LIVE SCORE
http://umb.cuesco.net/competition/liveScore?idx=189#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
LIVE BROADCASTING ON SATURDAY AND SUNDAY SUSPENDED.
Dear Sports Friends,
Due to unforeseen extraordinary circumstances, beyond the control of the event organizers in Vietnam, the LIVE broadcast of the Ho Chi Minh City World Cup will be suspended next Saturday and Sunday.
The match schedule and results will remain published on the UMB website.
The broadcasts for both days will be available in "Replay" mode on the SOOP website, starting next Monday 26th.
We apologize for the inconvenience.
Ho Chi Minh City, May 24th 2025.
His World Cup career started in 1990, and he was then instantly one of the best. Thirty-five years later he still is, and he has an unbelievable 32 World Cups to prove it. The latest one came today, in a Ho Chi Minh final against Korean stylist Jung Han Heo: 50-33 in 20/19 to the Dutchman. Even though he’s closing in on the age of sixty, he proves time and again that his focus and strength of character are unmatched.
Let’s start off with a bit of good news: the matches we were all unable to watch on Saturday and Sunday will be available on Soop tomorrow. In the end, we’ll get to see every point from the last 16 to the final.
The closing Sunday opened with the semifinal between two Koreans: Jung Han Heo and Bong Joo Hwang. Heo has two World Cups to his name and he is a regular in quarterfinals and semifinals. Hwang also has the experience, but he never went as deep as he did this week. There’s wasn’t too much in it: Heo won 50-42 in 33/32 innings. Earlier in his career, Heo struggled with nerves when the finish line got near, but he’s the picture of calm these days. And he still has that beautiful touch.
In the second semi, Jaspers needed to get past one of the toughest opponents in the circuit: local hero Quyet Chien Tran. The best of the Vietnamese players, winner in Ho Chi Minh in 2018, almost won the race for the overall World Cup last year, narrowly beaten out by… Dick Jaspers. The Dutchman had to dig deep and come from 41-47 behind to eke out a 50-48 in 30/29 win.
The final was a quality display from both players. Jaspers took a dominant lead, but Heo showed his class with a run of 12. Jaspers put a 13 in the books, and kept control to end it at 50-33 in 20/19. The old Gary Lineker joke comes to mind (football is a game with 22 players and in the end, the Germans win). Is 3-cushion a game with three balls, and in the end, Jaspers wins? That’s maybe a bit over the top, because there are so many players on a high level now. But the fact of the matter is: if you want to win, you need to get past Jaspers. And few people can.
The tournament average in Ho Chi Minh was 1.620 (last 32). That’s the second best ever tournament average in this format, with three 40-point matches in the group and all K.O. matches to 50.
Tournament sensation Sergio Jimenez had the event’s high run: 24.
Dick Jaspers had the highest individual average: 2.302.
Quyet Chien Tran had the best match: 40 in 10 for a 4.000.
The World Cup circuit will soon play its third (Ankara, June) and fourth (Porto, July) event. The cycle continues later in the year with tournaments in Antwerp, Korea and Egypt.
UMB.
Ho Chi Minh City, May 24th 2025.
Jung Han Heo ends Jimenez fairy tale.
It took a Korean star to bring him down from Cloud Nine. But Sergio Jimenez is now a household name, and he will never forget his week in Ho Chi Minh, where he played the tournament of his life and ran a 24 as the cherry on the cake. Jung Han Heo was all business and beat the Spaniard in the quarterfinal: 50-25 in 25/24 innings.
Haeng Jik Kim also had a good week, after an uninspired two seasons. His ambition to win a fourth World Cup ended against the lethal Quyet Chien Tran, who needed only 18 innings in his quarterfinal to beat the fluent Korean 50-27. Kim has found his game back, but he is still struggling in the ranking.
Dick Jaspers is, as so often, like a rock. He can steamroll opponents, sometimes even if they are as good as Marco Zanetti. The 2025 Italian champion (33d title!) had no hope against Jaspers, who decided their quarterfinal 50-22 in 17. Jaspers is protecting his number one spot on the ranking, and he chases his 32nd World Cup. The impossible Blomdahl record (46 wins) is probably out of reach, but with Jaspers you never know.
