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OFFICIAL RESULTS & INFORMATION
https://www.umb-carom.org/PG344L1/Union-Mondiale-de-Billard.aspx
Gwangju, November 8th 2025.
He was called “the future best player in the world” when he was barely fourteen. The prodigy from South Korea has not disappointed his fans. He was the world champion in 2024, and he is now the number
one player in the world, having won his third World Cup. The final was mostly dominated by the Korean, who managed to freeze out the old warrior from Bolzano, Marco Zanetti with good defense and a little slice of luck. Cho used a few more innings than he liked, but when the scoreboard said 50-30 in 28, he knew he had done enough.
The first of the two semifinals turned into a crowd-pleasing exhibition by Myung Woo Cho. He came up with so many creative shots and unusual solutions to everyday problems, even Merckx had to tap his cue with the chalk from time to time. The Belgian, by far the best player in the tournament until today, never gave up and almost closed the gap with a late run of 10, but Cho’s barrage of fives and sixes had done the damage: 50-39 in 21 to the Korean.
In the battle of two generations, old lion Marco Zanetti got the better of young panther Glenn Hofman. Zanetti was quick out of the blocks with 7-2-8 in the early innings. Even though he never made a run over 5 after that, he kept scoring consistently and had almost no open innings. Hofman put up a good fight, running 12 to get back into the thick of it. Some of his points were just brilliant, but Zanetti made him pay a high price for his errors: 50-38 in 18/17 to the Italian.
The Gwangju World Cup was played on a very high level. The tournament average of 1.687 (last 32) is the highest since the introduction of the new format with K.O. matches to 50 points.
The winner, Cho, averaged 1.833 with a high run of 10.
The best individual average was played by Eddy Merckx: 2.590.
The best match was played by Haeng Jik Kim: 40 in 10.
The event’s high run was made by Peter Ceulemans: 19.
Myung Woo Cho takes over from Dick Jaspers, as the world’s number 1.
The last World Cup of the 2025 season will be played in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, in December.
Gwangju, November 8th 2025.
Merckx is Caudron’s nemesis.
Some people call it the “clasico”, referring to Merckx – Caudron as if it was Real – Barcelona. And why not? It’s as good. In the group stage, Merckx had beaten Caudron 40-39. In the K.O. he was even more convincing: 50-37 in 16 innings. Merckx produced 23 of those points in the last five trips to the table.
Quarterfinals:
Horn had a 15-1 lead over Glenn Hofman, but the Dutchman showed his steel. He got back into it, and took the lead. There was some brutal defense in the closing stages of the match, both players giving and receiving. Hofman had the coolest finish: 50-42 in 28/27.
Wan Young Choi, recently in the news for his practice run of 37, was steamrolled by Myung Woo Cho. It went from 24-10 to 42-16 and there was little Choi could do about it. The 2024 world champion Cho won 50-23 in 29/28.
Has there ever been a bad Merckx – Caudron? This one was great all the way, and the contrast in their styles makes it even better. A run of 14 put Merckx back in business after he had trailed, and his closing innings were Olympian: 50-37 in 16.
The connoisseur match of the four, between two of the best precision players in the world: Zanetti and Tasdemir. They went neck and neck all the way to 49-49, never ten points between them. Tayfun’s brave shot from out of desperate trouble missed by a half-inch, and Zanetti cooly finished.
In the round of 16, there were notable victories for Marco Zanetti against Haeng Jik Kim (50-26 in only 16/15 innings), and Martin Horn who recorded 50-33 in 21 against Jung Han Heo. Bong Joo Hwang, Daniel Morales and Sergio Jimenez bravely fought against Tasdemir, Merckx and Caudron respectively, but they came up short.
Tomorrow’s semifinals:
Merckx – M.W. Cho
Zanetti – Hofman
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Gwangju, November 7th 2025.
Merckx is the best on an exceptional day.
The last 32 group stage in Gwangju had it all: major upsets, high runs and some impressive scoring. Eddy Merckx towered above all the others with 3.076 over three matches.
Glenn Hofman ran 40 in 9. Peter Ceulemans made a 19. Two top names were eliminated: Jaspers and Quyet Chien Tran.
Group A. Sergio Jimenez could afford to lose against Nguyen and still win the group. Wildcard Daniel Morales came in all guns blazing, and he survived with a lofty 1.716. Jaspers and Nguyen are out.
Group B. Haeng Jik Kim set the tone against Myung Woo Cho with 40 in 10. He got past Orak and Rui Costa as well, to dominate the group. Cho second, Orak and Costa eliminated.
Group C. Tran’s fourth place was perhaps a bigger surprise than Martin Horn’s win in this group. The German advanced with 6 points and 2.068. Wan Young Choi is second, Patino, who played a good event, and Q.C. Tran go home.
Group D. Fireworks from the mighty Belgian: Merckx wins in 15, 12 and 12 innings, recording 3.076. Caudron recovers well from the lost “Clasico” against Merckx and beats M.J. Cha and Nikos Polychronopoulos. Those two are eliminated. Merckx’s 40-3 against the Greek will leave a scar.
