I have to apologize, I’ve been too busy to do write ups the past couple of days but I didn’t want to miss a third day, so here it is. Over the past couple days, we’ve eliminated quite a few teams, but there haven’t been too many surprises.
Phillipines are still there, taking out Spain B 7/2. They looked good and didn’t give Spain B many opportunities. They have a difficult task ahead tomorrow as they face Chinese Taipei.
Speaking of which, Chinese Taipei was victorious again today as they absolutely punished the Netherland’s team 7/2. I think they are only getting better as the tournament progresses and I just don’t see the Phillipines getting past them tomorrow?
China, visible releived to get by Singapore, will be up against Japan. Wu has been an aboslute master on the table. The position play from the 7 to the 8 in one rack was pure perfection. (I tried to go back and find the particulars on this shot, but Matchroom does not seem to have Day 5, morning session available?) Wang Can however, seemed somewhat shaky and we’l watch tomorrow to see how he deals with the nerves. Wu Jiaqing does not seem to have any so he will be fine tomorrow, do not worry.
Great Britain is hanging in there, narrowly defeating Vietnam today 7/6 after being down 6/4. They take on Austria next. There seemed to be a little disharmony there as Elliot Sanderson was also not up to par this afternoon. He missed a couple very makeable shots, but in the end, he let it all out with his trademark shout as he dropped the case 9 to win.
Germany defeated Canada today 7/4 and looked good if not great doing it. Moritz is looking steady, and Josh is if not exactly the powerhouse we have become use to, still very strong and playing well. Canada had a basic role reversal today, Alex played better than John this time. If these two can both play great on the same day, wow, there wouldn’t be many that could stop them. Today wasn’t that day though and they were shown the door. Germany faces Poland tomorrow in what is sure to be a tough match. I think the key here is Wictor Zielinski. He hasn’t played all that great yet, not bad, just not quite where I would expect him to be? Or as well as he would expect himself to. If Wictor finds his A game, and I think he will, I believe Poland will advance. It will probably be close though?
The last match today was Japan vs USA and it played out a little different than I thought it would. Sky, who played amazing yesterday, was a little shaky today, and at precisely the wrong time. USA is done for this year, but on the bright side, we get to see more of Naoyuki Oi? And who isn’t entertained when his is on the table or the mic? They have a tall order to fill going up against China though. This match I think hangs on Wang Can, if he can keep it together and play a solid round, I think this is as far as Japan goes.
The bracket predictions are working out a lot better than I thought. I was going to be happy at 50/50, but we are sitting at 19 wins and 4 losses, and we still have 3 out of 4 of my predicted semifinalists. At least for now,,,
Day 5 starts at 4 am, and I am going to try and get up to watch it.
In other news, two big announcements from Matchroom that i will try and cover tomorrow.
- Asia Open Pool Championship / Vietnam Junior Open was announced for October
- Asia vs Mosconi Cup winner is going to happen. Watch the Widow’s Open facebook page for the Doggin’ It podcast tomorrow as Molina Mike is trying to get Emily Frazer on the show tomorrow.
What a time to be a pool fan??!!