{"id":61241,"date":"2015-09-14T22:56:16","date_gmt":"2015-09-14T14:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=61241"},"modified":"2015-09-19T13:16:41","modified_gmt":"2015-09-19T05:16:41","slug":"finnish-immonen-heads-west-team-vs-bata-reyes-east-team-in-world-kings-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2015\/09\/14\/finnish-immonen-heads-west-team-vs-bata-reyes-east-team-in-world-kings-cup\/","title":{"rendered":"Finnish Immonen heads West team vs Bata Reyes\u2019 East team in World King\u2019s Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Efren<\/a>
Efren \u201cBata\u201d Reyes (Facebook photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA \u2013 Two-time world billiards champion Mika \u201cIceman\u201d Immonen of Finland is the first player named on Team West and has also been chosen as the Captain of the West composed of Europe and the Americans against Asia\u2019s champions (East) on Nov. 19 at the Resorts World Manila Casino & Hotel in the inaugural Kings Cup in Pasay City.<\/p>\n

Immonen will battle his counterpart Efren \u201cBata\u201d Reyes who will serve as Captain Team Asia in what surely will become the most epic rivalry in cue sports, according to Dragon Promotions owner and producer Charlie Williams.<\/p>\n

The three-day contest from Nov. 19 to 22 will pit the men\u2019s champions of Europe & USA versus the champions of the East in a historic inaugural match.<\/p>\n

The timing couldn\u2019t be better for Immonen or Team West. Mika has initiated a hot streak upon his recent wins in the past two weeks at the Black Sea Cup and the Dynamite Open, both taking place in Romania.<\/p>\n

Immonen has ended a champion\u2019s drought with the recent back-to-back wins in Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m deeply honored to be on the team. Until recently I haven\u2019t been as visible as I would like to be on the pool wins radar, but I feel as ready as ever!\u201d said the Finnish national hero.<\/p>\n

When asked about the level of challenge Asia would bring in team competition, Mika replied, \u201cOh yeah, it\u2019s going to be tougher than playing any USA team we ever faced.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe talent is not as deep anymore in the USA, I think that\u2019s obvious from the last decade of Mosconi Cups. So it\u2019s going to be tougher. This will be the most concentrated talent of players ever assembled. It’s going to be exciting and nerve racking. Amazing pool for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Immonen is the most experienced pool player on the team. It’s not just about all the wins he has had, which are countless, but all the losses,too. He’s gone through some of the toughest losses in the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut has always come back stronger than ever. That\u2019s why he is on the team, and that\u2019s why we feel he will be a great leader,\u201d said Williams.<\/p>\n

Williams adds, \u201cBelieve it or not, he turned down the position of captain at first and I needed to sway him!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaying against Efren Reyes as captain is an obvious honor and challenge in itself,\u201d said Immonen.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinning many events here in the Philippines in the past will definitely come in handy. The crowd can be a big factor, so maybe we can win some of the crowd to our side,\u201d said Immonen. \u201cBut I have a good track record there and I’m comfortable in that environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remainder 6 players will be announced in the upcoming 2 weeks following the World 9-Ball Championship. Fans are highly anticipating the final selections. The Captains are, too.<\/p>\n

Immonen has been named MVP in multiple major pro team competitions. Besides that, Immonen is one of the most successful players in the world, and arguably the most successful player in European history.<\/p>\n

He was voted Player of the Decade by Billiards Digest, and has won the World 9-Ball Championship, the World 10-Ball Championship, and the first European of only two, to have won back to back US Open Championships.<\/p>\n

Immonen has also won major titles in numerous Asian countries including the Korea International Championships, the All Japan Championships, the Philippines Open.<\/p>\n

He was also inducted into the billiards Hall of Fame, only the second European to ever received the honor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA \u2013 Two-time world billiards champion Mika \u201cIceman\u201d Immonen of Finland is the first player named on Team West and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":61242,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[35],"class_list":["post-61241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-original","mauthors-lily-o-ramos","mauthors-philippines-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}