Yep, Snooker is getting in on the international tournament fest this summer with its own competition in Wuxi, which Eurosport are covering (unfortunately it doesn't look like Quest are).
So how can this possibly work then? Well, there are 23 countries entering a pair of competitors, with hosts China permitted to enter two such teams. In the group stage, matches are played as a best of five (and all five frames are played even if you go 3-0 up). So if you have teams 1 and 2 each with players A and B the frames are 1A v 2A, 1B v 2B, 'Doubles', 1A v 2B, 1B v 2A.
There's four round robin groups of six teams, top two go into the QFs. Everything I've read suggests the ranking is based on frames won first of all, and not number of matches won.
If there is a tie in either of the first two places the following rules determine the positions:
- If two teams are equal, the winner of the match between the two teams will be ranked higher.
- If three or more teams are tied, a sudden-death blue ball shoot-out will be played.
Teams tied for position 3 to 6 will remained tied and share the prize money for those positions.
During the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, and World Cup Final, the eight qualifying teams are paired off in a head-to-head knockout. The format for these matches is a best-of-seven frame competition with the match ending as soon as one team wins four frames. These encounters are scheduled as two singles, a doubles frame, two reverse singles, another doubles frame, and a deciding singles frame if necessary.
So how can this possibly work then? Well, there are 23 countries entering a pair of competitors, with hosts China permitted to enter two such teams. In the group stage, matches are played as a best of five (and all five frames are played even if you go 3-0 up). So if you have teams 1 and 2 each with players A and B the frames are 1A v 2A, 1B v 2B, 'Doubles', 1A v 2B, 1B v 2A.
There's four round robin groups of six teams, top two go into the QFs. Everything I've read suggests the ranking is based on frames won first of all, and not number of matches won.
If there is a tie in either of the first two places the following rules determine the positions:
- If two teams are equal, the winner of the match between the two teams will be ranked higher.
- If three or more teams are tied, a sudden-death blue ball shoot-out will be played.
Teams tied for position 3 to 6 will remained tied and share the prize money for those positions.
During the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, and World Cup Final, the eight qualifying teams are paired off in a head-to-head knockout. The format for these matches is a best-of-seven frame competition with the match ending as soon as one team wins four frames. These encounters are scheduled as two singles, a doubles frame, two reverse singles, another doubles frame, and a deciding singles frame if necessary.
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