Which 48 players will play World championship in Porto?

PORTO - The Dutch, reigning world champion Dick Jaspers and 21 other players from the top of the rankings are already qualified for the World championship three cushion in Porto. The deadline for inscription closes on 31th of July. Then will be known which 48 players will contend for the most title in this discipline.

The World championship will be held from 5 to 9 September, the place is not yet known, the tournament director is Jorge Alipio. The playing system differs from previous years, although the UMB adheres to a group format with three players. The best will be seeded for the knock-out stage with sixteen players.

The thournament will be played on four Carrinho Bilhares, to 40 caroms, with a timer of 40 seconds and - unlike the CEB rules - with an equalizing inning and penalties in the main tournament.

Dick Jaspers and the next twenty players on the ranking are automatically seeded. These are Frédéric Caudron (Belgium), Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden), Dani Sánchez (Spain), Jérémy Bury (France), Filippos Kasidokostas (Greece), Sung-Won Choi (South Korea), Jae Ho Cho (South Korea) , Martin Horn (Germany), Marco Zanetti (Italy), Eddy Merckx (Belgium), Tayfun Tasdemir (Turkey), Murat Naci Coklu (Turkey), Lütfi Cenet (Turkey), Choong-Bok Lee (South Korea), Javier Palazón (Spain), Eddy Leppens (Belgium), Dong Koong Kang (South Korea), Ryuuji Umeda (Japan) and Adnan Uüksel (Turkey).

The field will be complemented to 48 with 12 CEB-players, 8 players from the CPB (America) and four from the ACBC (Asia). Moreover the UMB will designate one wildcard and the organization two tickets.

The prize money for the top four is: 1: 4800 euro, 2: 3200, 3: 1600, 4: 1200.