THE American pairing of Shane Van Boening and Rodney Morris will face a tough opening match as they look to defend their World Cup of Pool trophy.

This year's tournament, which features 32 two-man teams from 31 nations, will take place in Manila, Philippines from Tuesday, September 1 to Sunday, September 6.

USA won the 2008 competition and will meet Malta, whose team includes Mosconi Cup rival Tony Drago, in a mouth-watering first round tie.

As host country, Philippines have two teams and the A side, consisting of Dennis Orcollo and Ronnie Alcano, will meet Thailand. Efren Reyes and Francisco Bustamante, who won the inaugural competition in 2006, will be reunited to form the Philippines B pairing and they will meet Qatar in the first round.

Finland duo of Mika Immonen and Markus Juva, runners-up in 2007, have a tricky tie against a Swedish side that includes Marcus Chamat, winner of last weekend's Austrian Open.

England reached the final last year and will be represented by Imran Majid and World Pool Masters Champion Darren Appleton and confident of triumphing against Malaysia.

Other notable first round matches include Korea v China and France v Canada, while a strong-looking German pairing of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann, both former World Champions, begin their campaign against Hong Kong.

2009 PartyCasino.net World Cup of Pool
Schedule (all times are local times in Manila +7 hours ahead of BST - British Summer time).
Round one (race to eight, winner breaks)
Tuesday, September 1
12pm - France v Canada then Korea v China
3pm - Australia v Spain then Indonesia v India
6pm - Malta v USA then Qatar v Philippines B

Wednesday, September 2
12pm - Sweden v Finland then Austria v Italy
3pm - Croatia v Japan then Hong Kong v Germany
6pm - Malaysia v England then Thailand v Philippines A

Thursday, September 3
12pm - Singapore v Taiwan then Belgium v Poland
3pm - Denmark v Russia then Vietnam v Holland

Last 16 (race to eight, winner breaks)
6pm - Malta or USA v Indonesia or India
then Qatar or Philippines v Austria or Italy

Friday, September 4
12pm - Korea or China v Sweden or Finland
then Hong Kong or Germany v France or Canada
3pm - Singapore or Taiwan v Belgium or Poland
then Croatia or Japan v Vietnam or Holland
6pm - Australia or Spain v Malaysia or England
then Denmark or Russia v Thailand or Philippines A

Quarter-finals (race to 9, winner breaks)
Saturday, September 5
2pm - Quarter-final 1, then quarter-final 2
6pm - Quarter-final 3, then quarter-final 4

Semi-finals (race to 9, winner breaks)
1pm - Semi-final 1, then semi-final 2

Final (race to 11, winner breaks)
6pm

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