China rules the World ... Cup
China's team (represented
by Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao) won the 2015 Nongfu Spring World Cup after
beating Scotland (represented by John Higgins and Stephen Maguire) 4-1.Although the mighty World Cup tournament took a break for four years (the last edition was held in Thailand back in 2011) China managed to retain the title, this time the change of guards propelling the youngsters Zhou Yuelong (17) and Yan Bingtao (15) in the champion's seat.
And since we are talking about champions, these two brilliant players (as someone on Twitter said, China B team comes from China Brilliant) also got themselves a place in the Champion of Champions tournament (besides the big, fat cheque of $200,000, the fame and glory).
Bingtao was the one to open the scoreline with a perfectly cued 100 break in order to conquer the opener, to which his "partner in crime" added runs of 44 and 51 for a 2-0 scoreline.
The third frame started with a 47 break abruptly interrupted by China's missed black, the Scottish team trying its best to take advantage of this mistake.
Still, after quite a
scrappy affair and a genuine effort from Scotland, China was pretty much
"rolling on the river". The scoreline was now 3-0 and it didn't look
like the lads were wasting any time in cruising towards the victory.But pressure can play tricks on your mind and snooker skills and the forth frame revealed just that. A few misses here and there and Scotland's Maguire was taking full advantage, runs of 22 and 32 proving enough to win their first frame (and also the last).
Higgins started the fifth frame with a solid 37 break, but his opponent was there for the kill, runs of 21 and 33 securing China's victory.
As the blue ball entered
the right pocket, Zhou punched the air, screamed and after potting the pink
went on to hug John Higgins. A pretty emotional win.And so the rulers of the World Cup remain the Chinese and I think that the ex-defending champions (Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo) agree that this victory was earned fair and square.
But the teaming-up-for-snooker syndrome is history (at least until next year), as in no less than 8 days we shall be travelling to Australia's Bendigo for the prestigious Australian Open.
Let the fight begin!
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