3-Cushion
VEGHEL - The two wildcards for the World Cup in Veghel, which will be played from 7 to 13 November, have been handed out to Therese Klompenhouwer and Sam van Etten. The multiple ladies world champion received the ticket from the KNBB, young Sam van Etten is rewarded with a wildcard by the organization, Biljart Evenementen Nederland. The UMB, world federation, has a third wildcard to give away. The wildcard players are directly seeded for the main tournament with 32 players and get all facilities for participation and stay.
Therese Klompenhouwer never before received a wildcard for a tournament in her home land. ''I am very happy, it will motivate me even more to start the new season'', was the first reaction of the world champion, who made it to the main tournament of a World Cup once in Korea and then was eliminated by Torbjörn Blomdahl.
The Dutch lady started the new season well with two victories and a draw in the Dutch premier three-cushion league. ''I am looking forward to the season and want to play as many World Cups as possible.'' Mentally and physically she is ready for it. ''I feel top fit physically and I am in good shape'', Therese assures. ''Private life has changed a bit, but I'm not going to let it influence my game. Some things are just part of life. When I play billiards, 99 times out of 100, I have my thoughts and concentration on the game.''
Sam van Etten is one of the young talents in the Dutch three-cushion. Harry Mathijssen, from the organization, who was allowed to hand out the wildcard: ''We wanted to give preference to a young, motivated player. Sam van Etten grew up in the classic games and won many titles, but now that he has received federation trainings for a couple of years, his level in three cushion is improving a lot. That's why we chose this young player on behalf of BEN and Jumbo.'' Van Etten is now trained by Raimond Burgman and Frans van Kuyk to grow further as a three-cushion player.
Sam van Etten became this year Dutch champion Excellent class with excellent averages and reached the final round of the first SIS Survival tournament. The 25-year-old from Noord-Holland is looking forward to his participation in Veghel. ''It is a great honour and motivation to be allowed to participate between the 36 best players in the world'', he responded. ''Of course, I am very happy with it. I know all these great players from Kozoom and I will certainly be placed in a wonderful group.''
The UMB will automatically will give a ticket to the fourteen players of the world ranking for the main tournament at the registration, which opens today, Monday, September 27 at 12.00. The 14 are: Dick Jaspers, Marco Zanetti, Eddy Merckx, Tayfun Tasdemir, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dani Sánchez, Quyet Chien Tran, Haeng Jik Kim, Sameh Sidhom, Myung-Woo Cho, Semih Sayginer, Murat Naci Coklu, Martin Horn and Jérémy Bury. The first and second reserve are Duc Anh Chien Nguyen and Lütfi Cenet.
For the Netherlands a total of 20 players can participate in this World Cup. Registration takes place in order of appearance.
The last World Cup before the long period without major tournaments due to the pandemic was played in February 2020 in Antalya: Dani Sánchez was the winner.
The World Cups are played after the traditional preliminary rounds (maximum 144 players) in the main tournament with 32 players. They are divided in the first round into eight groups of four players of which the first two proceed to the knockout rounds with sixteen. The main tournament will be in Veghel on 11, 12 and 13 November.
The preliminaries go first to 30 and in the last qualification to 40 caroms. In the knockouts of the main tournament to 50 caroms.
The further World Cups after Veghel are in the new season:
28 November-4 December 2021: Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt
21-27 February 2022: Turkey
27 March-2 April: Las Vegas, USA
21-29 May: Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
20-26 June: Porto, Portugal
22-28 August: Korea
23-29 October: Veghel, Netherlands
4-10 December: Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
Sam van Etten, the Dutch classic talent who is mainly focused to three cushion now