The World Cup is coming up!

There has been greater interest this year in comparison to 2015, especially when we saw winners Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao (representing China B) go from strength to strength by moving up the rankings. Ideally, this year is going to be more prestigious, higher quality and greater pressure, indeed?

I have already written at great length about what I think of the World Cup – here is the link: FEATURED: World Cup – is it a great or a flawed idea? In short, the World Cup has a lot of potential, but it is searching for its identity. But I would really appreciate it if you clicked on the link! 🙂

Also, the Wuxi draw was released and here it is! Further information is on this link: http://www.worldsnooker.com/world-cup-group-tables-2/

Lots to cover, especially taking into account of the previous World Cup results. It’s a long task, but hey, I went through a redundancy, which is followed by many interviews and eventually got a job – I CAN TAKE ON ANYTHING MWAHAHAHAHAHA-ha. Hmmm.

Group A

Defending champions China B take the baton to head this group and compared to 2015 are more powerful than ever. In 2015, Zhou was No. 75 in the world while Yan was still at school, doing double-Biology at 9:00am or whatever it is they do there. Now they are No.32 and No. 56 in the rankings and reached two quarter-finals in two ranking events between them. But this is a true test of their character. Not forgetting that they were beaten by England in the group stages in the last World Cup, this will be intriguing to see if one of them or even both will crack under pressure, especially on their home turf.

Form-wise, the people from the valleys couldn’t be much better. Mark Williams is trying a few techniques to rejuvenate his career and in the first ranking tournament he reached the semi-finals, only to be stopped by teammate Ryan Day 5-4, who as we all know went on to win his first ranking title in Riga. Last year, Mark Williams and former teammate Michael White were beaten in 4-3 to China B in the semi-finals in the 2015 World Cup, which means there is a lot more of lovely backstory than that garbage called Love Island.

On paper, it does look like teams Wales and China B have an easy group here, since none of their opponents ever advanced to the quarter-finals in 2015, as well as Norway, losing their seeded status. But this doesn’t mean there won’t be any surprises. Former Brazil pros Igor (check how to spell his surname) Figueiredo and Itaro Santos have beaten finalists Scotland in the group stage and newcomers Finland (represented by Shoot-Out winner Robin Hull and promising youngster Heikki Niva can cause an upset. Norway looks to be the most dangerous with No. 52 Kurt Maflin as well with 9-time national champion and great beard-wearer Christopher Watts. However, Malaysia,(No. 109 Thor Chuan Leong and former pro Moh Keen Ho), finished bottom of their group last year. Wales and China B should pull through, but Finland could spring a surprise!

Nå starter min kinaeventyr, Snooker World Cup begynne på mandag – Spesiell takk til Oddbjørn Bolkan og Leirvik Taxi A/S for reisestøttet!!

— Chris Schou Watts (@Wattsybeast) June 30, 2017

Update: According to Twitter, Chris Watts claims he had broken his cue on transit. Hope it doesn’t damage his chances too much.

Group B

China A have proved that they are a tight-knit team! Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo topped their World Cup group before, only to be defeated by Scottish pair John Higgins and Stephen Maguire. They finished comfortably by whitewashing Singapore, Austria and Norway as well as defeating India and Malta in deciding frames, but unfortunately for them, they have the group of death here.

Belgian pair Luca Brecel and Tomasz Skalski reached the quarter-finals last year, before being beaten by Indian pair Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta. Now with a new partner in Jeff Jacobs who reached the last 32 of the World Amateur Championship, Luca Brecel will be hungry for this indeed. This will be Germany’s second appearance in the World Cup and for the first time, they have a professional in their midst. Lukas Kleckers has caused quite a stir in Riga a few weeks ago by beating Neil Robertson 4-3 and will come into their tournament with great confidence, along with 19 year-old amateur Simon Litchenberg. Egypt will make their debut in the World Cup, but unfortunately, they do not have the strength in depth compared to their opponents. Hatem Yassen recently dropped out of tour not having won a single match and teammate Basem Eltahhan hasn’t had much outside of his continent.

Hopefully, Republic of Ireland pair Ken Doherty and Fergal O’Brien will actually have their cues! Last time, their cues and cases didn’t arrive and Doherty mentioned in his latest interview that they had to share one they had borrowed from the Iran team! It would be very interesting to see if it makes any difference, since they finished 4th in their previous group behind China B, Thailand and England. Last one to mention is Hong Kong, who despite missing out of a quarter-final place last time are seeded 5th in this event. No. 6 and three-time ranking winner Marco and 47 year-old Au-Chi-wai are back for a second crack. They had success as a pair before, as they won the silver medal in the snooker doubles event at the 2002 Asian Games in Busan, South Korea. I reckon it will be between Hong Kong and the Republic of Ireland to join China A.

