England A begin World Cup of Pool title defence against Australia
Tuesday 22 September 2015 11:37, UK
Darren ‘Dynamite’ Appleton and Karl Boyes will begin the defence of their title with an Ashes-style clash against Australia when the World Cup of Pool returns to York Hall from September 22 to 27, live on Sky Sports.
World No 2 Appleton and England A team partner Boyes will square off against Robby Foldvari and Chris Calabrese for a place in the last 16 in the first evening session of the tournament.
Now in its 10th year, the 32-team event which features 31 different nations, kicks off on Tuesday afternoon with South Korea's clash with Malaysia, China facing Romania and Canada up against France.
Highly-rated Taiwan duo Ko Pin Yi and Chang Yu Lung face Estonia on Wednesday afternoon, before an evening session featuring Shane van Boening's USA against Qatar, and the well-fancied Philippines versus Russia.
Last year's beaten finalists Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg from the Netherlands are also in action on Wednesday night against the flamboyant Team India pair of Raj 'Hitman' Hundal and Amar 'AK-47' Kang.
2012 champions Mika 'Ice Man' Immonen and Petri Makkonen lead Finland's challenge against Belgium on Thursday afternoon before the final last-32 clash kicks off the evening session.
That match pits England B pairing and 2008 runners-up Mark Gray and Daryl Peach against Sweden, and is followed by the first two Round-of-16 ties.
The $250,000 (£160,000) pairs tournament was held in Portsmouth last year and was last played at Bethnal Green's iconic York Hall in 2013 after a four-year run in the Philippines.
Last-32 and Round-of-16 matches are race to seven, with quarter and semi-final matches first to nine and Sunday's final a race to 10.
Matchroom Sport chairman Barry Hearn said: "The York Hall has proved such an outstanding venue for pool down the years, that it was an easy decision to bring the World Cup back to London.
"The atmosphere is always exciting and I know the players appreciate competing in the kind of environment that only the York Hall can provide.
"I believe that this year's World Cup will be better than ever with some awesome players competing for their nations and for cuesports fans across Europe it is an essential event!"
Watch every rack from the World Cup of Pool live and exclusive on Sky Sports 3 from 1230pm on Tuesday.
