It's not the easiest tournament to get your head around this one as so much is going on that makes it different to any regular snooker event and it gets even more confusing when you consider that we're blowing away the cobwebs of the off season, as this is the first full event since the World Championship.
The event features 24 two man teams, that are split into 4 groups of 6 teams with the top two teams in each group moving on to the quarter-finals. Each match in the group stages is best of 5 frames and ALL of the frames must be played. This is mainly because points in the group table are not based on matches won but frames won. Each best-of-5 frame group match sees the two team captains play each other in the opening frame, while the Player 2 for each country then plays each other and then the corresponding singles matches take place before a concluding alternate shot doubles match. So, for example when Hong Kong play Belgium in Group B Marco Fu will take on Luca Brecel in match one with Au Chi Wai then playing Thomas Skalski, before Fu plays Skalski and Brecel plays Wai, before Brecel and Skalski then team up to play Fu and Wai.
Things get even more interesting from the knock-out stages onwards as matches become best-of-6 frames with frames 3 and 6 being doubles frames, and all players playing each other in singles. If scores are then tied at 3-3 the Captains then nominate a player to represent them in a deciding singles frame.
The schedule sees every team play each of the other 5 in the group stages with each team playing once a day from Monday to Friday with the quarter-finals being played on Saturday before the semi-finals and final on Sunday.
That's the rules and format dealt with for the week, now let's get on with looking ahead to the action and see who's representing who.
Group A
China A: Ding Junhui and Xiao GuodongNorway: Kurt Maflin and Anita Maflin
Malta: Tony Drago and Alex Borg
India: Aditya Mehta and Pankaj Advani
Austria: Andreas Ploner and Paul Schopf
Singapore: KK Chan and Marvin Lim Chun Kiat
Group A looks to be an incredibly interesting group with the hosts A team featuring with Ding Junhui and Xiao Guodong who will be under great pressure to retain their title. I expect that to be a quality pairing for the Chinese as all of the players from China seem to get on very well with each other. Xiao Guodong's only ranking final to this day came against Ding Junhui so he'd be inspired that working with Ding they could go all the way this week. For Norway it's very much a family affair as husband and wife Kurt and Anita Maflin fly the flag. We all know about Kurt's big hitting record and what he can do on his very best form. A little less is known about his spouse, but if she wasn't good enough she wouldn't be representing her country in a professional event and the fact that she will be guided through the whole thing by her man will give her a lot of confidence and belief. The question for Norway is whether Anita will be good enough to cut it against current and recent professionals that line up for China, India and Malta.
Tony Drago and Alex Borg is the partnership that the Maltese will be hoping to cheer on into the quarter-finals, and we know with the maverick that is Drago, anything is possible. The thing these two guys have is experience. I don't mean that just within snooker, but mainly these team events where they have played together several times and had some success. Drago will bring his best out for these world cup style events and he'll be well up for this one and with a current pro and recent former pro I think Malta are in very safe hands. India has one of my favourite pairings at this World Cup with Aditya Mehta and former pro Pankaj Advani who went away to concentrate solely on his billiards. Again I very much fancy them as a pairing but the worry I have with them is simply individual performance, Advani is very mix and match with snooker nowadays playing on his terms. Meanwhile, Mehta is in pretty poor form over the last few months and he needs to step up because one man doesn't make a pairing at these team events, unless the other guy has strong enough shoulders to carry the team.
What do we know about Austria? Well they may have two guys that aren't on tour and necessarily of the same quality of the main four teams to watch in this group, but they are a pair that can play. Andreas Ploner is the better of the two and he's played in the European Tour events a lot over the years. Notable wins for him include against Robin Hull last season and in 2012 against Reanne Evans. Can he trouble the big players of China, Malta, India and Norway? Yes but he's I can't see him causing too many upsets. I don't know anything really about Paul Schopf and there's not much information about him to find it seems but he's in the Austrian team on merit and he'll hope he can make a little impression on things. As for Singapore you'd imagine that their pairing, while they may be the best that Singapore has to offer, they're not the best that snooker has to offer and will most likely prop up the Group A table.