Group C

Not entirely sure why when England failed to get out of their group stage last time they are ranked above six teams who reached the quarter-finals but that’s just being petty.

England was knocked out by China B and Thailand in unfortunate circumstances, despite all winning four matches apiece but rather knocked out based on their losing result against Thailand. Out of Mark Selby and former World Champion Stuart Bingham and in with Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins, who have 10 ranking titles between them. You’d think with Trump’s potting and positional skills and Barry’s terrific safety and level-headedness would compliment each other rather well, especially since they get on very well indeed. This is a stronger team than before since Stuart was feeling the pressure of being a new World Champion at the time and they have an easier group than last time.

What a holiday that was.. time to get ready for the World Cup now next week in China 🇨🇳 me and @TheHawk147 gonna take it down

— Judd Trump (@juddtrump) June 27, 2017

Australia or ‘Team Robertson’ (sorry, that was in jest), are hoping to go a couple better than their quarter-final place in 2015. Since former teammate Vinnie Calabrese is no longer on the tour, it is 2016 Oceania Championship winner Kurt Dunham who takes his place. A confident player who has sacrificed a lot to try and break into the elite, has had a tough first season as a pro, winning only two matches against Christopher Keogan and Alex Borg. This is a fantastic opportunity for both players to play to each other’s strengths and who know – can be a turning point for Kurt’s career.

Every team in this group has at least one professional. Debutants Switzerland has one of my one-to-watches Alex Ursenbacher accompanying Darren Paris, Malta has Alex Borg with current Maltese amateur champion Duncan Bezzina, Pakistan have No. 112 Hamza Akbar with teammate Shahram Changezi and lastly, and perhaps more dangerously, professionals No. 59 Hossein Vafaei and newbie Soheil Vahedi. Unfortunately, I do not have much information on the other amateurs. But with both Vafaei and Vahedi regularly practising together, the pair could be a dark horse here and Pakistan finished 3rd in their group by only one point behind Australia last year, so they cannot be ruled out.

Group D

Scotland returns to go one better this time. With the two best players Scotland has to offer in legend of the game John Higgins and prodigy Anthony McGill, they look to be very strong contenders. However, to do have newly seeded Northern Ireland to contend with. Northern Ireland did not fare well two years ago, finishing 4th behind Wales, Australia and Pakistan but Mark Allen and Joe Swail both return to do better. Both have come back from very disappointing seasons: Allen finished only 22nd in the one-year rankings, leaving him to be unable to defend his Players Championship title and Joe Swail’s poor performances led him to being dropped out of tour but immediately returned by qualifying through Q School. This can do either way for me here, but there is a lot of camaraderie between the pair, which will of course work in their favour.

On way to China for the World Cup,representing Northern Ireland along with @pistol147..will be fun and hope to go far.. @gsfoamconcrete

— Joe Swail (@joeswail) June 30, 2017

Thailand and India are two strong teams that reached the quarter-final and semi-finals respectively. Unfortunately, since Dechawat Poomjaeng is not on tour and Pankaj Advani is probably by winning another title somewhere, these teams have slightly changed. Four-time ranking semi-finalist Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is accompanied by No. 64 Noppon Saengkham, who reached the World Championship last season. Former Indian Open finalist and World Games Gold medallist Aditya Mehta is partnered by Brijesh Damani, who won a gold medal for India’s snooker team at the 2014 Asian Championship.

En route to China for the Snooker World Cup in Wuxi.. looking forward to a great week with partner @brijesh_damani .. 🇮🇳 #letsdothis

— Aditya Mehta (@snookered_adi) June 30, 2017

Now introducing two debutants to the World Cup: Israel and Cyrus. I had made my point on Scottish/Israeli Eden Sharav, but the promising is partnered by amateur Sachar Ruberg, who is a regular in the International Amateur Championships but unfortunately, has never reached the final stages as of yet. Lastly, playing for pride with Cyrus on his sleeve and passport is Michael Georgiou holding the flag with Antonis Poullos, who reached the last 64 of the World Amateur Championship last year. I do not believe they will reach the group stage, but a few results about the top teams can made a massive difference to the other four teams.

The 2017 Snooker World Cup in Wuxi runs from July 3 to 9 and will, of course, be on Eurosport.