Snooker World Cup Preview

2015 will mark the return of the World Cup in Snooker, which was off-air since 2011.
The World Cup was a prestigious tournament in the 80's and one of the most popular between the players, with the dominance of British teams and Canada traditional also with two titles won. Then when it came to the 90's the World Cup lost it's prestige, standard wasn't so good at it, nothing was being made trying to expand Snooker to new zones and it finished in 1996, being played only twice in the 90's.


The History:

Defending Champion China, won it for their first time in 2011
with the Great Team Liang Wenbo & Ding Junhui

The team who made history in the past at the World Cup was the Ireland (junction of Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland) of Alex Higgins, Dennis Taylor and Eugene Hughes which conquered three titles in a row from 1985 to 1987. They are the only to have won it three times in a row, of course it counts even more considering it was in the Golden Years of the Cup. England have the record with 4 titles, and also every title came in the 80's - as they won it in 1981, 1984, 1988 and 1989 with Steve Davis being the only one who played in all four occasions.
Canada, country that isn't even one of the 23 nations disputing the World Cup this year, have a rich history at the Tournament. After going one step short in 1980 losing to Wales in the Final, the legendary team of Cliff Thorburn, Kirk Stevens and Bill Werbeniuk won it in 1982 against the England's machine team: Steve Davis, Tony Knowles and Jimmy White. The same team was runner-up in 1986 and 1987 but the prove it wasn't a fluke came in 1990 with Thorburn, Alain Robidoux and Bob Chaperon as they beat Northern Ireland's team in the Final.
Wales won the first two editions, Scotland and China won the last two. The Ranking is like: England 4, All Ireland 3, Wales and Canada 2, Scotland and China 1.



The Expectation for 2015:

Last two World Champions also makes
England's team and they're Red Hot Favorites

Since Barry Hearn and Jason Ferguson got the command, Snooker is now working hard to be a global sport, we're only a couple of steps away now, Snooker have events in many countries receiving a considerable feedback and we're likely to be introduced to the Olympics in 2020.
It was a bit silly that there wasn't a World Cup yet, they tried in 2011 in Thailand but it wasn't successful and the crowd there didn't respond well. Obviously, after 4 years of work on, I'm sure we're now ahead of something the sport has never seen, we shall be amazed with some players we never knew before the World Cup, and I'm sure it will be news all around the World. China gives Snooker a big buzz and this biennial event will be their pearl, so I'm sure the crowd won't disappoint us.
There are people who says 2 players are not a team, I agree with that but to have a leveled Snooker tournament with 23 countries, you got to put on it two players each team. They have a project of increasing this number but we got to be happy already with the fact that the World Cup is back.
Well, if you want to give a tournament some of prestige, obviously you've got to have an history and attract players to play it. Prize Money is very attractive by the way, it's important to have a big prize bringing the World Cup back, and the prize for it is nowhere near disappointing, it gives U$200.000,00 for the winners and U$800.000,00 in total, what means it's the fourth richest tournament on the tour, behind only the Triple Crown Events.



World Cup to replace Wuxi Classic:

Well, in my opinion the Wuxi Classic was the best event in China, it was in a time where Snooker fans were already looking for some Snooker, and most of the players used to attend as well as the crowd who isn't great in China but was good in Wuxi. It was also starting to build some history, rather than the International Championship for example, which despite having a bigger prize money carrying more ranking points, international media don't give it much attention and many players misses it due to the busy time it's placed in the Snooker schedule. So it's a bit disappointing to lose the Wuxi Classic because the World Cup will be a biennial event and there will be Snooker in Wuxi only once each two seasons. Obviously China always wanted a bigger event than the ones they have, and they wasn't up to build one, they wanted something ready for the success and to put this tournament in Wuxi was first glance, but for me it's a bit of shame because we're gonna miss Wuxi every season and it should be great if the World Cup was transitory, because all sports make success having their cup played in a different country every time, I mean, it's a big event, it attracts lots of local attention and it's great for the sport raising many new players, fans and media. Although it's not negative at all, we have now the World Cup back, obviously it comes like a "new event" but I expect a good crowd and hopefully in a few years - principally if we get inside the Olympics - it's even bigger than what it was in the 80's and many nations around the World enters the tournament dreaming of the title. There's only two players by team now, and it makes sense as no country outside China and UK could put more than two players in there playing in that high level, so to have a leveled event we need still to be on two, but this number will surely be increased soon as I've said before, and anyway it's already promising to be a very special moment for the sport, we have now more countries involved in Snooker than we ever had before, I'm sure this event will be talked about all around the World and the Cup itself will be great in terms of prestige and playing level.