Almost under the radar, Bong Joo Hwang cruised through the rounds. He did deserve more attention though, because he got past opponents like Myung Woo Cho and Vinh Ly Dao with very respectable averages. His victim in the quarters was Egyptian Sameh Sidhom, who – everybody says – will win a World Cup one day. Not this time, Hwang won 50-35 in 25/24.
Earlier in the day, the round of 16 was the last station for D.Q. Nguyen, T.T. Le, Roland Forthomme, N.N. Le, Tayfun Tasdemir, Jeffrey Jorissen, Ruben Legazpi and V.L. Dao. Dick Jaspers started his last-16 match against N.N. Le with a run of 17.
Tomorrow’s semifinals:
Quyet Chien Tran – Dick Jaspers
Jung Han Heo – Bong Joo Hwang.
Full results can be found on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.
Unfortunately, there will be no live stream on the final day.
UMB.
Ho Chi Minh City, May 23rd 2025.
Twenty players over 1.500 in Ho Chi Minh.
The level of play keeps going up in international 3-cushion. The first round of the main tournament in the Ho Chi Minh World Cup was a feast of high scoring, with almost two-thirds of the field averaging over 1.500 for their three matches. Sergio Jimenez was once again the man of the day, with 2.352 and a monumental run of 24.
France and Germany both had a tough day in Vietnam earlier, this time it was the Belgian’s turn. Caudron, Merckx and Ceulemans were all eliminated, and Roland Forthomme is left to do the honors. Bury, Horn, Jun Tae Kim, Phuong Vinh Bao, all out on this difficult Friday.
Group A.
Jaspers never looked in trouble, the battle was between Umeda and N.N. Le. Both had three points, Le won on average. Umeda and Abdin eliminated.
Group B.
Jimenez stopped the presses with his sensational 24, in a match where he needed only six (!) scoring innings to reach 40 points. Bong Joo Hwang did well to finish second, sending Myung Woo Cho and V. Tri Nguyen home.
Group C.
Not often will a player lose once, win twice, score 1.909 and NOT advance. It happened to Eddy Merckx, who was beaten fair and square by two other players on four points: T.T. Le (2.240) and Jeffrey Jorissen (2.062). Former world champion Bao was unconvincing.
Group D.
Dominant performance from Quyet Chien Tran, three wins and 2.264. Haeng Jik Kim second with two wins, Berkay Karakurt and Wan Young Choi are out.
Group E.
Same result as Group C, three players finishing on four points. Roland Forthomme and Ruben Legazpi did slightly better than Martin Horn, who is eliminated together with T.L. Tran, World Cup winner in Bogotá earlier this year.
Group F.
Jung Han Heo wins the group; Dinh Quoc Nguyen is the lucky second. His two wins meant more than the much higher averages of Jun Tae Kim and Glenn Hofman.
Group G.
Van Ly Dao does well to win the group, and a very interesting fight for second place developed. Three players all with one win, so it was about average. Tayfun Tasdemir won that race, beating out Jeremy Bury and Tolgahan Kiraz.
Group H.
A typical “group of death”, as the expression goes. Sameh Sidhom would not be beaten and finished on five points. Marco Zanetti had a win and two draws, more than enough to advance. Frédéric Caudron forfeited halfway through his match with Sidhom (16-28 to the Egyptian).
The UMB announced today that, due to Vietnamese circumstances outside their control, there will be no stream from Ho Chi Minh on Saturday and Sunday. Results will be normally available on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.
Tomorrow’s K.O. matches:
Jimenez – Tasdemir
J.H. Heo – Jorissen
Sidhom – Legazpi
Van Ly Dao – Bong Joo Hwang
Quyet Chien Tran – Dinh Quoc Nguyen
Le Thanh Tien – Haeng Jik Kim
Forthomme – Zanetti
Jaspers – Le Nguyen Nhu
Ho Chi Minh City, May 22st 2025.
Jimenez and Legazpi lead the way for Spain.
Two Spanish players finished in the top of the field, during Thursday’s PQ round. Sergio Jimenez and Ruben Legazpi qualified with honors, recording 1.951 and 1.600 in their two matches. Jimenez never looked in trouble, Legazpi had to fight off Sam van Etten who came close.
