Winners in El Gouna

Hurghada, December 9, 2017.

Eddy Merckx won the El Gouna (Hurghada) World Cup, beating his fellow countryman Roland Forthomme 40-25 in 19 innings.

The impressive start with a run of 14 innings delivered Eddy an advantage that he could maintain until the last point despite the counter attempts of Roland.

Both players produced a tremendous tournament. Merckx successively beating Tasdemir, Bury, Carlsen and Zanetti in an impressive semi-final match.

Forthomme had more tough opponents, beating Blomdahl, Kang, Jaspers and Caudron in a impressive 40-15 in 11 innings.

The still Young and brilliant Korean Player, Heang-Jik Kim, Conquered the World Cup circuit 2017.

With these results, the final qualification ranking shows:

1. MERCKX Eddy BE 200 88 2.272 2.857 10 15

2. FORTHOMME Roland BE 185 98 1.887 3.636 8 13

3. ZANETTI Marco IT 157 89 1.764 2.105 6 11

3. CAUDRON Frédéric BE 135 81 1.666 2.500 6

5. JASPERS Dick NL 112 60 1.866 2.222 4 9

6. KIM Heang Jik KR 102 60 1.700 2.666 4 14

7. COKLU Murat Naci TR 116 72 1.611 1.894 4

8. CARLSEN Tonny DK 104 67 1.552 1.818 4 9

Magnificent Organization that accumulates the enormous experience of the many successive editions of the Hurghada World Cup through the years.

Time now for a break in the busy UMB events that will restart in February next year with the World Championship for National Teams in Viersen, Germany.

GOOD NEWS :

The Union Mondiale de Billard and Kozoom International signed a historic agreement whereby the UMB grants the Korean Company the exploitation of its media and marketing rights for a period of five years.

Farouk Barki, UMB President, declared “This agreement will take 3-Cushion to another level, and will keep all players united under UMB umbrella."

The collaboration between the UMB and Kozoom started in 2010. Since then the relationship between both entities have been magnificently increasing year after year. It is now time for the next step that allows to reach for the following goal: internationalize the presence of carom billiard and promote it in new regions of the world.

New events will be promoted by KOZOOM INTERNATIONAL from 2018: a continental cup and a series of Master tournaments where top ranking players will be seeded. These events will not award world ranking points although they will be high level of Organization, with prize-Money over 150,000 euros each.

Xavier Carrer, co-director of Kozoom International with William Oh: "we truly believe this is the best way for 3-Cushion to grow by keeping all players , professionals and amators, unified".

The Board of the UNION MONDIALE DE BILLARD at its meeting in Hurghada, decided to reinforce the World Cups that will have a strong increase of prize-money, reaching 106,500 euros per tournament . Between 6 and 7 World Cups will be organized annually. Also the World Championships will have strong increases that will reach 118.500 euros of prize-money.

In parallel, the UMB has approved a training program for promising young players from around the World .

The increase of activities has led the UMB to reserve 24 weeks on the UMB Sports calendar to also accommodate entries. The new MASTER tournaments will start from the second half of 2018.

With over 1.5 million dollars prize-money next year, the 3-Cushion world circuit is reaching new heights.

U.M.B.

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