2019 World Cup (snooker)

The 2019 Beverly World Cup was a professional non-ranking snooker tournament that took place from 24 to 30 June 2019 at the Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium in Wuxi, China. Hosted by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association (WPBSA), it was the first event of the 2019–20 snooker season and the 16th edition of the World Cup. The event featured 16 teams of 2 players representing national teams.

2019 World Cup
poster for event
Tournament information
Dates24–30 June 2019 (2019-06-24 – 2019-06-30)
VenueWuxi City Sports Park Stadium
CityWuxi
CountryChina
OrganisationWPBSA
FormatNon-ranking team event
Total prize fund$800,000
Winner's share$200,000
Highest break China Liang Wenbo (138)
Final
Champion Scotland
John Higgins
Stephen Maguire
Runner-up China B
Zhou Yuelong
Liang Wenbo
Score4–0
2017

The Chinese team of Liang Wenbo and Ding Junhui were the defending champions, having won the 2017 event defeating the English team of Barry Hawkins and Judd Trump 4–3 in the final. Ding and Liang were on different teams for the event, due to China having two sides as hosts. The China B team of Liang and Zhou Yuelong reached the final of the event, where they met the Scotland team of John Higgins and Stephen Maguire. Higgins and Maguire won the event winning the final 4–0. This was the first win in the World Cup for Scotland since the 1996 World Cup. Liang also had the highest break of the event, a 138 in the group stage match against Switzerland.

Tournament overview

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Format

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The 2019 World Cup was a professional snooker tournament for national pairs. The defending champions were the Chinese team of Liang Wenbo and Ding Junhui.[1] The tournament used the same format as that used in 2017 World Cup. The tournament consisted of 24 national teams, with two players competing for each side.[2] The World cup was split into a group stage and a knockout stage.[3] The 24 teams were split into four groups of six teams.[4] The group stages consisted of matches played as best-of-five-frames with four frames of singles, and a frame of doubles.[4] The top two teams from each group advanced to the Knockout Stages, the order being determined by total frames won.[4] If there is a tie in either of the first two places the following rules determine the positions:[4]

  • If two teams are equal on frames won, the winner of the match between the two teams will be ranked higher.
  • If three or more teams are tied, a sudden-death blue ball shoot-out will be played.
  • Teams tied for position 3 to 6 would remain tied and share the prize money for those positions.

During the knockout stage, matches were played as best-of-seven-frames.[2] The knockout matches were scheduled as four singles matches and two doubles matches with the final frame being a singles match, with participants nominated by each team.[4]

Prize fund

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The total prize fund for the event totalled $800,000, with the winning team receiving $200,000.[5]

  • Winner: $200,000
  • Runner-Up: $100,000
  • Semi-final: $60,000
  • Quarter-final: $40,000
  • Third in group: $22,500
  • Fourth in group: $15,000
  • Fifth in group: $10,000
  • Sixth in group: $7,500
  • Total: $800,000

Participants

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The tournament was made up of 24 pairs of players representing individual nations.[6] China, who had won the event in both the last three events, in 2017 and 2015 and 2011 were allocated two places due to being hosts.[6][7] Below is the list of teams and players participating.[2]

Seed Nation Player 1 Player 2
1   China A Ding Junhui Yan Bingtao
2   Wales Mark Williams Ryan Day
3   Scotland John Higgins Stephen Maguire
4   Northern Ireland Mark Allen Jordan Brown
5   England Kyren Wilson Jack Lisowski
6   Belgium Luca Brecel Ben Mertens
7   China B Zhou Yuelong Liang Wenbo
8   Thailand Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Noppon Saengkham
9   Iran Hossein Vafaei Soheil Vahedi
10   Cyprus Michael Georgiou Antonis Poullos
11   Norway Kurt Maflin Christopher Watts
12   Ireland Ken Doherty Fergal O'Brien
13   Malaysia Thor Chuan Leong Moh Keen Hoo
14   Poland Adam Stefanow Kacper Filipiak
15   Hong Kong Andy Lee Cheung Ka Wai
16   Germany Simon Lichtenberg Lukas Kleckers
17   Israel Eden Sharav Shachar Ruberg
18   Australia Steve Mifsud Ryan Thomerson
19   Saudi Arabia Omar Alajlani Ahmed Aseeri
20   Switzerland Alexander Ursenbacher Luis Vetter
21   Malta Alex Borg Brian Cini
22   India Himanshu Dinesh Jain Lucky Vatnani
23   Austria Andreas Ploner Florian Nüßle
24   United Arab Emirates Mohammed Shehab Mohammed Al Joaker

Summary

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Group stage

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Ryan Day alongside Mark Williams lost just four frames in the group stage

The group stages for the event was played from 24 to 28 June 2019. Group A featured defending champions Ding Junhui and Yan Bingtao representing China A,[8] who won four of their five matches. The pair lost one match to the Thailand team of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Noppon Saengkham.[9] The Chinese pair finished the group as the leaders, winning 19 of the 25 total frames. In second, the Thailand team had 15 frames won ahead of Norway and Poland with 11.[10][11] England won all four of five their matches in group B 3–2 to win the group with 17 frames.[11] In the final match of the group, Iran and Hong Kong met with the winner progressing. The Hong Kong pair of Andy Lee and Cheung Ka Wai won the match 3–2 to progress.[12][13]

