The year was launched with the nomination of Farouk Barki as the new president and a new UMB board during the General Assembly in Cairo. Three World Cups of seven on the 2017 calendar werd won by Dick Jaspers, Eddy Merckx and Frédéric Caudron. Torbjörn Blomdahl won the Supercup gala in Antwerp and was voted Player of the Year 2016. The Swede, the reigning world champion, was passed by Frédéric Caudron as the world’s number one in the Ho Chi Minh World Cup.
’The world top is constantly in motion’
The leading role of Torbjörn Blomdahl in the ranking seemed to be untouchable after his victories at the World championship in Bordeaux and the European championship in Brandenburg, but his riant position already waveled after the first World Cup sessions and now Frédéric Caudron seized power. The Belgian is the proud leader now, followed by Torbjörn Blomdahl, Eddy Merckx, Dick Jaspers and Dani Sánchez. The Belgians are the best represented country with three players. The former world champion, the Korean Sung-Won Choi is the most prominent name tha disappeared from the top of the ranking.
The overview from January until June:
Dick Jaspers and Frédéric Caudron, two absolute world class players, battled for victory at the Bursa World Cup. The 50-year-old Dutchman triumphed in the first 2016 World Cup: 40-34 in the final match in nineteen innings. Dick Jaspers was victorious against the Korean Hyung Bum Hwang (40-16 in 21), Belgian Roland Forthomme in the best match of the tournament (40-13 in 8, 5.000 average), Pedro Piedrabuena (40-38 in 20) and finally against his Belgian rival Caudron in a nerve-wrecking match.
The victory was the 22nd in a World Cup for Dick Jaspers. Three Europeans, Jaspers, Caudron and Merckx and the American Pedro Piedraubuena made up the semi-final field. The final top three of the final ranking with Jaspers (2.352), Caudron (2.063) and Merckx (2.260) showed world-class.
The 53-year-old Swede Torbjörn Blomdahl was voted Player of the Year at the Antwerp Hilton hotel. The reigning world champion also took the Super Cup in a match between the 2015 world champion and the World Cup winner Dani Sánchez. Therefor he was crowned to the undisputed star of 2016. ,,This was my best year ever'', Blomdahl said after he was rewarded by two checks of 5.000 euros at the gala. The Swedish whirlwind, son of Lennart Blomdahl with whom he won the World championship for national teams twice, defeated Dani Sánchez in Antwerp in the match for the Super Cup in ultra short sets: 4-1. After the match he took the spotlights of the gala hall, voted as the Player of the Year by a jury of the fifty best players in the world and the votes of all federations. Blomdahl took 118 votes, Sánchez 107 and Turkish player Tayfun Tasdemir 57.
The gold medal at the World championship for national teams in Viersen went to the Netherlands, the silver to Turkey and the Belgians lost their title after having won for four straight years. The German tournament arena held some 500 spectators, quite a few of them dressed in orange.
The climax of the event unfolded at the table where Dick Jaspers and Semih Sayginer battled for the tournament win. The Dutch number two, Jean van Erp, had already done his part, by beating Lütfi Cenet in a quality match by a surprising margin (40 - 12 in 16 innings), and all eyes were now on the two superstars still at play.
Dick Jaspers' final point sent an explosion through the arena and brought his teammate Jean van Erp to tears.
The Dutch accomplishment, after previous wins in 1998 and 1999 (both times Jaspers-Burgman), was not a complete surprise. Netherlands is also the current European team champion (Jaspers-Burgman).
The Turkish team was basically outplayed in the final. That was unexpected, after their majestic semifinal against the favorite Belgians. Semih Sayginer and Lütfi Cenet had apparently given their all in that encounter, with a 3.636 average for Semih and 2.500 for Lütfi. It was quite a contrast with the final, where Sayginer averaged 0.812 and Cenet 0.750.
