LIVE SCORE
http://umb.cuesco.net/competition/liveScore?idx=196#content
SOOP STREEMING & MORE
https://billiards.sooplive.co.kr/moments/match
OFFICIAL RESULTS & INFORMATION
https://www.umb-carom.org/PG344L1/Union-Mondiale-de-Billard.aspx
Antwerp, October 18th 2025.
Call it the third stage of his career if you will. Frédéric Caudron was the world’s number one multi-discipline player for many years, changed career paths to become the number one player in the Korean PBA, returned to the World Cup circuit two years ago, and has now added a fourth UMB world title to his resume. He was world champion earlier in 1999 (Bogota), 2013 (Antwerp) and 2017 (Santa Cruz).
Not everything was smooth sailing for Caudron after his return to the UMB. He got unexpectedly beaten a few times in World Cups and had to work hard on a steady climb in the rankings. A recent double hip replacement may have made his work a bit harder still. In this event, the world championships, he only advanced out of the group on average. From then: flashes of brilliance with wins over Roland Forthomme (50-22 in 19), Thomas Andersen (50-27 in 27/26), Martin Horn (50-24 in 16), Arnim Kahofer (50-14 in 22/21) and finally Eddy Merckx (50-47 in 32/31).
The final had a nervy start, both players producing one’s and two’s and zeroes in the first ten innings. Merckx had a 34-22 lead when Caudron attacked with 12 and 5. He got to 48-44 and missed on three consecutive innings, Merckx producing 1-1-1. It was extremely tense. In the end, it was the shortening table that proved fatal for Merckx: he just couldn’t score from twice-around lines. Inevitably, Caudron took his chance and ran two and out.
The first semifinal was an hour of suffering for tournament revelation Arnim Kahofer. He honestly had very little left in the tank, and Caudron was just too good: 50-14 in 21. Kahofer ended the match with nine consecutive zeroes. Hopefully, he’ll remember his fine wins over Thai, Heo and de Bruijn and take it from there.
The second semifinal was a spectacle to behold. Myung Woo Cho and Merckx hitting each other with run after run: 9, 7, 6,6 on Merckx’s score card, a 7 and an 18 on Cho’s. The Korean had a 47-42 lead when Merckx ran 7, and one more in the next inning. It took the world title away from the reigning champion.
The Belgian organization proudly looked back at two weeks of world class billiards. They threw the full weight of the Ceulemans family behind it, and were rewarded with an all-Belgian final between the two best the country has. It was a dream scenario.
The general average of the Antwerp world championship (last 32) was 1.603.
The highest individual general average was played by Tayfun Tasdemir: 2.189.
The high run of the event was 18, made by Myung Woo Cho and Roland Forthomme.
The best match was played by Jeremy Bury with 40 in 11.
Frédéric Caudron is now on four world titles, equal to Dani Sánchez (4) and behind only Raymond Ceulemans (21), Torbjörn Blomdahl (6) and Dick Jaspers (5).
Antwerp, October 17th 2025.
Nikos Polychronopoulos and Jean Paul de Bruijn are prime examples to illustrate the old wisdom that 3-cushion is a Doctor Jekyll and a Mister Hyde. The two faces of the game? The Greek had all sorts of trouble getting past Mohamed Abdin (50 – 48 in 56), then exploded against Marco Zanetti (50 – 24 in 19). A few hours later, he was back on earth: Myung Woo Cho waltzed all over him with a 50 – 15 in 18/17 score.
Jean Paul de Bruijn eliminated the world number one Dick Jaspers, played a very solid match against Beom Yeol Lee (50 – 34 in 26/25), only to stumble against what could be called a favorable quarterfinal draw: Arnim Kahofer. But the world class classic disciplines specialist from Austria proved he has dramatically progressed in 3-cushion, by first beating Jung Han Heo (50 – 40 in 28/27), then getting the better of Dutchman de Bruijn (50 – 39 in 35/34). It’s not easy to transform yourself from a balkline player with an old-school 3-cushion style into a world class contender with an all-round game. But Kahofer appears to have done all the hard work, and he is now in another league from where he was five years ago.