Group E. Bong Joo Hwang stays just ahead of Marco Zanetti to win the group with 2.125 and 4 points. The Italian also wins twice and has 1.784. Berkay Karakurt and Thanh Tien Le are out.
Group F. Two Vietnamese players in charge here: Van Ly Dao who eliminated Blomdahl (1.600) and Nguyen Chi Long (1.901) advance, at the expense of Tolgahan Kiraz and Thanh Luc Tran.
Group G. High level fight for the group win between Tayfun Tasdemir and Glenn Hofman. The Dutchman records a 40 in 9 and a run of 17, averaging 2.235. Tasdemir not far behind with 2.222, Bury and Legazpi come up short.
Group H. Sameh Sidhom remains unbeaten, Jung Han Heo follows in second place. Peter Ceulemans (run of 19) and Hong Chiem Thai must go home.
At the end of the day, seven players had qualified for the last 16 K.O. matches with an average over 2.000, one of them being over 3.000. It must have been one of the best World Cup days ever.
Tomorrow:
Merckx – Morales
Jimenez – Caudron
Sidhom – W.Y. Choi
Van Ly Dao – M.W. Choi
Horn – J.H. heo
Hofman – N.C. Long
B.J. Hwang – Tasdemir
H.J. Kim – Zanetti.
All matches can be viewed on Soop.
Gwangju, November 6th 2025.
Orak and Nguyen are a cut above the rest.
Two players excelled in the Q-round in Gwangju on Thursday: Tran Thanh Tu Nguyen and Turgay Orak both won twice and recorded 2.051 and 2.000 respectively. Four other players remained unbeaten, but there were many groups where three points or two sufficed to win. Especially the Legazpi group and the Dao group were close, with average as the decider. It sent multi-champion Torbjörn Blomdahl home, as he needed a few too many innings to beat Sung Il Jeong.
Many runs over 10 were made, the 14 by Nikos Polychronopoulos being the best of the day.
Here are the group winners:
Turgay Orak 4 – 2.051
Tran Thanh Tu Nguyen 4 – 2.000
Nikos Polychronopoulos 4 – 1.481
Bong Joo Hwang 4 – 1.403
Nguyen Chi Long 4 – 1.311
Glenn Hofman 4 – 1.250
Hong Chiem Thai 3 – 1.481
Peter Ceulemans 3 – 1.403
Ruben Legazpi 2 – 1.717
Van Ly Dao 2 – 1.595
Thanh Tien Le 2 – 1.458
Myeong Jong Cha 2 – 1.386
And then there is the always interesting fight for the remaining three spots, awarded to the best seconds in the groups. Hugo Patino, Manuel Rui Costa and Sergio Jimenez were rewarded for their efforts.
Former world champion Phuong Vinh Bao did not make it; he just came up short by one or two points.
What to look forward to:
Last 32, Friday, 7 November 10.00 local time.
Jaspers – Morales
M.W. Cho – H.J. Kim
Horn – W.Y. Choi
Merckx – Caudron.
And at 12.00:
Zanetti – B. Karakurt
T.L. Tran – Kiraz
Tasdemir – Bury
J.H. Heo – Sidhom.
Mind you, these are still group matches to 40, with equalizing inning.
And the hits just keep on coming in Gwangju.
Gwangju, November 4th 2025.
On the third day of the Gwangju World Cup, the Koreans had a local favorite to cheer on. Park Chun Woo was the best of all the group winners with 2.121. The Vietnamese and Korean players produced no fewer than seven group winners between them. Tarik Yavuz shone with two wins and 1.750. David Pennör and Ahmet Alp both survived a scare and qualified with a win and a loss.
The unlucky guy of the day was Denizcan Akkoca, who started off playing like a man inspired. First match, a win in 17 innings. Second match: a run of 17 in the first inning. What could possibly go wrong from there? Gwendal Maréchal had other ideas. He bravely fought back to 25-26 and was a bit luckier in the closing innings than Akkoca. The young and highly talented Turk was left empty-handed with 1.700 over two matches.
Among the day’s casualties: Antwerp semifinalist Arnim Kahofer, yesterday’s stuntman Carlos Anguita, and other solid names such as Seleventas, J.J. Garcia, Umeda, Panaia, Uymaz and Soumagne.
Two guys to keep your eye on: Nguyen Chi Long (Vietnam) and Sung Il Jeong (Korea). Both are building up a habit of surviving rounds in World Cups.
Here are today’s group winners:
Park Chun Woo 4 – 2.121
Tarik Yavuz 4 – 1.7500
Nguyen Chi Long 4 – 1.458
Chi Yeo Cho 4 – 1.458
Kostas Papakonstantinou 4 – 1.458
Sung Il Jeong 4 – 1.458
Ufuk Kapusiz 4 – 1.272
Hugo Patino 4 – 1.250
Alessio D’Agata 4 – 1.206
Huberney Catano 4 – 1.129
Geon Yun Kim 3 – 1.428
Thanh Tien Le 3 – 1.372
Hoan Tat Nguyen 3 – 1.372
Gwendal Maréchal 3 – 1.186
David Pennör 2 – 1.486
Ahmet Alp 2 – 1.395
Tomorrow we’ll have the Q-round, which is bound to be interesting, with Bao, Ceulemans, Thai, Blomdahl, Legazpi, Forthomme and others.