China B with players at 14 and 16, Brazil looking for space and Norway to play with married players:
China is awarded with two teams by being the host country, and the last Champion decided to put in the "B" team their promising players, 14 years old Yan Bingtao and 16 years old Zhou Yuelong. I don't know much about Yuelong but as a good Snooker fan I watch every thing I can and I've seen Bingtao in some Asian Tour events and in some Ranking Events playing as a wildcard. I remember he made Quarter Finals of an Asian Tour which had players like Ding Junhui, Liang Wenbo, Xiao Guodong and Cao Yupeng, and I also recall him winning 2 matches in the Shanghai Masters to reach the last 32 as a WildCard to lose only in a decider against former Crucible Runner-Up and multiple Ranking Event winner in Barry Hawkins. What really impressed me about him was that despite the low age, he always plays the right shot and demonstrates an experience that even some old professionals and Top 16 players can't, so he will surely be a tough draw for the others.
Brazil will be between the countries competing, with our only professional Ítaro Santos playing alongside the well known Igor Figueiredo who participated in three seasons as a professional in the past. Obviously both players can do well and we can even dream of pasting the Group Stage, but the players - principally Santos on his debut season - will experience something they've never done: playing live on TV for the whole planet against Top Players. So if they play it with pride and make honour of our nation it should already be good and useful for us by showing Brazil for Snooker and Snooker for Brazil, maybe Snooker even get a very rare space on Brazilian TV during the World Cup. But firstly they get to cope with the "never-experienced" situation before thinking on winning matches and getting famous.
Norway will play with Kurt and Anita Maflin (the only woman in the event). Kurt is enjoying a great moment individually while Anita has been spending more time with their son, although she's not only there because she's Kurt's wife, she's one of the best Norway's Snooker Players ever and has won a few tournaments against men. Kurt said she's back to the practice table, so she can really be competitive out there.

Norway's team with their son, Neon.

The Preview:
The tournament will run in a 4 groups format with six teams in each. Best two teams in each group advances to the Quarter Finals. Points are calculated based on frames won rather than matches won. Full Rules Here.

It's difficult to speak properly about each team and each player, because there are players who I've never heard of before, however here's what I expect from the tournament at all:


Group A
China A (Ding Junhui and Xiao Guodong)
Norway (Kurt Maflin and Anita Maflin)
Singapore (Marvin Lim Chun Kiat and KK Chan)
India (Aditya Mehta and Pankaj Advani)
Malta (Tony Drago and Alex Borg)
Austria (Andreas Ploner and Paul Schopf)

Well, there's no death's group in this World Cup, I think each group has one big contender and another two or three who will be looking for the second place, but it's all tough to judge really because you don't know most of the players who have never played on TV. This one group is interesting, don't think there's any player here in a fantastic moment, but you should expect China A to be on first place, because Ding and Xiao are experienced players (Ding has even won the World Cup before) and adapted to play on the Big Stage, they've made a final of a Ranking Event between themselves. Second place then should be decided between Norway and India, I should say India is favorite to make it through because both players has played on the Tour before - Mehta is currently a professional - with expressive results, although Kurt Maflin has been enjoying great years on his Snooker as a professional also, making his memorable Crucible debut this year losing only in the decider against then defending champion, Mark Selby. And his wife Anita, is a great player by the looks and might surprise us, but her non-experience in the big stage can be crucial.


Group B
Hong Kong (Marco Fu and Au Chi Wai)
Scotland (John Higgins and Stephen Maguire)
Iran (Hossein Vafaei Ayouri and Ehsan Heydari Nezhad)
Malaysia (Thor Chuan Leong and Mohd Reza Hassan)
Brazil (Igor Figueiredo and Ítaro Santos)
Belgium (Luca Brecel and Thomas Skalski)

This Group is very interesting, 1996 Champion Scotland should be favorite to win, both John Higgins - who was in the 1996's team - and Stephen Maguire are playing okay, and we should have an interesting fight for the second place, between Hong Kong, Brazil and Belgium. Marco Fu, Igor Figueiredo and Luca Brecel are players that everybody knows, and they won't find many problems with the lights on, although everyone feels the tension in such a big event, it's their doubles who will be the key. Personally I can't comment about Chi Wai or Thomas Skalski, but about the Brazilian Ítaro Santos I can. He is a great player whose game growth a lot after a time in Germany while he won two Germany Championships and despite not full of skills he would be an okay step for 3 times Brazilian Champion, Igor Figueiredo. I just wonder how Santos can control his feelings, he's just qualified for the Professional Circuit for the first time, and in the 2015 World Championship Qualifiers he suffered a heavy defeat in his first match versus Mike Dunn. Obviously I don't know as much from Ítaro as I do from my friend Igor and he maybe surprises me in the good way, but to be honest if they just play with pride and make honour of our nation I will be satisfied and happy, as I've said before playing against Top Players on TV is most important thing, we're not a traditional country but we're looking to rise our profile.
If Fu finds a bit of form there and if his partner is okay, I should say Hong Kong will book their place between the best 8 teams in the World, but Brazil and Belgium will be challengers and obviously I don't know that much about Malaysia or Iran - by the way Iran's Hossein Vafaei Ayouri looks good from what I've heard - so it's very uncertain.