Eddy Merckx defeated yesterday’s star player Sameh Sidhom, who had made 50 in 14. He could not get on that level against Merckx, who felt carried by the home crowd and – in typical Merckxian fashion - made precious few mistakes: 50 – 31 in 14. His quarterfinal was a solo performance, when Berkay Karakurt could never keep up: 50 – 19 in 18/17.
Martin Horn looked like a contender for the world title, in his marvelous World Cup win a few days ago. He underlined it with another exceptional match, when he beat Thanh Luc Tran 50 – 14 in 14/13 innings. His dreams of a double title ended when Frédéric Caudron overcame a 17 – 6 deficit and completely outproduced Horn in the second half of the match: 50 – 24 in 16.
Quarterfinals:
Merckx – B. Karakurt 50 – 19 in 18/17
Cho – Polychronopoulos 50 – 15 in 18/17
De Bruijn – Kahofer 39 – 50 in 34/35
Caudron – Horn 50 – 24 in 16.
Tomorrow’s semifinals:
Myung Woo Cho – Eddy Merckx
Frédéric Caudron – Arnim Kahofer
Antwerp, October 16th 2025.
Sameh Sidhom needs that big win.
He has been one of the obvious talents in the World Cup circuit for a decade, and it’s hard not to admire his style of play. Sidhom is smooth as silk, but lethal when he’s on a run. We’ve already seen him in lots of quarter- and semifinals, as well as holding the silver. Question is: where’s that big title? Will it come, inevitably? Or will every medal that is not a gold one make it harder to win a title?
Sameh’s win over Tom Löwe (50 – 16 in 14) was the highlight of a long and hard day in Antwerp. Tayfun Tasdemir, Quyet Chien Tran, Dick Jaspers, Hong Chiem Thai, Haeng Jik Kim and Torbjörn Blomdahl were among the casualties of the Thursday.
Countryman playing countryman, that was the theme. Caudron waltzed over Forthomme and showed more flair than he had in a while. De Bruijn once again got past Dick Jaspers, as he has many times in Dutch matches. Myung Woo Cho defeated Haeng Jik Kim, always a spectacle to watch.
Bao, Merckx, Zanetti and Bury recorded fairly comfortable wins. More sweat and tears on the tables of Polychronopoulos (50-48 over Abdin), Kahofer (50-48 over Thai) and Heo (50-46 against Piedrabuena).
Thomas Andersen, Arnim Kahofer and Beom Yeol Lee were never in the last 16 of a world championship. It will be interesting to see how they hold up under even higher pressure.
With sixteen left standing, these are tomorrow’s matches:
Thomas Andersen – Frédéric Caudron
Martin Horn – Thanh Luc Tran
Beom Yeol Lee – Jean Paul de Bruijn
Arnim Kahofer – Jung Han Heo
Jeremy Bury – Myung Woo Cho
Nikos Polychronopoulos – Marco Zanetti
Sameh Sidhom – Eddy Merckx
Berkay Karakurt – Phuong Vinh Bao.
As usual, all matches can be watched on Soop.
Antwerp, October 15th 2025.
The World Championship is ready for K.O. matches.
The format of the World Championships, with sixteen groups of three and two players advancing, tends to produce quite a few predictable results on the opening days. A number three in the group is sometimes outclassed by the other two, and Antwerp 2025 follows that pattern. Almost all the big names have survived, and will proceed to the serious business of knock-out matches to 50 points.
No match was greeted with greater spectator enthusiasm than the epic battle between Roland Forthomme and Hong Chiem Thai. The Vietnamese started with 12 – 8 in the first two innings and had a 21 – 2 lead. Forthomme needed a majestic run of 18 to claw his way back into it. From 33 – 39, Thai ran out with 7, and Forthomme equalized. The crowd loved it.