Predicted Group Winner: China A
Predicted Group Runner-Up: Malta
Group B
Scotland: Stephen Maguire and John HigginsHong Kong: Marco Fu and Au Chi Wai
Belgium: Luca Brecel and Thomas Skalski
Iran: Hossein Vafei Ayouri and Ehsan Heydari Nezhad
Brazil: Igor Figueredo and Itaro Santos
Malaysia: Thor Chuan Leong and Mohd Reza Hassan
The heavy hand in this group and one of my favourites for the whole tournament is the Scotland duo of Stephen Maguire and John Higgins. Again these two are really good mates who know everything about each others games, and something that also helps in any snooker event, they're both top 16 players. The difference between the Scots in the other teams in this group is that they are a team made up of two professional players on the tour, which means they should easily beat the non-tour pros making up certain teams. That should help them to top this group and avoid China A until the semi-finals rather than playing them in the quarter-finals. Hong Kong has an interesting partnership with Marco Fu and Au Chi Wai. Obviously we know Fu as an experienced top 16 player but nowhere near as much is known about Au Chi Wai. Au has played in the Asian Tour events in the last couple of years, actually playing Marco in last seasons Asian Tour 1 losing 4-2, so clearly he's no push over. He has had some notable victories in the past couple of seasons beating Gary Wilson and Zhou Yuelong when Zhou was still an amateur, in an event where he reached the last 16 of an Asian Tour in March 2014 before losing to Dechawat Poomjaeng. Can he mix it in the pros in this event? Most likely not, but with the likes of Belgium, Iran and Malaysia being in similar positions with one pro and one amateur you fancy the games to come down to when the amateur's play each other and the pros playing each other, along with the doubles. Of those pros, Marco is probably the strongest and you fancy Au Chi Wai against the likes of Skalski of Belgium because of his experience learning his trade in Asia conditions.
The Belgians are again an interesting grouping with the young and still relatively experienced Luca Brecel, especially as far as playing in a team event or world cup is concerned. However, as the captain and pro of this team he will be relied upon to beat the likes of Marco Fu, Stephen Maguire and John Higgins in the big games where they need to pick up as many frames as possible. Tomasz Skalski meanwhile has played in some of the European Tour events in the past and while he hasn't got that much experience he will certainly be competitive for Belgium and give Brecel some good support. Brazil should be very interesting as a team in this world cup. We know exactly what Igor Figueredo is capable of having seen him nearly qualify for the World Championships getting to the final qualifying round on occasions and he did play in pro events but sponsorship issues didn't allow him to go on any further. Itaro Santos is new to the tour for this season and he did compete in the World Championships, though not particularly well though he should offer good support in a tight group to the big hitting Igor. If Itaro Santos can play well with Igor then the Brazilians do have a chance of upsetting the book and getting into the quarter-finals.
Iran have a possibly exciting team in this world cup mainly because of their skipper Hossein Vafei Ayouri who is beginning his first full season on the pro tour and already he's qualified for the Australian open later this month and is a talent many people are getting excited about and rightly so. Hossein is well capable of being the catalyst of a growing snooker nation in Iran causing an upset against the likes of Belgium and they could easily topple Brazil also. His partner Ehsan Heydari Nezhad played in the 2013 China Open as a wildcard taking 3 frames in a best-of-9 against the very talented Anthony McGill and there is a nice video on YouTube of him making a 135 break. Ehsan has a solid cue action and good rhythm and you fancy that he will offer good support to Hossein in the doubles matches and could go well against the likes of Skalski, Au Chi Wai and Itaro Santos where he'll need to get the wins if Iran are to progress. Finally, Malaysia do have a tour pro in their ranks with Thor Chuan Leong who has pushed a lot of players close in his time on tour. In the World Championship qualifiers against Jimmy Robertson he pushed Jimmy close losing 10-7 and it took a decider for Stuart Bingham to beat him at the Welsh Open. He can clearly play and will be a good match for some of the guys playing in this group and particularly only over one frame. His partner Mohd Reza Hassan reached the semi-finals of this years Asian Snooker Championship and at the age of 34 has been playing snooker since 2001 for the Malaysian national team, so he's certainly no slouch either which is why this is clearly the most interesting group of the four in the world cup for overall depth.