The Dutch clash between Glenn Hofman and Jeffrey Jorissen ended in a draw, and it took Hofman into the main draw automatically. Jorissen, with three points, came in as one of the three best numbers two. Jeremy Bury escaped with a 40-39 win over JP de Bruijn, Forthomme escaped likewise with only two points. Caudron conceded a draw but his qualification wasn’t in danger. The French lost Devogelaere, Maréchal and Vasseur.
Here are the day’s group winners:
Jimenez, Sergio 4 – 1.951
Le Nguyen Nhu 4 – 1.818
Kim Haeng Jik 4 – 1.632
Legazpi, Ruben 4 – 1.600
Nguyen Dinh Quoc 4 – 1.509
Bury, Jeremy 4 – 1.159
Caudron, Frédéric 3 – 1.904
Ceulemans, Peter 3 – 1.666
Dao Van Ly 3 – 1.509
Hofman, Glenn 3- 1.481
Forthomme, Roland 2 – 1.606
Choi Wan Young 2 – 1.571
Best numbers two:
Jorissen, Jeffrey 3 – 1.269
Hwang Bong Joo 2 – 1.777
Umeda, Ryuuji 2 – 1.736
The very interesting draw for Friday, with, among others:
Jaspers – Umeda
M.W. Cho – B.J Hwang
Merckx – Jorissen
Q.C. Tran – B. Karakurt
Horn -Legazpi
Zanetti - Sidhom
Caudron – Ceulemans
Play on Friday starts at 10.00 local time.
Ho Chi Minh City, May 21st 2025.
Full throttle in Ho Chi Minh City.
The World Cup in the Vietnamese metropolis is starting to show its full potential. Wednesday’s PQ round was such high quality, not a single group winner was under 1.000 average, and half a dozen were over 1.500. Gwendal Maréchal and Sam van Etten were the stars of the day, finishing their 70 points in 38 and 40 innings respectively.
Jean Paul de Bruijn just barely advanced with two points, winning his group on average, as did Doan Minh Kiet. Unlucky player of the day was Nguyen Dinh Quoc, who ran a 13, averaged a lofty 1.783 and was eliminated. The tournament also said goodbye to Alexander Salazar, Gerhard Kostistansky, Birol Uymaz and others.
The day’s group winners:
Maréchal, Gwendal 4 – 1.842
Van Etten, Sam 4 – 1.750
Dao, Van Ly 4 – 1.590
Choi, Wan Young 4 – 1.521
Le Nguyen Nu 4 – 1.521
Devogelaere, Mikael 4 - 1.346
Kang, Ja In 4 – 1.346
Umeda, Ryuuji 4 – 1.320
Vasseur, Kevin 4 – 1.296
Nguyen, Hoai Phong 4 – 1.186
Goren, Mehmet 4 – 1.129
Cetin, Volkan 4 – 1.029
Jimenez, Sergio 3 – 1.372
Kahofer, Arnim 3 – 1.272
Doan Minh Kiet 2 – 1.512
De Bruijn, Jean Paul 2 – 1.486
Tomorrow, players like Hofman, Jorissen, Forthomme, Costa and Bury will enter the arena in the first and second round of the day. All matches are streamed on Soop.
UMB.
Ho Chi Minh City, May 20th 2025.
Germans stumble on day two in HCM.
The second day of qualifications in Vietnam saw two players rise above the field with wonderful averages. Le Nguyen Nhu and Le Quoc Ho won their groups with 1.935 and 1.875 respectively. Nine of the sixteen group winners were Vietnamese.
Germany had a bad day: they lost both Ibraimov’s (Ali and Amir), Thomas Bouerdick, and reputed names like Lindemann and Löwe. There were more European casualties on day two: D’Agata, Pennör, Tachoire, Mortensen, Moulos. Except for finding good food, nothing is easy in Ho Chi Minh.
