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Wattana blames himself for thailand thrashing
James Wattana admitted he felt like ‘he had let everyone down’ after the main Thailand team were crushed in their World Cup opener.
The PTT-EGAT Snooker World Cup is being held at the Bangkok Convention Centre in Wattana’s home country but he was powerless to stop Australia winning 4-1 in front of a packed crowd.
“I felt quite good but my performance showed otherwise,” said Wattana, a national hero in Thailand after a career that has included three ranking tournament victories in the 1990s and two appearances in the World Championship semi-finals.
“It just didn’t happen today and it really annoys me as I’ve been playing ok in practice but today’s performance was at a below 20 per cent level.
“I think I let my team down as I had chances to win. There wasn’t pressure on us before but now there is as we lost 4-1 and didn’t expect to lose like that.
“We’re still in the tournament and could beat anyone but we can’t afford to lose anymore.”
The Australian pair of Steve Mifsud and 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson move to the top of Group B as a result of their comprehensive victory.
The last Snooker World Cup was held in Bangkok in 1996 and Wattana was proud the event had returned to his homeland
“All of the top players love coming to Thailand and it’s a lovely country. I’m more than happy that it has come back to Thailand,” added Wattana.
Northern Ireland duo Mark Allen and Gerard Greene were also 4-1 winners on Monday evening as they thrashed India.
It was a fine return to action for Allen, who was playing his first competitive match since the World Championship at the end of April.
“I’ve only played three times since the World Championships and one of those was in an exhibition,” admitted Allen.
“At the end of the day I can’t keep getting away with it and not putting the hours in on the practice table – it will soon catch up with me.
“But it’s nice to get rid of some rust and I made a 108 in my first frame of the season.
“It’s great to play for your country and in snooker you don’t get to do it much. It’s a bit of fun out there. You want to do well for your country but also enjoy yourselves as well.
“It was a pretty good start and we couldn’t have asked for much better. In the first two and a half frames it was perfect snooker and that deflated them as it was a long way back from that.
“It’s good to be playing with Gerard. We’re both left-handed and both play the same way.
“We just play our shots but it’s harder to do that if one’s left-handed and one’s right-handed and in doubles play you need to play with a bit of rhythm.”
In the final matches on Monday, China’s pairing of Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo defeated the Malta team of Tony Drago and Alex Borg 3-2, while Egypt battled to a 3-2 win over Germany.
A total of 20 teams are in the World Cup with four groups, each consisting of five teams.
Each match is played over five one-frame matches and the teams score one point for each frame won with the top two in each group advancing to the quarter-finals.
2011 PTT-EGAT SNOOKER WORLD CUP
Day 1, evening session results
Group A – Egypt 3-2 Germany
Group B – Thailand 1 1-4 Australia, China 3-2 Malta
Group C – India 1-4 Northern Ireland
The PTT-EGAT Snooker World Cup is being held at the Bangkok Convention Centre in Wattana’s home country but he was powerless to stop Australia winning 4-1 in front of a packed crowd.
“I felt quite good but my performance showed otherwise,” said Wattana, a national hero in Thailand after a career that has included three ranking tournament victories in the 1990s and two appearances in the World Championship semi-finals.
“It just didn’t happen today and it really annoys me as I’ve been playing ok in practice but today’s performance was at a below 20 per cent level.
“I think I let my team down as I had chances to win. There wasn’t pressure on us before but now there is as we lost 4-1 and didn’t expect to lose like that.
“We’re still in the tournament and could beat anyone but we can’t afford to lose anymore.”
The Australian pair of Steve Mifsud and 2010 World Champion Neil Robertson move to the top of Group B as a result of their comprehensive victory.
The last Snooker World Cup was held in Bangkok in 1996 and Wattana was proud the event had returned to his homeland
“All of the top players love coming to Thailand and it’s a lovely country. I’m more than happy that it has come back to Thailand,” added Wattana.
Northern Ireland duo Mark Allen and Gerard Greene were also 4-1 winners on Monday evening as they thrashed India.
It was a fine return to action for Allen, who was playing his first competitive match since the World Championship at the end of April.
“I’ve only played three times since the World Championships and one of those was in an exhibition,” admitted Allen.
“At the end of the day I can’t keep getting away with it and not putting the hours in on the practice table – it will soon catch up with me.
“But it’s nice to get rid of some rust and I made a 108 in my first frame of the season.
“It’s great to play for your country and in snooker you don’t get to do it much. It’s a bit of fun out there. You want to do well for your country but also enjoy yourselves as well.
“It was a pretty good start and we couldn’t have asked for much better. In the first two and a half frames it was perfect snooker and that deflated them as it was a long way back from that.
“It’s good to be playing with Gerard. We’re both left-handed and both play the same way.
“We just play our shots but it’s harder to do that if one’s left-handed and one’s right-handed and in doubles play you need to play with a bit of rhythm.”
In the final matches on Monday, China’s pairing of Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo defeated the Malta team of Tony Drago and Alex Borg 3-2, while Egypt battled to a 3-2 win over Germany.
A total of 20 teams are in the World Cup with four groups, each consisting of five teams.
Each match is played over five one-frame matches and the teams score one point for each frame won with the top two in each group advancing to the quarter-finals.
2011 PTT-EGAT SNOOKER WORLD CUP
Day 1, evening session results
Group A – Egypt 3-2 Germany
Group B – Thailand 1 1-4 Australia, China 3-2 Malta
Group C – India 1-4 Northern Ireland