Both the Belgian team of Luca Brecel and Ben Mertens and the Scottish team of John Higgins and Stephen Maguire were assured of progressing to the quarter-finals after winning their first four matches in group C.[11] In the dead rubber match, Belgium won 3–2 to top the group on head-to-head record.[12] They both finished eight points ahead of the Israeli team in third.[10] In group D, the Welsh team of Mark Williams and Ryan Day won the most frames of any team during the group stage, completing a whitewash over Switzerland and dropping a single frame in the other four matches.[10] They qualified ahead of China B who completed three whitewashes of their own.[10][13]

Knockout stage

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Stephen Maguire (pictured) with John Higgins won the event representing Scotland

The quarter-finals of the tournament were held 29 June, as the first to four frames.[14] The China A team won their match with Hong Kong 4–0, whilst China B defeated Belgium 4–2.[15][16] Scotland made an early 3–1 lead over Wales, but Williams won frame five and Wales won a doubles frame to force a deciding frame.[17] Maguire won the frame with a break of 59 over Day.[17] England and Thailand also went to a deciding frame, despite Noppon Saengkham missing frame ball in the sixth to win the match, with Wilson then getting a fluke.[17] In the decider, Jack Lisowski beat Thepchaiya Un-Nooh to win the match 4–3.[17]

The semi-finals and final were both played on 30 June.[14] Defending champions China A were defeated by Scotland 1–4, whilst the China B side defeated England on a deciding frame 4–3. The final was played between Maguire and Higgins representing Scotland and Zhou Yuelong and Liang Wenbo representing China B and was refereed by Jan Scheers.[14] The Scotland team took the match by winning the first four frames, with neither team making a break of above 50.[18] This was Scotland's first win at the event since the 1996 World Cup also won by Higgins alongside Stephen Hendry and Alan McManus.[18] After the final, Maguire commented that he had "never felt nerves like that in any professional match" due to representing a team rather as a singles competitor.[18][19]

Results

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The following is the results from the event. Teams listed in bold denote match winners.[10]

Group A

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Date Team 1 Score Team 2 Team 1 Score Team 2 Team 1 Score Team 2
24 June 2019   China A 4–1   Germany   Thailand 2–3   Norway   Poland 2–3   Austria
25 June 2019   China A 4–1   Norway   Thailand 3–2   Austria   Poland 3–2   Germany
26 June 2019   China A 4–1   Austria   Thailand 3–2   Poland   Norway 2–3   Germany
27 June 2019   China A 5–0   Poland   Thailand 4–1   Germany   Austria 1–4   Norway
28 June 2019   China A 2–3   Thailand   Poland 4–1   Norway   Austria 3–2   Germany
Place Seed Team Games Frames Frames won Frames lost Difference Points
1 1   China A 5 25 19 6 +13 19
2 8   Thailand 5 25 15 10 +5 15
3 11   Norway 5 25 11 14 −3 11
14   Poland 5 25 11 14 −3 11
5 23   Austria 5 25 10 15 −5 10
6 16   Germany 5 25 9 16 −7 9

Group B

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Date Team 1 Score Team 2 Team 1 Score Team 2 Team 1 Score Team 2
24 June 2019   Northern Ireland 4–1   Saudi Arabia   England 3–2   Hong Kong   Iran 3–2   Ireland
25 June 2019   Northern Ireland 3–2   Hong Kong   England 3–2   Ireland   Iran 2–3   Saudi Arabia
26 June 2019   Northern Ireland 1–4   Ireland   England 3–2   Iran   Hong Kong 4–1   Saudi Arabia
27 June 2019   Northern Ireland 1–4   Iran   England 5–0   Saudi Arabia   Ireland 1–4   Hong Kong
28 June 2019   Northern Ireland 2–3   England   Iran 2–3   Hong Kong   Ireland 3–2   Saudi Arabia
Place Seed Team Games Frames Frames won Frames lost Difference Points
1 5   England 5 25 17 8 +9 17
2 15   Hong Kong 5 25 15 10 +5 15
3 9   Iran 5 25 13 12 +1 13
4 12   Ireland 5 25 12 13 −1 12
5 4   Northern Ireland 5 25 11 14 −3 11
6 19   Saudi Arabia 5 25 7 18 −11 7