These two weeks were a disappointment for the “Ceulemans grandsons”, Peter and Bart. The latter is quite a good player but he was unable to show it in the World Cup and World Championship. Peter is far stronger, easily a top-20 player globally, and he may have had his eye on a medal here. A bad half hour against Thomas Andersen and a big loss against Nikos Polychronopoulos left him emptyhanded.
Myung Woo Cho, Dick Jaspers, Eddy Merckx, Quyet Chien Tran, Marco Zanetti, Thanh Luc Tran, Tayfun Tasdemir, Sameh Sidhom, Jeremy Bury, Jung Han Heo, Martin Horn, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Phuong Vinh Bao and Hong Chiem Thai all advanced out of their group without too much fuss. Things were tighter for Frédéric Caudron and Berkay Karakurt, who won their group with a win and a loss.
The second-place finishers, also in the K.O. round tomorrow: Yilmaz Özcan, Ryuuji Umeda, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Beom Yeol Lee, Tom Löwe, Jose Miguel Soares, Mikael Devogelaere, Arnim Kahofer, Pedro Piedrabuena, Carlos Anguita, Mohamed Abdin, Thomas Andersen, Tolgahan Kiraz, Haeng Jik Kim, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Roland Forthomme.
Best match of the day was a 40 in 11 by Jeremy Bury. The high run was Forthomme’s 18. Tayfun Tasdemir impressed with 80 points in 31 innings.
Tomorrow’s matches can be viewed on Soop.
For full match results, check the UMB website, or the pages of Five & Six.
Antwerp, October 14th 2025.
The World Championship 3-cushion comes on the heels of the Antwerp World Cup, won by Martin Horn last Sunday. The title now at stake is even bigger, and in a few days we will know who succeeds Myung Woo Cho.
The Belgian hosts have gone all out to create an event to remember. They did that in 2013, when Frédéric Caudron won the world title in front of an Antwerp crowd. The best all-round billiard player in the world is again in the field this time, and so are Eddy Merckx, Peter Ceulemans, Roland Forthomme, Ronny Brants and Bart Ceulemans.
Sixteen groups of three player, two of them advance. No decisions yet on day one, the key matches will be played tomorrow. There was unfortunate news from Group A: Luis Aveiga from Ecuador could not arrive in time and had to forfeit. Yilmaz Özcan and Myung Woo Cho will play each other twice, but both are already certain of a place in the K.O. stage.
The best performance on opening day was a 40 in 12 by Phuong Vinh Bao, who keeps making headlines. Dick Jaspers did well with a win in 16 innings, and Tayfun Tasdemir needed only 15 in his first match. The only prominent players to lose were Haeng Jik Kim, who got ambushed by his countryman Wan Young Choi, and the still recovering Torbjörn Blomdahl who was defeated by Ronny Brants. Marco Zanetti had a laborious win over Tom Löwe, Nikos Polychronopoulos was in a bit of danger against Thomas Andersen but he edged out a 40-36.
All matches can be viewed on Soop.
Full match results are available on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.
Lausanne, October 14th 2025
The battle for the title begins today.
Korean player CHO Myun Wo is defending his brilliantly won title in 2024 in Binh Thuan (VT). The list of contenders is long, and so are the favorites.
The opening round will begin today at 11:00 a.m. in the magnificent Antwerp Arena. The final round will begin on the 18th at 6:00 p.m., with a world of excitement and the best billiards in the world between the two dates.
The World Championship that follows in the second week has a different format from the World Cup, given that there are 48 players in the field. They will be split up in 16 groups of three, two players advancing from each group, with matches to 40. The last 32 will play K.O. matches to 50.
These are the seeded players for the World Championship: Jaspers, Merckx, Q.C. Tran, Zanetti, T.L. Tran, Tasdemir, Sidhom, Bury, J.H. Heo, Horn, P. Ceulemans, Kiraz, H.J. Kim, B. Karakurt, Forthomme and H.C. Thai. Myung Woo Cho from South Korea is the title holder.
Ranking points for the World Players ranking: 120 – 81 – 57 – 39 -24 – 12 – 8.
The ranking points for the UMB Events ranking are the same as for a World Cup.
All matches will be streamed on Soop.