3-Cushion
GURI - This year's sixth World Cup, the second in Asia after Ho Chi Minh, follows shortly the previous one in the Netherlands, which ended with HangJik Kim's victory last Saturday. The second to last in the 2019 cycle will be played in Guri, Korea from Monday 4 to Sunday 10 November. The venue will be built up in the Guri Gymnasium, surrounded by a gallery of billiard companies promoting their products. The tournament will be occupied by players from 19 countries. Most players are from Vietnam (39), followed by South Korea (30), Turkey (14), Spain (8) and the Netherlands (7). The number one on the seeded list is Dutchman Dick Jaspers, who has a big lead over his pursuers on the rankings. The previous 2019 World Cups were won by Tayfun Tasdemir (Antalya), Frédéric Caudron (Ho Chi Minh), Javier Palazón (Blankenberge), Dick Jaspers (Porto) and HaengJik Kim (Veghel). Martin Horn delivers up the most ranking points in Guri: 80 for his victory in La Baule 2018.
The 14 seeded players are: Dick Jaspers, Marco Zanetti, Tayfun Tasdemir, Semih Sayginer, Eddy Merckx, Jae-Ho Cho, Quyet Chien Tran, Sameh Sidhom, Murat Naci Coklu, Jérémy Bury, HaengJik Kim, Martin Horn, Jung-Han Heo and Torbjörn Blomdahl. The wildcards go to Pedro Gonzalez (Colombia) from the UMB and two from the organization: Koreans Myung-Woo Cho and Jung Pyo Hong.
A total of nine world champions will start in the field of players: seven among the men, two among the women: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dick Jaspers, Dani Sánchez, Marco Zanetti, Eddy Merckx, Semih Sayginer, Sung-Won Choi and the ladies Therese Klompenhouwer and Orie Hida. The current junior world champion, Myung-Woo Cho, is awarded by a ticket for the main draw with his wildcard. The two finalists of the previous World Cup have made a big jump on the rankings, HaengJik Kim is number 4 now, Lütfi Cenet is 15th and has a chance to enter the top 14. The World Cup in Guri is followed in two weeks by the World Championship three cushion in Randers, Denmark.
The first three days of the preliminaries start at 11 AM Korean time. The time difference with Istanbul is 6 hours, with Paris and Western Europe 8 hours and with Bogota 14 hours.
On the first day, Monday, November 4, Orie Hida, Luis Aveiga and Raul Cuenca come into action. On Tuesday the most known players are Carlos Campino, Choong-Bok Lee, Sruong Pheavy, Ji Hun Ahn. Wednesday on the third day: Jun-Tae Kim, Hugo Patiño, Javier Teran, Therese Klompenhouwer, Peter Ceulemans, Xuan Cuong Ma, Barry van Beers, Gülsen Degener. Thursday: Dani Sánchez, Sung-Won Choi, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, Lütfi Cenet, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, Jose Juan Garcia, Roland Forthomme, Dion Nelin, Dinh Nai Ngo.
The first players to be paired on the first day of the main tournament, played in groups of four, are:
Dick Jaspers-Pedro Gonzalez
Semih Sayginer-Jung-Han Heo
Marco Zanetti-Myung-Woo Cho
Martin Horn-Eddy Merckx
Jae-Ho Cho-HaengJik Kim
Quyet Chien Tran-Jérémy Bury
Murat Naci Coklu-Sameh Sidhom.
This Guri World Cup is the 17th, including the BWA years, that a World Cup is being organized in South Korea. The first was in Seoul in 1991 where Raymond Ceulemans was the winner in the final with Yoshihiko Mano. Eddy Merckx (Seoul 2018) HaengJik Kim (Cheongiu 2017), Jérémy Bury (Guri 2016), Dani Sánchez (Guri 2015), Eddy Merckx (Guri 2014), Dong Koong Kang (Guri 2013), Torbjörn Blomdahl (Suwon 2012), Torbjörn Blomdahl (Suwon 2011), Dick Jaspers (Suwon 2010), Frédéric Caudron (Suwon 2009) and Dick Jaspers (Suwon 2008) were the last ten winners.
The all time World Cup winners top five:
1 Torbjörn Blomdahl 44
2 Dick Jaspers 25
3 Frédéric Caudron 21
4 Dani Sánchez 12
5 Eddy Merckx 10
(Raymond Ceulemans is the number 6 with 9 wins).
All matches starting from the preliminaries until the finals are broadcast live by kozoom.com. The UMB President Farouk Barki and al its partners wish you all a wonderful event.
The final match in the Dutch World Cup: HaengJik Kim and Lütfi Cenet in a thrilling battle
The city of Guri is not so far away from the capital Seoul