James Wattana, Dechawat Poomjaeng, Passakorn Sunwannawat and Thepchaiya Un-nooh handed tough draws
Thailand is participating in the 2011 Snooker World Cup with two teams, comprising of James Wattana, Dechawat Poomjaeng, Passakorn Sunwannawat and Thepchaiya Un-nooh. Both teams have been handed tough draws in the competition by World Snooker.
Thailand’s Team A, which consists of James Wattana and and current World Amateur Champion, Dechawat Poomjaeng, has been drawn against China, UAE, Malta and Australia. Wattana knows that the likes of Ding Junhui from China and the former World Snooker Champion,
Australia’s Neil Robertson, can be tough competitors for them.
While speaking to the local media about the draws, Wattana said, “I feel more relaxed as I don't have the weight of expectation on my shoulders like in the past. And other competitors don't pay too much attention to me anymore. They have turned their focus
on the young talents now.”
The former world number three, Wattana, joked, “Can they redo the draw?” as the veteran was asked about his game plan in the upcoming tournament. The 41-year-old Wattana has changed his name to Ratchapol PuObOrm since 2003.
The other Thai team, Thailand B, is drawn against Hong Kong, Scotland, Afghanistan and Poland. The team features Passakorn Sunwannawat and the 26-yeal-old Thepchaiya Un-nooh. They can face tough fights from the Scottish pair of world number two and current
World Snooker Champion, John Higgins and Stephen Maguire along with Marco Fu from Hong Kong.
The draws were made by the snooker governing body, World Snooker, at the Centara Grand Hotel. World Snooker boss, Barry Hearn, is quite excited about the commencement of the tournament in Thailand and hopes that the game of snooker will grow to other parts
of the world too, as he has been working hard to promote the game and increase its viewership.
The mega event will run from July 11 to 17 at the World Trade Centre in Bangkok with 20 teams from all over the world divided into four groups. Each team has two members and the matches will be played on the round-robin format. Each group will feature two
teams at the end who will move into quarter-final stage.
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