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Gwangju, November 4th 2025.
Huberney Catano makes a statement.
We reported yesterday that making 60 points in 23 innings on the opening day of a World Cup, as Carlos Anguita and Min Suk Kim did, was exceptional. Today, Huberney Catano decided to do slightly better. He put 2.727 in the books; that’s 60 points in 22 innings. The stylish player from Colombia made 30 in 11 twice.
C.Y. Cho, Akkoca and Papakonstantinou did well to finish high in the day rankings. Yesterday’s hero Carlos Anguita continues his run, even if today he fought uphill a bit more. Patino and Umeda are still forces to be reckoned with.
The tables must have played like a dream, because the overall level was so high for a PPQ round. Check out the averages for yourself, it almost looks like main tournament statistics.
The group winners of the day:
H. Catano 4 – 2.727
C.Y. Cho 4 – 1.818
D. Akkoca 4 – 1.666
K. Papakonstantinou 4 – 1.621
S.I. Yeong 4 – 1.538
Y.Y. Yo 4 – 1.538
H. Patino 4 – 1.500
Y.H. Kim 4 – 1.463
G.Y. Kim 4 – 1.395
C. Anguita 4 – 1.395
R. Umeda 4 – 1.276
T. Arai 4 – 1.224
C.W. Park 4 – 1.200
U. Kapusiz 4 – 1.000
N.N. Le 3 – 1.621
D.H. Kim 3 – 1.153
Tomorrow, strong players like Soumagne, Uymaz, Kahofer, Garcia, Pennör and Nady will enter the tournament.
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Gwangju, November 3rd 2025.
Carlos Anguita and Min Suk Kim put on a show.
The Gwangju World Cup has hit the ground running, and some of the PPPQ averages are astonishing. Way above the field were a Spanish and a Korean player, who both put 2.608 in the books, using 23 innings for their 60 points.
Averages like that are almost unheard of on Day One of a World Cup, when tables tend to be slippery. But the Spaniard, who had a short stint in the PBA, and the Korean found their rhythm in record time, playing four exceptional matches between them. Anguita had 30 in 10 and 30 in 13, Kim had 30 in 12 and 30 in 11.
The list of first-day winners is obviously heavily Asian, a Spaniard and a Turk being the only exceptions. It’s nice to see the name of Japanese veteran Tatsuo Arai there, and his game is still a joy to watch.
Carlos Anguita 4 – 2.608
Min Suk Kim 4 – 2.608
Tran Thanh Tao Nguyen 4 – 1.500
Chi Yeon Cho 4 – 1.463
Bong Soo Kim 4 – 1.428
Young Ho Kim 4 – 1.428
Jo Yeongyun 4 – 1.395
Sam Gu Park 4 – 1.276
Geonyun Kim 4 – 1.250
Tatsuo Arai 4 – 1.176
Woo Hyun Choi 4 – 1.153
The Vinh Dinh 4 – 1.052
Shouta Funaki 4 – 1.000
Hoon Sang Ryu 4 – 0.952
Ahmet Koseoglu 4 – 0.909
Chun Woo Park 3 – 0.952
Tomorrow, among many others, we’ll have players like Umeda, Degener, Gonzalez and Salazar in the arena. All matches can be watched on Soop.
Gwangju, October 31th 2025.
Gwangju follows Antwerp: the sixth World Cup of 2025.
With the wins of Martin Horn (Antwerp World Cup) and Frédéric Caudron (Antwerp World Championship) fresh in our memory, we turn our attention to the penultimate World Cup of the 2025 season in
World Cups in this hotbed of 3-cushion always have a strong qualification field, and reaching the main draw is an achievement in itself. South Korea still holds the record for the highest general average for the last 32 players: 1.787. The much tougher format that is now in place, where the winner has to make 300+ points instead of 200, has taken tournament averages like that out of reach. But then, this steeper hill to climb does justice to the players’ increased strength.
The UMB has seeded the following players for Gwangju: Jaspers, M.W. Cho, Q.C. Tran, Merckx, Zanetti, T.L. Tran, Tasdemir, J.H. Heo, Sidhom, Bury, Kiraz, B. Karakurt, Caudron and Horn. The local wildcards went to Haeng Jik Kim and Wan Young Choi. The CPB/UMB wildcard went to Daniel Morales from Colombia.
The tables in Gwangju are Hollywood, the balls are Dynaspheres, the cloth is Simonis 330 Prestige. The usual ranking points are at stake: 80 – 54 – 36 – 26 – 18 – 10 – 8.
Here’s a recap of the winners in 2025 so far:
Bogota – Thanh Luc Tran
Ho Chi Minh – Dick Jaspers
Ankara – Eddy Merckx
Porto – Myung Woo Cho
Antwerp – Martin Horn
All matches can be viewed on Soop.