Predicted Group Winner: Scotland
Predicted Group Runner-Up: Hong Kong
Group C
Australia: Neil Robertson and Vinnie CalabreseWales: Mark Williams and Michael White
Northern Ireland: Joe Swail and Gerard Greene
Qatar: Ahmed Saif and Ali Al Obaidaly
Poland: Adam Stefanow and Mateusz Baranowski
Pakistan: Hamza Akbar and Muhammad Sajjad
What a group we have here in Group C with some superb, all pro pairings for Wales, Australia and Northern Ireland. Wales is again one of my favourites for this world title. They're represented by Michael White and Mark Williams who will be determined to go well as a partnership. Mark Williams is another player I look at as having the maverick qualities it takes to go well in these team situations and he also has full trust in his partner Michael White. Williams has been very consistent in praising young Michael, saying how he is the best young player in the world right now and he was on the front row to take a "selfie" with White when he won his maiden ranking title in March in India. I expect them to create the kind of atmosphere as a team where both are very relaxed but also pumped up at the same time to go out and win every frame of every match. Australia is another pairing of a similar kind to that of Wales but just without some of the high quality in one half of the pairing. Neil Robertson is obviously a world class player, but Vinnie Calabrese is nowhere near that bracket yet in his career. However, Neil has faith in Vinnie and has taken the young Australian under his wing and that could be the difference in some of the doubles games as Robertson is good enough to carry Vinnie through rather than Calabrese letting the side down. You fancy the key games for the Aussies being against Wales and Northern Ireland and while I fancy Wales to do a job, Vinnie is good enough to get a win against one of Swail or Greene, while you'd expect that Robertson would know he'd have to beat both players.
Northern Ireland are the other big names in this group with two experienced tour players lining up for them in Joe Swail and Gerard Greene. Mark Allen would've been invited to play but i'm more than happy to see Joe Swail replace him as Joe is a quality player and has that maverick ability needed to inspire greatness in these one frame shoot outs against opponents in the group stages. Gerard Greene gives Joe a partner that is very steady and will do his fair share of damage in the singles as well as making them pretty dangerous in the doubles if it comes down to that in the big games. Qatar may not be in safe hands but they are in the hands of the infamous Ahmed Saif who only managed to win 2 professional games in his 2 years as a tour professional. His partner Ali Al Obaidaly is an unknown to me having played in one event that I could find where he lost to Paul Davison 4-0 in 2010. Overall, I can't see Qatar troubling anyone for qualification to the knockout stages.
Poland have the pairing of Adam Stefanow and Mateusz Baranowski. Adam has played in European Tour events in the past including winning two qualifying matches for the right to play Neil Robertson on TV at his home tournament the Gdynia Open, and he's a pretty good young player from what I've seen of him. Baranowski also played in his home tournament in 2015 when he won 3 qualifying matches before losing to Alan McManus. However, when you have teams of the strength of Wales, Northern Ireland and Australia in this group I feel that Poland will struggle on the whole to do much damage. Pakistan are the final team to talk about in this group, with Hamza Akbar and Muhammad Sajjad. Hamza Akbar is a new tour professional for the next two years after winning the Asian Snooker Championships, so he is clearly no slouch as a player and can beat the likes of the Polish and Qatar. His partner Muhammad Sajjad also has potential as he came to within a deciding frame of winning his tour card losing out to Yan Bingtao in the final of the IBSF World Championships in November 2014. If the Pakistani pair can get onto some form then there's no reason why they couldn't get fourth spot, but it's again very tough to see them toppling one of the big three in this group.
