The
quarterfinal pairings for the 2011 World Cup of Pool has been set and all 8
teams have a good shot in bagging this year’s crown. Here are the previews for
each match-up:
Sweden vs. Korea
Previous
opponents:
Sweden:
vs. (16) Indonesia 8-7; vs. Switzerland 8-6
Korea:
vs. (8) Spain 8-5; vs. (9) Japan 8-6
Marcus Chamat
& Thomas Mehtala (Sweden) faces a similarly streaking Lee Gun Jae &
Hwang Yong of Korea. Both teams were not ranked high in this tournament but 3
seeds have been eliminated by the 2 pairings. Among the four, Chamat is the
most accomplished individually while the 3 others are not as known yet outside
their respective countries. This pairing will be the dubbed as the battle of
the underdogs. With the form that both teams are playing expect to see a close
match.
Prediction:
Sweden 9 – Korea 5
(5) Philippines B vs. (4) Germany
Previous
opponents:
Philippines
B: vs. Kuwait 8-4; vs. India 8-5
Germany:
vs. Australia 8-0; vs. Malaysia 8-3
This
is one of the most anticipated quarterfinal match-ups. Efren Reyes and
Francisco Bustamante face Ralf Souquet & Thorsten Hohmann. The
Philippines Team B won the World Cup in 2009. They are probably one of the
oldest teams in the entire competition. Souquet, who recently won the World
Pool Masters at the same venue as the World Cup of Pool, banners Germany. It
will be hard to pick the winner of this match but Bata and Django might have
some sort of home court advantage. One can expect a very close match full of
lead changes.
Prediction:
Philippines B 9 – Germany 7
Thailand vs. (11) Poland
Previous
opponents:
Thailand: vs.
(14) Holland 8-4; vs. Estonia 8-4
Poland:
vs. Vietnam 8-0; vs. Singapore 8-3
Thailand’s
Nitiwat
Kanjanasri-Kobkit Palajin pairing is one of the biggest surprises in the
tournament as they beat European teams Estonia and Holland with a similar 8-4
scores. They face a Polish team represented by Karol Skowerski & Radoslaw
Babica. Poland has defeated 2 straight Southeast Asian teams. Whose streak will
continue?
Prediction:
Thailand 6 – Poland 9
(7) Taiwan vs. (2) Philippines A
Previous
opponents:
Taiwan: vs.
Russia 8-4; vs. (10) Italy 8-7
Philippines A:
vs. Austria 8-2; vs. (15) Canada 8-6
The other big
match of the day will be between Dennis
Orcollo & Ronnie Alcano of the Philippines and Ko Pin-yi & Ko
Ping-chun of Chinese-Taipei. Orcullo is currently the World No.1 ranked pool
player. Alcano is a former world 9-ball champ. 22 year old Ko Pin-yi is the
recent winner of the Guiness World Series of Pool while 15 year old brother is
a recent Japan Open runner-up. This match can certainly go either way.
Prediction:
Taiwan 8 – Philippines A 9
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