3-Cushion
VEGHEL - The World Cup three cushion in Veghel, Netherlands, can definitely take place this year. The tournament with all the world top players will be played from 7 to 13 November 2021 in De Noordkade in Veghel. For the preliminaries and the main tournament (11, 12 and 13 November), 144 players are officially admitted. Harry Marhijssen, with Ad Smout and the BEN Foundation organisers, received the final approval from the UMB, the world billiards federation, this morning. ''We are of course very happy that we can definitely play, because actually we are very far with the preparations. We were so sure that it would get a go.''
Dick Jaspers, the number one of the world ranking, also reacted very happy from France, where he played the Kozoom Cup this weekend. ''All the players are very much looking forward to the new start'', Jaspers assured. ''It's very nice that the UMB also wanted to show his good will to restart the big tournaments. These are wonderful goals to look forward to and the World Cup in Veghel will certainly be an excellent organized tournament.''
Registration opens at noon on 27 September. The UMB website reported that later today. It has been 20 months since the last World Cup was played in Antalya, Turkey. Dani Sánchez was the last winner there. The top sixteen of the world ranking list, which includes Jaspers, Zanetti, Blomdahl, Merckx and Sayginer, is automatically qualified. HaengJik Kim, the winner of the first World Cup in Veghel, is also in the top sixteen.
Furthermore, the UMB hands out one wildcard. The KNBB and the organization both can point one Dutch player for a wildcard.
For the Netherlands, all finalists of the last Masters will receive a starting ticket. In total, about twenty players from their own country can participate. According to Ad Smout from BEN, almost all box seats are already sold out. There is a 510 places capacity on the main stand in the Noordkade.
Harry Mathijssen: ''Without any doubt we will comply with all the safety requirements and rules for COVID. We are in full negotiation with KNBB and NOC/NSF about that. For players from outside Europe, they have to be officially registered at the customs to be allowed to enter our country.''
The matches will be broadcasted live on Ziggo Sport with commentary and interviews starting Wednesday in the final qualification and on the three days of the main tournament.