China beat Northern Ireland in World Cup final

Mark Allen won one and lost one of his singles games in the final

China have won the World Cup after defeating Northern Ireland 4-2 in Sunday's final in Bangkok.

The Chinese pair of Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo raced into a 3-0 lead before Gerard Greene pulled a frame back with a break of 109.

Mark Allen beat Wenbo to make it 3-2 but a break of 89 in the doubles secured victory for China.

Northern Ireland defeated Hong Kong 4-1 in the semi-finals earlier on Sunday while China had a 4-1 win over Wales.

Allen and Greene won their singles matches before Hong Kong took the doubles to make it 2-1.

The next two singles were shared and Hong Kong again won the doubles before Allen beat Fu in the deciding frame.

Northern Ireland had beaten India, Brazil and Belgium and lost to England in their group before beating Scotland in the quarter-finals.

Northern Ireland's Allen was disappointed by defeat but admitted the Chinese duo were too strong overall.

"We were up against it right from the start and in the first two frames China played flawless snooker and we didn't have a chance. It was just about digging in and staying in the match and we managed to win two frames.

"But they played better snooker on the day so they probably deserved to win.

"If someone had said we would get to the final then we would've taken it but being in the final you never want to finish runners-up. We've won a bit of money to put in the bank but it's just a shame we couldn't lift the trophy."