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2019 BetVictor World Cup of Pool
Morningside Arena
Charter Street
Leicester
LE1 3UD
UNITED KINGDOM
www.matchroompool.com
www.worldcupofpool.com
www.leicesterarena.co.uk - free tickets for Wednesday/Thursday sessions

Tuesday-Sunday 25-30 June 2019

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Great Britain Through As Canada And Greece Advance

BetVictor World Cup of Pool – Round One

Canada 7-2 France
Greece 7–3 New Zealand
Great Britain A 7-5 Malta

Hosts Great Britain A progressed safely into the second round of the BetVictor World Cup of Pool after seeing off Malta at the Morningside Arena, Leicester on Wednesday evening, when there were also wins for Canada and Greece.

Jayson Shaw and Chris Melling were flying the flag for the host nation and were up against Malta - Clayton Castaldi and billiards legend Tony Drago - and avoided the potential banana skin and a Maltese fightback as they moved into round two with a 7-5 win. Earlier in the evening Canada had beaten France 7-2, while Greece were 7-3 victors over New Zealand.

The hosts were well supported but it was Malta who took the first rack, before Great Britain levelled. Malta had a chance to go 2-1 ahead but Drago missed a tricky cut to the middle on the frame ball. Shaw had a long pot but secured the rack and instead it was Great Britain A who moved in front.

They built a 5-1 advantage before Malta were back on the board, and looked set to reach the hill at 6-2 before Melling missed an elementary 9 ball. Instead it was 5-3 and it wasn’t long until there was only one rack between the teams after Shaw failed to make a 4/9 which he’d usually expect to sink.

Great Britain had some thinking to do and in the next rack they found a way and finally got to the hill. Castaldi, though, have been breaking well all match and again gave his team a roadmap as they looked to stay in the match.

The Maltese runout piled the pressure on the hosts, who would break next knowing that if they let their opponents take the rack, it would be the visitors to break at hill-hill. But Shaw and Melling, who had looked strong early in the match, eliminated their mistakes when it mattered and booked their place in the second round.

“We played perfectly to get 5-1 up but then it was a bad 9 I missed,” said Melling. “We have played enough tournaments around the world to know that when you do make a mistake you can’t take it back, so you can’t dwell on it, you have to forget it straight away.”

Shaw added: “Every match is going to be tough, so it’s one match, one ball at a time. There is a lot of play left in this tournament and a lot of good teams.”

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