World Cup of Snooker

The World Cup of Snooker is a unique pairs event featuring 24 nations competing for glory in Wuxi, China in July.

 

First established in 1979, the event sees the two highest-ranked players representing their nation in four groups of six and each country playing the other once.

 

The top two in each group advance to the quarter-finals, where it is then a straight knock-out through to the final.

 

Whoever prevails in 2017 will find themselves in good company – joining the likes of Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry, Jimmy White, John Higgins and Alex Higgins on the list of previous winners.

 

Davis is the most successful player in the competition’s history, having won the title on four occasions with England.

 

Other than in 1984, the tournament was held annually until 1990, where Alex Higgins notoriously threatened to have Northern Ireland team-mate Dennis Taylor shot during a heated debate.

 

The event returned in 1996, when the mouth-watering Scottish trio of Stephen Hendry, John Higgins and Alan McManus were crowned champions, before Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo claimed glory for China in the next edition 15 years later.

 

In 2015, Chinese teenagers Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao announced themselves to the snooker world by going all the way to the title in front of their home fans – beating Scotland’s Higgins and Stephen Maguire in the final.

 

They will be hoping for the opportunity to defend their title when the tournament takes place from July 3-9 in Wuxi.

 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=bLXeNDf0x1w

World Cup Snooker roll of honour

Year	Final Result
1979	Wales 14-3 England
1980	Wales 8-5 Canada
1981	England 4-3 Wales
1982	Canada 4-2 England
1983	England 4-2 Wales
1985	Ireland 9-7 England A
1986	Ireland A 9-7 Canada
1987	Ireland A 9-2 Canada
1988	England 9-7 Australia
1989	England 9-8 Rest of the World
1990	Canada 9-5 Northern Ireland
1996	Scotland 10-7 Republic of Ireland
2011	China 4-2 Northern Ireland
2015	China B 4-1 Scotland
2017	China A 4-3 England