Paris, December 1st 2018
Billiards wants to be Olympic in 2024.
The campaign “Billiards 2024” was officially launched yesterday, in a press conference at the historic location of the Eiffel Tower. The combined forces of pool, snooker and carom billiards, united in their umbrella organization WCBS, have presented themselves as a candidate for Olympic status. It is as yet unknown when the IOC will announce which sports will compete at the 2024 Olympics, but cue players worldwide have their fingers crossed.
WCBS president Ian Anderson was optimistic in his speech, and he emphasized the unique qualities of the cue sports: they are open and available to all ages, to both genders and to people with a physical handicap, they exercise both the mind and the body and are a source of joy to amateurs and professionals alike.
Several high-profile players were in attendance in Paris: Jasmin Ouschan from Austria for pool, Shaun Murphy from England for snooker, Jeremy Bury from France for 3-cushion, and trickshot artist Florian “Venom” Kohler who has a massive following on Youtube.
The French billiards federation, represented by Jean-Paul Sinanian, the organizer committee Billiards Paris 2024 represented by Jean-Pierre Guiraud, and the UMB, represented by Fernando Requena are all in full support of the billiards bid.
WCBS president Ian Anderson and secretary general Diane Wild said they estimate that some 200 million people worldwide are involved in the cue sports. There are five additional sports in Tokio 2020, with parachuting, squash and jeux de boules are also in the race for 2024.
Billiards won the IOC's recognition in the Games of Nagano (JP) in 1998, then under the impulses of UMB president André Gagnaux. He championed the Olympic ideal for our sport and spearheaded the foundation of the WCBS with the WCBS Honorary President Jorgen Sandman from Pool and Mark Wildman from Snooker. Since then the billiard has participated in different Games of the Olympiad, in different occasions in The Asiatic indoor Games, in the Bolivarian and Central American Games and in the World Games in which it has been participating for twenty years in all five editions. It will also be present in the next World Games in Birmingham (USA).
Billiards has been a candidate for the Games of Athens, for those of Tokyo and now again our hopes are placed in Paris 2024, the strength and collaboration of all is absolutely necessary and decisive in the next two months.
Hurghada , December 1st 2018.
The last World Cup of the year 2018: SOMA BAY WORLD CUP in Hurghada
The seventh and last tournament in the World Cup cycle of 2018 will take place in the familiar surroundings of Hurghada, Egypt. The venue, Sheraton Somabay, is new to billiards, Hurghada certainly isn’t. This is the 12th time already, that the world’s best billiard players come to “the place where it all began”.
The overall World Cup win for the season is no longer at stake: Frédéric Caudron will win it, regardless of the results in Hurghada. But the tournament win and the ranking points involved will have many players anxious to do well. Positions in the protected top-14 and privileged top-20 are at stake. The man who will lose 80 ranking points after Hurghada is Torbjörn Blomdahl, he won those points in La Baule 2017. Title defender in Egypt is Eddy Merckx, he won last year’s event in El Gouna.
The World Cup tournaments in 2018 were won by Caudron (Antalya), Tran (Ho Chi Minh), Jaspers (Blankenberge), Caudron (Porto), Horn (La Baule) and Merckx (Seoul). Who will win the seventh?
The UMB has seeded 14 players according to their ranking: Caudron, Merckx, H.J. Kim, Merckx, Zanetti, J.H. Heo, Sayginer, Tran, Nguyen, Sidhom, Coklu, Blomdahl, S.W. Choi and J.H. Cho. The UMB wildcard was given to Huberney Catano, the local wildcards to Mohsen Fouda and Ahmed Abdallah. Four ladies have booked a place in the qualification event: Therese Klompenhouwer, Gülsen Degener, Sylvia Eckel and Namiko Hayashi.
The qualification rounds start on 2 December at 11.00, the final will be played on 8 December at 16.00 local time.
UMB.