Here are the group winners:
Le Nguyen Nhu 4 – 1.935
Le Quoc Ho 4 – 1.875
Choi Wan Young4 – 1.621
Ngo Le Duy 4 – 1.578
Doan Minh Klet 4 – 1.428
Umeda Riyuuji 4 – 1.428
Salazar Alexander 4 – 1.333
Luan Nguyen Dinh 4 – 1.250
Truong Quang Hao 4 – 1.090
Kapusiz Ufuk 4 – 1.090
Duriez Nathan 4 – 0.952
Szivacz Herbert 4 – 0.869
Lik Hyung Mook 4 – 0.821
Nguyen Dinh Quoc 3 – 1.538
Long Nguyen Chi 3 – 1.333
Nguyen Hoai Phuong 2 – 1.400
Tomorrow, players like Maréchal, Kostistansky, van Etten, Ja In Kang, Cetin, Soares and others will enter the tournament. All matches are streamed by Soop.
UMB.
Ho Chi Minh City, May 19th 2025.
Ho Chi Minh is off to a quick start.
The qualification players in the Ho Chi Minh World Cup didn’t waste any time to get their event of the year going. Ten of the sixteen group winners on Monday were local hopefuls, even if the best of the lot was from Turkiye. France (1) Colombia (1) and Korea (3) also had players in the mix. Nine of the sixteen even managed to average over 1.000, which is never easy on the slippery opening day.
Here are the group winners:
Ufuk Kapusiz 4 – 1.333
Dinh Quoc Nguyen 4 – 1.250
Quoc Ho Le 4 – 1.224
Nguyen Nhu Le 4 – 1.224
Seungmo Yang 4 – 1.200
Le Duy Ngo 4 – 1.090
Hoai Phong Nguyen 4 – 1.090
Quang Hao Truong 4 – 1.071
Quang Hai Dinh 4 - 1.016
Nathan Duriez 4 - 0.962
Hyung Mook Lim 4 – 0.869
Nguyen Dinh Luan 4 – 0.821
Taeyeon Lee – 4 – 0.606
Minh Kiet Doan 3 – 1.250
Quang Hung Tran 3 – 1.224
Alexander Salazar 3 – 1.176.
One of the first Vietnamese players to find some recognition outside his country, twenty years ago, was Ly The Vinh. With a win and a draw he just came up short to qualify. Alexander Salazar from Colombia had the same record: a win and a draw, but in his case it was sufficient to advance.
Tomorrow, players like Lindemann, Pennör, D’Agata and Takeshima will enter the arena. All matches are streamed on Soop. Full results available on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.
Ho Chi Minh City, May 17th 2025.
Vietnam’s major city will host the UMB World Cup for a ninth time. From 19 – 25 May, the world’s best players compete in the season’s second World Cup, following Bogotá earlier this year, where Thanh Luc Tran was the winner. The defending champion in Ho Chi Minh is Duc Minh Tran.
The Vietnamese World Cup has a great honor list of past champions. Caudron and Merckx both won twice in HCM, Tasdemir, Quyet Chien Tran, Blomdahl and Duc Minh Tran all won the event once. The qualifications are notoriously difficult to survive, because of all the local talent.
The UMB has seeded the following players: Jaspers, M.W. Cho, Merckx, Q.C. Tran, T.L. Tran, J.T. Kim, Tasdemir, Zanetti, Sidhom, Kiraz, J.H. Heo, Horn, B. Karakurt and P.V. Bao. The local wildcards were handed to Van Tri Nguyen and Le Thanh Tien, the UMB/AMECC wildcard went to Mohamed Abdin.
Frédéric Caudron, who elected not to play Bogotá, will be present in HCM. Torbjörn Blomdahl will not: he will be out of the running for three World Cups due to a torn Achilles tendon, suffered when playing padel tennis. The battle to gain or regain a top-14 spot is getting more interesting every year, with top notch players like Bury, H.C. Thai, Polychronopoulos, Haeng Jik Kim, Caudron, Ceulemans and Hofman all in the mix.
The tables in HCM are Hollywood, the cloth is Simonis 330 Prestige, the balls are Dynaspheres. At stake are the usual ranking points: 80-54-36-26-18-10-8.
All matches will be streamed by Soop (formerly AfreecaTV). Full match results can be found on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB. The time difference between Vietnam and Western Europe is seven hours.