Group C

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Date Team 1 Score Team 2 Team 1 Score Team 2 Team 1 Score Team 2
24 June 2019   Scotland 4–1   Cyprus   Belgium 4–1   United Arab Emirates   Malaysia 1–4   Israel
25 June 2019   Scotland 4–1   United Arab Emirates   Belgium 4–1   Israel   Malaysia 3–2   Cyprus
26 June 2019   Scotland 5–0   Israel   Belgium 4–1   Malaysia   United Arab Emirates 3–2   Cyprus
27 June 2019   Scotland 4–1   Malaysia   Belgium 4–1   Cyprus   Israel 4–1   United Arab Emirates
28 June 2019   Scotland 2–3   Belgium   Malaysia 2–3   United Arab Emirates   Israel 2–3   Cyprus
Place Seed Team Games Frames Frames won Frames lost Difference Points
1 6   Belgium 5 25 19 6 +13 19
2 3   Scotland 5 25 19 6 +13 19
3 17   Israel 5 25 11 14 −3 11
4 10   Cyprus 5 25 9 17 −8 9
24   United Arab Emirates 5 25 9 17 −8 9
6 13   Malaysia 5 25 8 18 −10 8

Group D

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Date Team 1 Score Team 2 Team 1 Score Team 2 Team 1 Score Team 2
24 June 2019   Wales 4–1   India   China B 5–0   Australia   Switzerland 3–2   Malta
25 June 2019   Wales 4–1   Australia   China B 3–2   Malta   Switzerland 3–2   India
26 June 2019   Wales 4–1   Malta   China B 5–0   Switzerland   Australia 2–3   India
27 June 2019   Wales 5–0   Switzerland   China B 5–0   India   Malta 3–2   Australia
28 June 2019   Wales 4–1   China B   Switzerland 2–3   Australia   Malta 1–4   India
Place Seed Team Games Frames Frames won Frames lost Difference Points
1 2   Wales 5 25 21 4 +17 21
2 7   China B 5 25 19 6 +13 19
3 22   India 5 25 10 15 −6 10
4 21   Malta 5 25 9 15 −6 9
5 20   Switzerland 5 25 8 17 −9 8
18   Australia 5 25 8 17 −9 8

Knockout stage

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Quarter-finals
Best of 7 frames
(29 June 2019)
Semi-finals
Best of 7 frames
(30 June 2019)
Final
Best of 7 frames
(30 June 2019)
         
A1   China A (1) 4
B2   Hong Kong (15) 0
A1   China A (1) 1
C2   Scotland (3) 4
D1   Wales (2) 3
C2   Scotland (3) 4
C2   Scotland (3) 4
D2   China B (7) 0
B1   England (5) 4
A2   Thailand (8) 3
B1   England (5) 3
D2   China B (7) 4
C1   Belgium (6) 2
D2   China B (7) 4

Final

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Final: Best of 7 frames. Referee: Jan Scheers
Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium, Wuxi, China, 30 June 2019.
John Higgins
Stephen Maguire
  Scotland (3)
4–0 Zhou Yuelong
Liang Wenbo
  China B (7)
58–38, 71–0, 60–45, 55–33
45 Highest break 45
0 Century breaks 0
0 50+ breaks 0

Century breaks

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There were a total of 17 century breaks made in the tournament. The highest break was made by China B's Liang Wenbo in the third frame of the group stage match against Switzerland. Below is a list of centuries made during the tournament, along with the team they were representing.[20]

References

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  1. ^ "2019 World Cup". Snooker.org. Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "World Cup Team Players Confirmed". World Snooker. 17 June 2019. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  3. ^ "World cup 2019 provisional format" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e "World Cup 2019 - Competition Format" (PDF). worldsnooker.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  5. ^ "World Cup Prize Money". World Snooker. 13 June 2019. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  6. ^ a b "Snooker World Cup Draw and Format". World Snooker. 11 June 2019. Archived from the original on 20 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  7. ^ "Beverly World Cup". World Snooker. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  8. ^ Caulfield, David. "Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo Win World Cup for China". SnookerHQ. Archived from the original on 17 May 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  9. ^ Caulfield, David. "Chinese Teams Win World Cup Openers". SnookerHQ. Archived from the original on 21 April 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  10. ^ a b c d e Ardalen, Hermund. "Beverly World Cup (2019) - snooker.org". snooker.org (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 23 July 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  11. ^ a b c "Five teams qualify for quarter-finals". China Daily. 28 June 2019. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  12. ^ a b "Hong Kong digs deep to make world snooker quarter finals". China Daily. 29 June 2019. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  13. ^ a b Grounds, Ben. "Snooker news - England set up World Cup quarter-final against Thailand". Eurosport UK. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  14. ^ a b c Ardalen, Hermund. "Results (World Cup 2019) - snooker.org". snooker.org (in Norwegian). Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  15. ^ "Both Chinese teams reach snooker semi-finals". China Daily. 29 June 2019. Archived from the original on 3 June 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  16. ^ "2019 Snooker World Cup". China Daily. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  17. ^ a b c d "England reach semi-finals with thrilling victory over Thailand, Scotland down Wales". Eurosport UK. 29 June 2019. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  18. ^ a b c "Snooker news - Scotland claim World Cup glory in Wuxi". Eurosport UK. 30 June 2019. Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  19. ^ "Scotland beat China to win World Cup". BBC Sport. 30 June 2019. Archived from the original on 29 August 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
  20. ^ "Centuries | World Snooker Live Scores". livescores.worldsnookerdata.com. Archived from the original on 22 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
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