Germans capture 2011 World Cup of Pool crown

The German pair of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann routed the Thai tandem of Kobkit Palajin and Nitiwat Kanjanasri, 10-4 last Sunday to claim the PartyPoker.net World Cup of Pool crown at the The Block Atrium of SM North EDSA in Quezon City.

“It’s still hard to believe and it hasn’t sunk in yet. We really worked hard for the title and held ourselves together,” said a jubilant Souquet, who also won the recent World Pool Masters.

For Thais Palajin and Kanjanasri, the lopsided final was a bitter pill to swallow after their magnificent form in the semis where they beat the fancied Taiwanese pair of Ko Pin-yi and Ko Phung-chung, 9-3.

The German duo advanced to the final after nipping the Korean pair of Hwang Jong and Lee Gun Jae, 9-7.

Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante and the pair of Dennis “Robocop” Orcollo and Ronato “Volcano” Alcano lost their quarterfinal matches last Saturday.

Souquet and Hohmann crushed Reyes and Bustamante, 9-1 while the Ko Pin-yi and Ko Pung-cheng of Chinese-Taipei edged Orcollo and Alcano, 9-8.

It was sweet revenge for the Germans who lost to Reyes and Bustamante in the final two years ago.

This year’s edition drew 32 teams from 31 countries with the Philippines as host allowed to field two squads.

The German pair won $60,000 from the $250,000 purse. /Correspondent Marlon Bernardino