# 2015 World Cup (snooker)

The 2015 Nongfu Spring World Cup was a professional non-ranking team snooker tournament that took place from 15 to 21 June 2015 at the Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium in Wuxi, China. It was the 14th edition of the event, and it was televised live by Eurosport.

## Teams and players

| Seed | Nation | Player 1 | Player 2 |
| 1 | China A | Ding Junhui | Xiao Guodong |
| 2 | England | Mark Selby | Stuart Bingham |
| 3 | Australia | Neil Robertson | Vinnie Calabrese |
| 4 | Hong Kong | Marco Fu | Au Chi-wai |
| 5 | Scotland | John Higgins | Stephen Maguire |
| 6 | Wales | Mark Williams | Michael White |
| 7 | Ireland | Ken Doherty | Fergal O'Brien |
| 8 | Norway | Kurt Maflin | Anita Maflin |
| | Singapore | Marvin Lim Chun Kiat | KK Chan |
| | Iran | Hossein Vafaei | Ehsan Heydari Nezhad |
| | Pakistan | Hamza Akbar | Muhammad Sajjad |
| | China B | Zhou Yuelong | Yan Bingtao |
| | India | Aditya Mehta | Pankaj Advani |
| | Malaysia | Rory Thor | Mohd Reza Hassan |
| | Qatar | Ahmed Saif | Ali Alobaidaly |
| | Thailand | Dechawat Poomjaeng | Thepchaiya Un-Nooh |
| | Malta | Tony Drago | Alex Borg |
| | Brazil | Igor Figueiredo | Itaro Santos |
| | Poland | Mateusz Baranowski | Adam Stefanow |
| | United Arab Emirates | Khalid Alkamali | Mohamed Shehab |
| | Austria | Andreas Ploner | Paul Schopf |
| | Belgium | Luca Brecel | Tomasz Skalski |
| | Northern Ireland | Gerard Greene | Joe Swail |
| | Germany | Lukas Kleckers | Felix Frede |

## Prize fund

* Winner: $200,000
* Runner-Up: $100,000
* Semi-final: $60,000
* Quarter-final: $40,000
* Third in group: $22,500
* Fourth in group: $15,000
* Fifth in group: $10,000
* Sixth in group: $7,500
* Total: $800,000

## Format

The 2015 World Cup consisted of 24 national teams, with two players competing for each side, and the initial round divided the entrants into four pools of six sides apiece. During the Group Stage, every national team played a best-of-five match against each of the other sides in their pool. Three victories were required to secure a head-to-head team win, but all five individual contests needed to be played, similar to the Davis Cup and Fed Cup formats in professional tennis. All matches were scheduled to include two singles contests, a doubles encounter, and two reverse singles showdowns. The top two teams from each bracket advanced to the Knockout Stages.
During the Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, and Championship Final, the remaining national sides were paired off a head-to-head knockout bracket. The format for these head-to-head matches was a sudden death best-of-seven competition, similar to professional sporting events like baseball's World Series and basketball's NBA Finals, with the contest coming to an end as soon as one team accumulated four individual victories. These encounters were scheduled as two singles showdowns, a doubles match, two reverse singles contests, another doubles encounter, and a winner-take-all singles showdown if necessary. The side that won the Final were named champions.

## Group round
### Group A

| Gameday | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| 15 June 2015 | China A | 3–2 | India | Norway | 3–2 | Singapore | Malta | 5–0 | Austria |
| 16 June 2015 | China A | 5–0 | Singapore | Norway | 0–5 | Malta | India | 5–0 | Austria |
| 17 June 2015 | China A | 5–0 | Austria | Norway | 0–5 | India | Singapore | 3–2 | Malta |
| 18 June 2015 | China A | 5–0 | Norway | India | 3–2 | Malta | Singapore | 2–3 | Austria |
| 19 June 2015 | China A | 3–2 | Malta | Norway | 4–1 | Austria | Singapore | 1–4 | India |
| Place | Seed | Team | Games | Frames | Frames won | Frames lost | Difference | Points |
| 1 | 1 | China A | 5 | 25 | 21 | 4 | 17 | 21 |
| 2 | | India | 5 | 25 | 19 | 6 | 13 | 19 |
| 3 | | Malta | 5 | 25 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 16 |
| 4 | | Singapore | 5 | 25 | 8 | 17 | −9 | 8 |
| 5 | 8 | Norway | 5 | 25 | 7 | 18 | −11 | 7 |
| 6 | | Austria | 5 | 25 | 4 | 21 | −17 | 4 |

### Group B

| Gameday | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| 15 June 2015 | Hong Kong | 3–2 | Malaysia | Scotland | 4–1 | Iran | Brazil | 2–3 | Belgium |
| 16 June 2015 | Hong Kong | 3–2 | Iran | Scotland | 2–3 | Brazil | Malaysia | 0–5 | Belgium |
| 17 June 2015 | Hong Kong | 2–3 | Belgium | Scotland | 4–1 | Malaysia | Iran | 1–4 | Brazil |
| 18 June 2015 | Hong Kong | 1–4 | Scotland | Malaysia | 1–4 | Brazil | Iran | 2–3 | Belgium |
| 19 June 2015 | Hong Kong | 5–0 | Brazil | Scotland | 2–3 | Belgium | Iran | 4–1 | Malaysia |
| Place | Seed | Team | Games | Frames | Frames won | Frames lost | Difference | Points |
| 1 | | Belgium | 5 | 25 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 17 |
| 2 | 5 | Scotland | 5 | 25 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 16 |
| 3 | 4 | Hong Kong | 5 | 25 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 14 |
| 4 | | Brazil | 5 | 25 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| 5 | | Iran | 5 | 25 | 10 | 15 | −5 | 10 |
| 6 | | Malaysia | 5 | 25 | 5 | 20 | −15 | 5 |