Group C
Australia (Neil Robertson and Vinnie Calabrese)
Wales (Mark Williams and Michael White)
Pakistan (Hamza Akbar and Muhammad Sajjad)
Qatar (Ahmed Saif and Ali Alobaidaly)
Poland (Mateusz Baranowski and Adam Stefanow)
Northern Ireland (Gerard Greene and Joe Swail)

This Group of course, has 3 Times Champion Northern Ireland and Twice Champion Wales, both teams will have players in good form, obviously Mark Allen is a big miss on the Irish team but Joe Swail is enjoying his Snooker and Gerard Greene - whose in 2011 was runner-up with Allen - has also been in good form, of course not like he was in 2013/14 but still did a good season. Wales' team is hard to talk about, Michael White has been on his best year yet, won back-to-back titles including his first Ranking Event victor, but lost in the Qualifiers for the Crucible and in the other hand Williams also had a good season but lost 2-10 in the Crucible's first Round against compatriot Stevens, and has a painful right shoulder on which he will face a surgery next month. So, considering Northern Ireland is favorite for the first place, Australia - runner-up in 1988 - with both professionals Neil Robertson and Vinnie Calabrese, is the other pretender for a Quarter Final place. Neil Robertson didn't enjoy as much silverware last season as he would like to after a great 2013/14, but he's a former World Champion himself and was only the eighth player to complete a triple crown; Calabrese lost his place on the tour this year but immediately recovered it by winning an Asian/Aussie Championship, and from what I've seen of him he's such a capable player with lots of skills, so depending on how good Wales does, Australia should be Quarter Finalist because they have two capable players.


Group D
England (Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham)
Republic of Ireland (Ken Doherty and Fergal O’Brien)
China B (Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao)
Thailand (Dechawat Poomjaeng and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh)
UAE (Khalid Alkamali and Mohamed Shehab)
Germany (Lukas Kleckers and Felix Frede)

The key thing in this cup in my opinion, is about performing well in such a big stage. You're playing live on TV for the whole planet, against Worldwide famous players. So for all those players who don't have this kind of experience it's all about coping with that, this group of course is all the way going to 4 Times Champion England, which has the last two Crucible winners Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham. Selby might be below pair as he disappointed at the World Championship and for most of the 2014/15 season also but he knows to hold a cue and perform in front of big crowds and TV audiences, so playing along ultra-confident Bingham they're clean favorite for the Group. I don't think they're going to be crowned champions but for this Group, surely leader. Ireland with former World Champion Doherty and experienced O`Brien (both losers against Scotland at 1996's Final) should be favorite to be second place thanks to their experience, but we have a strong Thailand's team as well, and personally from what I've watched from Yan Bingtao and heard of Zhou Yuelong, the China B team can really upset here.
I don't know about the UAE's players, but just like every known-less teams at this Cup, they can surprise us and score a couple of wins or even be at the Knock-Out Stages.


Tournament Winner: Scotland has to be my pick for the title, as they have both players playing satisfactorily and John Higgins also have won the World Cup and will surely hardly want to do it again. He's also the biggest name in the Event, a four times World Champion and Triple Crown conqueror, just found his form back this year winning the Welsh Open and now has more confidence. His double, Stephen Maguire, did a great 2014 winning an European Tour and the World's six reds as well as reaching to the Semis in a couple of Triple Crown tournaments. You should ask me why I'm not choosing England but to be honest, Selby's game is just not there and at the decisive moments he just can't get it right. You can follow the group tables here with periodical updates.



It's it from me, sorry if I didn't make justice with any player or team, but I don't really know a few of them and I couldn't talk that much about, but I'm looking forward to this as much as I get for the Triple Crown events and I hope occasion doesn't get anyone and everybody plays well.
Obviously I'll comeback here in the blog still to talk about the World Cup, maybe for Group Stage's Review and Tournament's Review, but be sure you'll follow every piece of it as it happens by liking our Facebook Page.