CheongJu, September 28th, 2017.
The fifth World Cup of the season has started, the place of action is Cheongju, South Korea. Last year, when the event was held in Guri, Frenchman Jeremy Bury won his first WC trophy when he beat Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran in the final.
In an exciting season so far, four different players have won a UMB World Cup: Bursa was won by Frédéric Caudron, Luxor by Daniel Sánchez, Ho Chi Minh by Eddy Merckx and Porto by Haeng Jik Kim.
The Koreans have shown themselves to be very capable organizers of these events, and the qualification stages in Asia are amongst the toughest in the world. You need to beat several strong opponents if you want to make it to the final draw in this World Cup.
As always, the first 14 players on the world ranking list are seeded. For this event, Dani Sánchez, Dick Jaspers, Marco Zanetti, Frédéric Caudron, Haeng Jik Kim, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Murat Naci Coklu, Eddy Merckx, Sameh Sidhom, Jung Han Heo, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen and Quyet Chien Tran are the protected players. The three wild cards are: Riad Nady, Jae Ho Cho and In Won Kang. An additional spot has opened up for a player from the pre-tournament, due to the absence of Jeremy Bury. He is sick and did not make the trip.
The Cheongju tournament kicked off on 25 September. The main draw will begin play on 29 September, and the final will be played on 1 October. All matches will be streamed on Kozoom.
CheongJu, September 20th, 2017.
Last year, when the event was held in Guri, the Frenchman won his first World Cup, beating Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran in the final.
If there is some added pressure, it will be on Dani Sánchez and Marco Zanetti.
The first, because he is the reigning world champion and world number 1, with four major wins in the past season. The second, because he performed at such a high level in last month's LG U+ Cup, winning all his matches and recording a 2.735 general average.
The Koreans have proved to be very capable organizers of these events, and the qualification stages in Asia are amongst the toughest in the world. You need to beat several strong opponents if you want to make it to the final draw in this World Cup.
As always, the first 14 players on the world ranking list are seeded. For this event, Dani Sánchez, Dick Jaspers, Marco Zanetti, Frédéric Caudron, Haeng Jik Kim, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Jeremy Bury, Murat Naci Coklu, Eddy Merckx, Sameh Sidhom, Jung Han Heo, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen and Quyet Chien Tran are the protected players. The three wild cards are: Riad Nady, Jae Ho Cho and In Won Kang.
The CheongJu tournament will start on Monday 25 September. The final will be played on Sunday 1 October, and all matches will be LIVE streamed on Kozoom.