The 2014 World Cup of Pool continued on Thursday with four matches in the Round of 32 and two match-ups to start the Round of 16 at the Mountbatten Centre in Portsmouth, England.

Germany, Canada and Switzerland pulled off separate easy victories while the second team from England had to go through the wringer before nipping a tough Indian squad, 7-6 as all teams advanced to the next round of the tournament with a $250,000 prize pool.

The German pair of Ralf Souquet and Thorsten Hohmann, who won the World Cup in 2011, beat Malaysia’s Ibrahim Amir and Alan Tan, 7-1; the Canadian duo of Alex Pagulayan and John Morra defeated Malta’s Tony Drago and Alex Borg with the same scoreline.

Switzerland’s Dimitri Jungo and Ronni Regli cruised to the win over Belgium’s Serge Das and Olivier Mortier, 7-3 in the final match of the afternoon session of Day 3 of the competition.

Malta and Belgium were late call-ups to the tournament as replacement teams in place of squads from Vietnam and Thailand which couldn’t join the tourney for various reasons.

Meanwhile, the evening matches provide more drama including the last match-up in the Round of 32 between hosts England and India.

The upstart Indians led by Raj Hundal and Amar Kang actually had a very good chance to pull off the upset against the host team featuring Daryl Peach and Chris Melling. The match was tied at 6-6 but the Indians couldn’t finish off the English pair while on the hill after an illegal break in the 13th and final rack of the match.

Peach and Melling took full advantage on India’s error to eke out the uncomfortable 7-6 victory.

Meanwhile, Round of 16 play also began on Thursday with the defending champions Philippines and United States taking separate 7-5 victories over France and Russia, respectively to be the first teams to make the quarterfinals.

2014 World Cup of Pool Results (Day 3):

Round of 32

Germany def. Malaysia, 7-1

Canada def. Malta, 7-1

Switzerland def. Belgium, 7-3

England (B) def. India, 7-6

Round of 16

Philippines def. France, 7-5

USA def. Russia, 7-5

The Philippines awaits the winner of the Finland vs. Poland Round of 16 match-up while USA faces the victor in the England vs. Greece second round pairing of the 2014 World Cup of Pool.

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