### Group C

| Gameday | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| 15 June 2015 | Australia | 3–2 | Qatar | Wales | 5–0 | Pakistan | Poland | 0–5 | Northern Ireland |
| 16 June 2015 | Australia | 2–3 | Pakistan | Wales | 4–1 | Poland | Qatar | 1–4 | Northern Ireland |
| 17 June 2015 | Australia | 3–2 | Northern Ireland | Wales | 4–1 | Qatar | Pakistan | 2–3 | Poland |
| 18 June 2015 | Australia | 4–1 | Poland | Wales | 4–1 | Northern Ireland | Pakistan | 4–1 | Qatar |
| 19 June 2015 | Australia | 2–3 | Wales | Pakistan | 4–1 | Northern Ireland | Qatar | 3–2 | Poland |
| Place | Seed | Team | Games | Frames | Frames won | Frames lost | Difference | Points |
| 1 | 6 | Wales | 5 | 25 | 20 | 5 | 15 | 20 |
| 2 | 3 | Australia | 5 | 25 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 14 |
| 3 | | Pakistan | 5 | 25 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| 4 | | Northern Ireland | 5 | 25 | 13 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| 5 | | Qatar | 5 | 25 | 8 | 17 | −9 | 8 |
| 6 | | Poland | 5 | 25 | 7 | 18 | −11 | 7 |

### Group D

| Gameday | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 | Team 1 | Score | Team 2 |
| 15 June 2015 | England | 1–4 | Thailand | Ireland | 1–4 | China B | UAE | 2–3 | Germany |
| 16 June 2015 | England | 3–2 | China B | Ireland | 5–0 | UAE | Thailand | 3–2 | Germany |
| 17 June 2015 | England | 4–1 | Germany | China B | 5–0 | UAE | Ireland | 2–3 | Thailand |
| 18 June 2015 | England | 5–0 | UAE | China B | 3–2 | Thailand | Ireland | 4–1 | Germany |
| 19 June 2015 | England | 3–2 | Ireland | China B | 5–0 | Germany | Thailand | 4–1 | UAE |
| Place | Seed | Team | Games | Frames | Frames won | Frames lost | Difference | Points |
| 1 | | China B | 5 | 25 | 19 | 6 | 13 | 19 |
| 2 | | Thailand | 5 | 25 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 16 |
| 3 | 2 | England | 5 | 25 | 16 | 9 | 7 | 16 |
| 4 | 7 | Ireland | 5 | 25 | 14 | 11 | 3 | 14 |
| 5 | | Germany | 5 | 25 | 7 | 18 | −11 | 7 |
| 6 | | United Arab Emirates | 5 | 25 | 3 | 22 | −19 | 3 |

## Final round

| Quarterfinals Best of 7 frames (20 June 2015) | Quarterfinals Best of 7 frames (20 June 2015) | Quarterfinals Best of 7 frames (20 June 2015) | Semifinals Best of 7 frames (21 June 2015) | Semifinals Best of 7 frames (21 June 2015) | Semifinals Best of 7 frames (21 June 2015) | Final Best of 7 frames (21 June 2015) | Final Best of 7 frames (21 June 2015) | Final Best of 7 frames (21 June 2015) |
| A1 | China A | 1 | | | | | | |
| B2 | Scotland | 4 | | | | | | |
| B2 | Scotland | 4 | B2 | Scotland | 4 | | | |
| | | | A2 | India | 3 | | | |
| B1 | Belgium | 1 | A2 | India | 3 | | | |
| A2 | India | 4 | | | | | | |
| A2 | India | 4 | | | | B2 | Scotland | 1 |
| | | | | | | D1 | China B | 4 |
| C1 | Wales | 4 | | | | | | | D1 | China B | 4 |
| D2 | Thailand | 1 | | | | | | |
| D2 | Thailand | 1 | C1 | Wales | 3 | | | |
| | | | D1 | China B | 4 | | | |
| D1 | China B | 4 | D1 | China B | 4 | | | |
| C2 | Australia | 2 | | | | | | |

### Final

Final: Best of 7 frames. Referee: Paul Collier. Wuxi City Sports Park Stadium, Wuxi, China, 21 June 2015. :
| John Higgins Stephen Maguire Scotland | 1–4 | Zhou Yuelong Yan Bingtao China B |
| 0–100 (100), 6–100 (56), 41–69, 67–18, 44–71 |||
| 37 | Highest break | 100 |
| 0 | Century breaks | 1 |
| 0 | 50+ breaks | 2 |

## Century breaks

There were 10 century breaks in the tournament.
* India – 137 Pankaj Advani
* China B – 134, 100 Yan Bingtao
* Wales – 130, 108 Mark Williams
* Scotland – 122 John Higgins
* Australia – 111 Neil Robertson
* Thailand – 108 Dechawat Poomjaeng
* Brazil – 105 Itaro Santos
* Malta – 105 Tony Drago