The World Cup, a team event, is held every two years, and was held this time in Wuxi, China, Ding Junhui’s home town, from July 3 to July 9, 2017. Grove had three players involved, representing three different nations: Neil for Australia, Luca for Belgium, and Judd for England. England, Judd and Barry Hawkins made it to the Final but lost in the deciding frame to the China A team, Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo. This is the second World Cup title for Ding and Liang and the third in a row for a Chinese team.

Neil was paired with Kurt Dunham for Australia and they were in the same group as Judd and Barry Hawkins for England. Australia won only two matches and that wasn’t enough to qualify for the knock-out stage. England on the contrary dominated the group winning all 5 matches and dropping only three frames in the process.
Luca was paired with the young Belgian national Champion, Jeff Jacobs, only 21. They were the second youngest team in the competition, slightly older than the China B teenagers, Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong who were trying to defend their title. Belgium came on top of its group having beaten both Hong Kong and China A at that stage. But China B narrowly beat them in the Quarter Finals. Everyone knows how good Luca is, but Jeff Jacobs did play very well too and he’s certainly on to watch for the future.
China B, lost to England, again in a deciding frame in the Semi Finals.

It was quite an enjoyable event, and a refreshing format offering a nice change from the endless “best of 7″ we are getting these days.