Predicted Group Winner: Wales
Predicted Group Runner-up: Australia
Group D
England: Mark Selby and Stuart BinghamRepublic of Ireland: Fergal O'Brien and Ken Doherty
Thailand: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Dechawat Poomjaeng
China B: Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao
Germany: Lukas Kleckers and Felix Frede
United Arab Emirates: Khalid Al kamali and Mohamed Shehab
Group D could quite easily be labelled the group of death with four teams out of 6 being made up of two professionals. England of course has the last two world champions and world numbers 1 and 2 in Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham. The interesting thing will be to see whether Bingham or Selby has a new season hangover, with this being Selby's first off season since he had his first child, while Bingham of course has just become a world champion and is unchartered territory in terms of media attention and corporate functions. However, I expect them to combine well as a team and they both have the experience and success in China to suggest they can go all the way as a team. Away from the top 2 in the world we have the experienced pair of Fergal O'Brien and Ken Doherty. These two again know each other very well and know a lot about each others games. Will they win every match? Certainly not, but what they will do is pick up the key frames and do well together in the doubles if it comes down to that being the difference between success and failure because of their knowledge, skill and experience.
The Thailand team are my dark horses for this week with a very strong pairing in the top class scoring of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and the underrated maverick that is Dechawat Poomjaeng who it's easy to forget is a top 40 player amongst all of his antics and it would come as no surprise to see these causing upsets against Ireland or England who will have to be on their game, particularly in the singles games as I feel that's where the games with Thailand against the higher seeded teams will be won and lost. I'm not sure how I see them performing as a duo, but as singles players they can beat anyone in a singular frame if they're on top form. Thepchaiya is one of my favourite players to watch simply because of his ability to score so heavily but also effortlessly. Group D is also where China's second team lies with the youth of Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao who once again will prove to be very dangerous to the top seeds in this group. I feel like the two of them will go in with little fear simply due o the age factor and with the main focus in this group being on England, and the large amount of crowd hopes lying in China A, these guys can go under the radar a little, because they have both certainly upset top players in the past and can handle themselves in those all important singles shoot-outs.
Lukas Kleckers is the main man for the German team and he comes into this world cup only days after a semi-final defeat in the European Amateur Championships so he'll be very match sharp and has a lot of talent, hence his invite to the World Championship qualifiers losing 10-6 to Noppon Saengkham, so the guys will certainly need to be on their game against him. Felix Frede meanwhile is an occasional entry to European Tour events and did beat Eden Sharav only last December in the Lisbon Open qualifying. Other than that though there is little to say for Felix and he is more likely to struggle against the top 4 teams that I have already mentioned. The six and final team to mention in this fourth and final group is the United Arab Emirates. Khalid Al Kamali is the first of the UAE players to mention and he actually has his own website, and more importantly the 2012 Arab Snooker Championships to his name when he was only 20 years of age. He clearly has a certain amount of talent and has been playing snooker from a very young age with stories on his website dating back to competitions he played in at the age of just 12. Whether he can worry world champions like Doherty, Selby and Bingham though is an entirely different matter. His partner Mohammed Shehab appeared in 2009 as a wildcard at the Shanghai Masters taking 3 frames off of Graeme Dott and that came shortly after he won Bronze in the Men's Snooker singles at the 2009 World Games, so once again though little will be known about this pair, I wouldn't turn up expecting an easy ride.
Predicted Group Winner: England
Predicted Group Runner-Up: Thailand
Predicted Semi-Finalists: China A and England
Predicted Finalist: Wales
Predicted World Cup Winners: Scotland
What am I hoping for from the World Cup of Snooker? Plenty of fun, as that's what in my mind this tournament is here. There's going to be some fun combinations of players with some true mavericks who I hope produce plenty of maverick moments. It's the closest thing in professional snooker that you can get to Golf's Ryder Cup and there's been some pretty big and unorthodox personalities competing in that over the years. So who's going to make their name like an Ian Poulter or a Seve Ballesteros of Golf legend? Well, we'll find out over the coming week, as not only personal pride, but the pride of entire snookering nations goes out on the line.
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