Singapore Ousts Fourth Seeds Germany

The Singapore billiards team produced the biggest upset in World Cup history with a stunning 8-4 victory against fourth seeds Germany.  The Singapore team of Toh Lian Han and Chan Keng Kwang benefited from a number of errors from the German duo of Christian Reimering and former World Champion Oliver Ortmann.

Germany reached the semi-finals last year when they lost to eventual winners Philippines and had been confident of performing better this year.

Both of the German side are currently ranked inside the top ten in Europe and the fourth seeds were expected to be too strong for their opponets Singapore - Toh Lian Han and Chan Keng Kwang.

Germany won the lag but with no shot played safe. Oliver Ortmann left a jump shot but Chan rose to the occasion as he cleared the green 6 and sunk the 1-ball before a 3-9 billiard made it 1-0 to Singapore.

They soon doubled their advantage by running out the second from the break. It became 3-0 and a shock looked on the cards after Ortmann missed a pot on the brown 7 following a dodgy safety from the Asian duo.

Singapore had shown their pedigree in last year's event by nearly defeating eventual runners-up USA and were causing another of the top seeds a number of problems here in Rotterdam.

Germany clawed their first rack of the match by taking the fourth when they profited following two failed attempts on the 1-ball from Singapore. But the momentum was soon back with Singapore as Reimering dogged an effort at the brown 7 that remained hanging over the pocket.

Germany stayed in touch though by winning the next two, although they were fortunate in the eighth rack as Chan could not pot the 5-ball and the disappointing was clear to see on his face.

In the ninth, Ortmann tried unsuccessfully to cut the blue 2 in and that might have been the lost shot in this tournament for the Germans.

But they were thrown a lifeline when Chan downed the 4-ball but then watched in horror as the cue ball bounced off two rails and into the top left pocket.

That made it 4-5 to Singapore before Reimering produced only the third dry break of the tournament so far, in the tenth match of the competition. The Germans were soon back at the table but Ortmann scratched to give ball-in-hand to the Singapore side.

The German duo had hardly said a word to each other throughout the match and sat in stone-faced silence as Singapore ran through the balls for 6-4 and then downed four balls off the break in the next before a straight-forward run-out made it 7-4.

With a shot at the 1-ball on the break, Singapore knew they were a few shots from glory and Toh Lian Han pocketed the 9-ball for a memorable win.