MATCHROOM SPORT can announce the teams and players to contest the forthcoming PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool.
The event, which takes place in Manila, Philippines from Tuesday, September 7 to Sunday, September 12, features 32 teams representing 31 countries - home nation Philippines has two sides in the competition.
Once again the World Cup of Pool sees the gathering of some of the most decorated stars of the pool world, including defending champions Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante.
Other stars set to appear include Johnny Archer, Daryl Peach, Rodney Morris, Dennis Orcollo, Niels Feijen, Jasmin Ouschan, Mika Immonen, Oliver Ortmann, Karl Boyes, Fu Jianbo, Ga Young Kim, Tony Drago and Marcus Chamat with a $250,000 prize fund on offer.
In fact, the 64 players competing in the tournament possess 10 World 9 Ball Championships, three World 8 Ball crowns, two World Straight Pool titles, six US Open titles, 11 World Pool Masters crowns and four World Junior Championships between them. In addition, nine of the competitors have contested a World Cup of Pool final in the past.
This is the fifth running of the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool and defending Philippines team of Reyes and Bustamante have recorded two wins in the event - 2006 and last year. Fu Jianbo and Li Hewen won for China in 2007 while the American duo of Rodney Morris and Shane Van Boening collected the silverware in Rotterdam in 2008.
With a total purse of $250,000, the winning pair split $60,000 between them while first round losers are guaranteed $1,500 each. All the action will be carried live on Solar Sports in the Philippines and other broadcasters across the region.
Matchroom Sport Chairman Barry Hearn said: "It's always Matchroom Sport's priority to bring the biggest and best possible names to contest our events and I believe that this year's World Cup will be the best one yet.
"Last year's final was a fantastic occasion with the old campaigners Reyes and Bustamante completing a fairy tale week as they held off Germany in arguably the most exciting pool final of recent times.
"Those two are back and Bustamante's recent World Championship triumph would indicate that they still have all the ammunition at their disposal to make it a third World Cup triumph.
"That said, half the teams in this competition are capable of winning it and I'm delighted that I will be in Manila to watch the final weekend's play."
The field was completed over the weekend when teams from Belgium and Slovenia won through a European qualifying competition and this will be Slovenia's first ever appearance in the World Cup.
2010 PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool - Teams & Players
Australia - James Delahunty / Ricky Emery
Austria - Mario He / Jasmin Ouschan
Belgium - Serge Das / Noel Bruynooghe
Canada - John Morra / Jason Klatt
China - Fu Jianbo / Li Hewen
Croatia - Carlo Dalmatin / Philipp Stojanovic
England - Daryl Peach / Karl Boyes
Finland - Mika Immonen / Markus Juva
France - Stephan Cohen / Francois Cottance
Germany - Ralf Souquet / Oliver Ortmann
Holland - Niels Feijen / Huidji See
Hong Kong - Lee Chenman / Kenny Kwok
India - Raj Hundal / Dharminder Singh Lilly
Indonesia - Muhammad Zulfikri / TBC
Italy - Fabio Petroni / Bruno Muratore
Japan - Naoyuki Oi / Toru Kuribayashi
Korea - Yu Ram Cha / Ga Young Kim
Malaysia - Ibrahim Bin Amir / Lee Poh Soon
Malta - Tony Drago / Alex Borg
Philippines 1 - Efren Reyes / Francisco Bustamante
Philippines 2 - Roberto Gomez / Dennis Orcollo
Poland - Radoslaw Babica / Mariusz Skoneczny
Qatar - Mohammad Al Bin Ali / Bashar Hussain
Russia - Konstantin Stepanov / Ruslan Chinakhov
Singapore - Chan Keng Kwang / Toh Lian Han
Slovenia - Matjaz Erculj / Matej Sulek
Spain - David Alcaide / Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
Sweden - Marcus Chamat / Thomas Mehtala
Taiwan - Ko Pin -Yi / Chang Jung-Lin
Thailand - Nitiwat Kanjanasri / Surathep Phoochalam
USA - Rodney Morris / Johnny Archer
Vietnam - Luong Chi Dung / Do Hoang Quan
