Although this is just an invitational tournament, the Snooker World Cup represents a really exciting event for fans of the game. This contest features teams of two players who step out to represent their country at the game. This tournament, while low in featuring on the yearly snooker calendar, was actually originated all the way back in 1979. From 1996 though it took a long break until it was revived in 2011 and then there was a four year wait for the next edition. The gap has now been cut down to two.
This year’s Snooker World Cup is hosted out at the Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium in China and it is China who has won the last two editions of the tournament so they are the ones to beat. Actually, China have two teams at the tournament. In 2015 it was their China B team of Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao who took the title and in the edition before that, it was their China A team of Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo who won it. Both Chinese teams are exactly the same for the Snooker World Cup 2017 edition.
The tournament runs through to July 9th and you have four groups of six nations. That’s right, there is a total of twenty-four nations taking part and the winner walks away with $200,000 in their pocket, so it is a nice payday. In the group stage, each team in a round robin format, players the other in best-of-five frame matches (all five frames are played regardless). The matches consist of two single frames, a doubles frame and then two reverse singles. Then from that, the top two teams from each group go through to the knockout stages.
In the knockout stages, you have the competition stepping up to the best of seven frames and so in the race to four frames, the format is two singles, a doubles frame, two reverse singles, another doubles frame, and a winner-take-all singles if necessary. So it is pretty exciting stuff to watch, especially watching some of the top players around the world getting some doubles action on, because that is something that you rarely, rarely see.
Snooker World Cup 2017 Odds
England 5/2, China A 4/1, Wales 11/2, Scotland 7/1, China B 15/2, Northern Ireland 11/1, Hong Kong 16/1, Thailand 16/1, Australia 33/1, Belgium 33/1, bar 40/1
Snooker World Cup 2017 Promotion
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Snooker World Cup Preview
So there are a total of 24 nations and breaking things down a bit, there are eight seeds, which means that two seeds go into a group and for your betting, those seeds will be the favourites to win through to the next round.
Overall Snooker World Cup Rankings (in order)
China B – Zhou Yuelong, Yan Bingtao)
Scotland – (John Higgins, Anthony McGill)
England – Judd Trump, Barry Hawkins)
China A – (Ding Junhui, Liang Wenbo)
Hong Kong – (Marco Fu, Au Chi-wai)
Australia – (Neil Robertson, Kurt Dunham)
Northern Ireland – (Mark Allen, Joe Swail)
Wales – (Mark Williams, Ryan Day)
Group A
China B, Wales, Brazil, Malaysia, Norway, Finland
Well, the Welsh duo should get out of this group easily enough and they did open with a comfortable win over Norway. China B got off to a flyer as well in crushing Finland as you would expect. This pretty much should just come down to a battle between the two who meet on July 6th, to see who wins the group. Wales are 11/13 at Coral to do that, with China A at 11/10.
Group B
China A, Hong Kong, Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Egypt
You would expect the China team to be pretty strong though this one as well and they opened with a 5-0 demolition of Ireland. So it was easy pickings for them and it should be that way through the group stage. The Hong Kong duo are expected to raise a challenge though with Belgium being the pick of the dark horses. But still, they are a long shot to qualify out at 9/2 with their duo of Luca Brecel and Jeff Jacobs. China A are 6/11 favourite to top the group, with Hong Kong at 3/1.
Group C
England, Australia, Malta, Switzerland, Iran, Pakistan
This would be a shocker if England didn’t get out of their group and to some extent, it would be a shock if they didn’t win it too. They easily beat Switzerland in their opening match, while Australia, who are second favourites to win the group, lost to Malta in their opener. So that has thrown the race for the second place open a bit with the Aussies at 13/2 so it may be worth a flutter at getting in on one of the underdogs, probably Malta, even though there’s enough time for the Aussies to bounce back. England are 1/10 odds on at Coral to win the group.
Group D
Scotland, Northern Ireland, Thailand, India, Cyprus, Israel
Again, it is not a group where you would expect to see an upset, except there was one on the opening day with Thailand beating second seeds Scotland. So the Scots will have to respond to that and it leaves the door wide open for Northern Ireland to power though at 2/1 to go and win the group. Scotland are 11/13 to fight back and top the pile, with Thailand in the mix at 3/1.
In the group stage, all teams play a match each day through to July 7th. Then you have all of the quarter finals being played on July 8th and then both semi finals and the final itself being contested on July 9th. So interesting stuff and since it’s inception, England are the most successful nation at the tournament, having won it four times before, most recently back in 1989 in the three-man team format when they beat the Rest of the World in the final. Ireland are the next most successful nation with three titles and then Wales, Canada and China have two each. Scotland are the other nation to have won it, with Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Alan Mcmanus triumphing over Northern Ireland in the 2011 Final.
Snooker World Cup 2017 Predictions
You would have to be looking at the top of the betting market for this one to find a winner. The Chinese are going to be strong contenders on home soil, and given their track record, it’s hard to ignore them and the stronger of the two is their A side. But England looks well equipped to at least make a run at the title in this one. They are a very tempting 6/4 price at Coral To Reach The Final, while Northern Ireland looks handily placed out at 11/1 as an each way punt.
