroom had to move fast. Boyes was already on hand as a commentator. Appleton, who lives about two hours drive from the event, spoke of how he had to rush to the venue and get tested in order to be ready to participate. I applaud Matchroom for finding a team to replace Team Albania at a moment's notice.

Yes, having three teams from the UK does look a bit silly, but it was a sensible solution.

France replaced Albania, UK3 replace Canada
 
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spartan

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
Lots of good matches today Day 3
Philippines v Great Britain B now -Deluna/ Gomez vs Fishers
I can smell what the Fishers are cooking. They are cooking an UPSET :ROFLMAO:

Day3.JPG
 
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