Seoul , November 18th 2018
If Merckx has his eyes on the prize, he usually wins. It was no different in Seoul this week, where the Belgian won the sixth World Cup of the 2018 season, the tenth in his career. In the final, he beat Greece’s Filippos Kasidokostas: 40-19 in 19.
For a few days, this was the week of Kim Bong Chul, the fairly unknown Korean player who outlasted all his more famous countrymen. With wins over Blomdahl, de Bruijn and Nguyen he played the tournament of his life until he was outclassed by an
inspired Kasidokostas, who beat him 40-16 in 17.
Then it became the week of Filippos Kasidokostas, who had been away from World Cups for a while. The Greek had long suffered from a tremor in his right arm, could not get it under control and decided to make a comeback playing “leftie”. Maybe he himself was the only one who believed he could return to his former level, playing with his other hand, but he did it. His place in the final proves he’s a force again, and it is an amazing feat of willpower and skill.
But once all the excitem ent about Kim and Kasi had died down, it was Eddy Merckx who had the last laugh. He successively beat Piedrabuena (40-26 in 20), Kim Jae Guen (40-16 in 15), Leppens (40-36 in 27), Jaspers (40-34 in 19) and finally Kasidokostas. It gave the quiet but strong-willed Belgian an average of exactly 2.000 over the event.
The high run in Seoul was made by 20-year old Cho Myung Woo, who ran 24 against Murat Coklu. It equaled the World Cup record for high run, held by Jeremy Bury. Cho even got past Semih Sayginer in an exciting match, but was ultimately stopped by Marco Zanetti in the round of 16.
Frédéric Caudron was out in the first round (against Seo Hyun Min) but he will still win the overall World Cup for 2018. After victories in Antalya and Porto, his lead was comfortable. Caudron also holds on to the first spot on the world ranking.
Final ranking of Seoul:
- Eddy Merckx 2.000 – 10
- Filippos Kasidokostas 2.057 – 18
- Dick Jaspers 1.949 – 12
- Kim Bong Chul 1.888 – 13
- Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 2.382 – 11
- Marco Zanetti 1.950 – 8
- Robinson Morales 1.476 – 9
- Eddy Leppens 1.468 – 19
The new world ranking:
- Caudron
- Jaspers
- Merckx
- Zanetti
- Sayginer
- Tran
- Cho, J.H.
- Heo, J.H.
Seoul, Novemeber 13th.
The Korea National Training Center is host to the sixth World Cup of the year, the 176th in history. From 12 – 18 November, around 150 billiard players will once again try to win the highest honor in 3-cushion. Fourteen players are seeded according to the ranking: Caudron, Merckx, Haeng Jik Kim, Zanetti, Jaspers, Jung Han Heo, Sung Won Choi, Jae Ho Cho, Coklu, Blomdahl, Sidhom, Tran, Sánchez and Nguyen. The UMB wildcard was given to Pedro Piedrabuena (USA), the local wildcards to Dong Koong Kang and Sung Uk Oh.
The qualification stages are traditionally very tough in Korea, many unknown players are capable of averages well over 1.000 and matches to 25 points are sometimes won in 30 minutes and 15 innings. Among the non-Korean players who are giving it a try, are thirty-three Vietnamese and seventeen Turks. Semih Sayginer, currently third on the UMB ranking, will also have to qualify, as the seeding is based on the ranking of September 2018, when he was ranked 15th.
In the race for the 2018 overall World Cup, Caudron is in the lead after his wins in Antalya and Porto. The other three World Cups of the year were won by Tran (Ho Chi Minh), Jaspers (Blankenberge) and Horn (La Baule). Much is at stake for Haeng Jik Kim, who will lose another 80 ranking points (from Cheongju 2017). Dani Sánchez will no doubt try to regain his status as a seed, Blomdahl is under the same pressure as Haeng Jik Kim, and Bury, Nguyen, Ngo and a few others are knocking on the door.
The event in Seoul will be played on Hollywood tables, with Simonis 300 cloth and Super Aramith Pro Cup Prestige balls. There is 16.000 Euro for the winner, 10.000 for the runner-up and 6.000 for the two winners of the bronze.
You can watch live on Kozoom.com