3-Cushion
VEGHEL - The World Cup three-cushion in Veghel, Brabant, from Sunday 20 to Saturday 26 October, is the start of a triptych in more than one way. The Dutch organizer, under the KNBB flag, has not only registered for three years in a row and is now on the UMB calendar for 2019, 2020 and 2021. Moreover, with this World Cup in the Netherlands the last three tournaments in 2019 are launched, in which the 14 placed players are set for three World Cups. The cycle starts in Veghel, followed by Korean Guri (November 4-10) and Egyptian Sharm El Sheikh (December 8-14). The current top three of the rankings consists of Dick Jaspers, Marco Zanetti and Tayfun Tasdemir.
The BEN foundation, led by Harry Mathijssen and Ad Smout, has announced a scoop at the presentation of the World Cup in Veghel. The tournament will be broadcast during the three final days on Ziggo Sport, the TV channel that broadcasts many major international sports and has now signed a contract with the KNBB. Ziggo Sport broadcasts many matches live in the three days of the main tournament, six sessions from 10 am to 10 pm on the first day (Thursday) and a total of 28 hours over the entire tournament, live or repetitive.
UMB chairman Farouk Barki, who is delighted that the Netherlands is back on the World Cups calendar after Oosterhout and Sluiskil in earlier years, sees a promotion for billiards in the Netherlands in the live broadcasts and hopes for an incentive for the youth. "I am sure that this is a great initiative also for all the players."
Dick Jaspers: ''The TV broadcasts are a great development for our three-cushion sport. It is a nice promotion for the general public. I hope that many people will watch the games. The level of our sport keeps on rising. Three cushion becomes more and more professional and luckily the international prize money is also going up. The motivation of the players is therefore also increasing. Many players started training more to get better results."
Dick Jaspers is the world champion and number one in the world for the next three World Cups in the list of placed players. The top 14 consists of:
1 Dick Jaspers (Netherlands)
2 Marco Zanetti (Italy)
3 Tayfun Tasdemir (Turkey)
4 Semih Sayginer (Turkey)
5 Eddy Merckx (Belgium)
6 Jae-Ho Cho (Korea)
7 Quyet Chien Tran (Vietnam)
8 Sameh Sidhom (Egypt)
9 Murat Naci Coklu (Turkey)
10 Jérémy Bury (France)
11 HaengJik Kim (Korea)
12 Martin Horn (Germany)
13 Jung-Han Heo (Korea)
14 Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden).
The top list only deviates from the ranking in one place after the UMB suspended players from the PBA tournaments. Only Frédéric Caudron was among the top 20 of the UMB list. Torbjörn Blomdahl has moved up to the 14th place. Martin Horn returns to the international circuit after his collarbone surgery due to a fall with his bike. Myung-Woo Cho, the huge Korean talent, who won his third world title among the juniors two weeks ago, is just outside top 15.
The wildcards have already been handed out for the first two tournaments. Ahmed Abdallah on behalf of the UMB and Jean van Erp and Barry van Beers for the organization will receive a ticket for Veghel. Pedro Gonzalez, Myung-Woo Cho and Jung-Pyo Hong receive the wildcards for Guri. The wildcards for Sharm El Sheikh will be announced on November 10th.
The tournament format has changed earlier this year: after the preliminary rounds, 32 players are divided into eight groups of four, from which the numbers one and two move up to the knock-outs with 16 players. From then the tournament enters the final rounds on Friday and Saturday:
On Friday, October 25:
12.00 and 14.00: eighth finals
17.00 and 19.00: quarter-finals
Saturday, October 26:
12.00 and 14.00: semi-finals
17.00: final.
The prize money:
1st place: 16,000 euros
2nd place: 10,000
3 and 4: 6,000
5-8: 3500
9-16: 2500
Total prize money: 106,500 euros.
The location is CHV Noordkade in Veghel.
Marco Zanetti, number two on the world ranking
Tayfun Tasdemir, the first of two Turkish topguns in the top 5
Semih Sayginer, the last Survival winner, is in a very good shape
Eddy Merckx, close to his home land in Veghel, can expect many fans
Korean huge talent Myung-Woo Cho won his third world title