For the first time in four years, the Belgians were not in the final, which was a bit of a shock. The royal tandem of Eddy Merckx and Frédéric Caudron had dominated the event for four years. This time, the Turks rained on their parade, and the return of Semih Sayginer - who had been missing from this world championship for ten years - was given a silver shine.
The WC for national teams started off with 24 teams of two players, and had no shortage of highlights. Dani Sánchez was one of the stars who could not make it to the rostrum. The Spaniard was the best player of them all in the group stage.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, nine time winner of this event, twice with his father Lennart, seven times with Michael Nilsson, went out in the first round. Marco Zanetti also could not survive, and neither could the Koreans. HaengJik Kim and Jae Guen Kim, as well as the quality French team with Jérémy Bury and Jérôme Barbeillon were eliminated by Greece, with Nikos Polychronopoulos as the star player.
In a hospital in his home town of Bottrop, German and international billiard leader Wolfgang Rittmann passed away. The 68-year old CEB president had been seriously ill for several weeks. His death is a tremendous loss for the international billiard world. Wolfgang Rittmann was the CEB president since 1988, and as such, vice-president of the UMB for 31 years. From 1982 until 2002 he was president of the DBU, the German billiard union. In his long executive career, Rittmann was one of the main figureheads of international billiards. He spearheaded many innovations and initiated organizations such as the bi-annual multi-discipline European championships in Brandenburg.
In Wolfgang Rittmann, billiards loses a distinct leader with a personal vision of the future of billiards.
Farouk Barki, the newly elected president of the UMB, was shocked by the death of Rittmann. ,,He is one of my very best friends for a long time, not only within billiards. That makes it hard for me to realize that he passed away. There is not only friendship between us, also a long mutual trust. Wolfgang dedicated his life to billiards. He was available to help in solving any problems.''
The 47-year old Belgian Eddy Merckx triumphed in Luxor along the Nile, taking the second World Cup of the year. He improved his position on the world ranking by this victory and climbed from fifth to second place. Torbjörn Blomdahl was eliminated in the first round. On the final day with three Europeans and one Asian, Merckx first defeated Korean Jae Ho Cho and in the final the Frenchman Jérémy Bury 40-30 in 23.
The world top was leaving Luxor after a tournament in which many reputations fell to pieces and other contenders and sup top players entered the spotlights.
The decision in the final match unrolled when Merckx started his rush to the title right after the break with a run of eight to a 27-22 lead and definitively ran away with the final knockout: a seven in the twentieth inning, of which the last point was a majestic, full speed long-long-long cushion (38-27). His opponent got one more chance in the equalizer at 40-28, but made an invisible touché after two points when he almost ran out of time.
The second 2016 World Cup lost its top three already after one day: Torbjörn Blomdahl was outplayed by Lütfi Cenet, Dick Jaspers by Nikos Polychronopoulos and Dani Sánchez by Quoc Nguyen Nguyen. Frédéric Caudron went out in the next round after he first survived seven match balls against Dong Koong Kang.
The top ten was under pressure: only Merckx kept up his momentum, when threatened by the Turks (Cenet, Alp, Tüzül) and Koreans. The Belgian outplayed Jae Ho Cho in the semis 40-27. Jérémy Bury bested Polychronopoulos after he ran 12 when the score was 24-24 (40-30 in 23). Jérémy Bury's return on top in a World Cup, Nikos Polychronopoulos and the last Korean contender Jae Ho Cho's strong showing led to a special podium on the final match day.
Eddy Merckx finished with the highest average (1.801). Ahmet Alp, who replaced Filippos Kasidokostas, made the highest run of 17.
The golden glitters rained down on winner Frédéric Caudron as he stood on the podium of the arena in Ho Chi Minh City. The 48-year old grand master killed two birds with one stone in Vietnam: he won the final against Dick Jaspers (40-20 in 17 innings) and dethroned Torbjörn Blomdahl as world number one. UMB-president Farouk Barki led the prize ceremony, and proudly announced that this World Cup in Vietnam will be on the calendar for another three years.
That is good news for billiards at the highest level, because Ho Chi Minh has already proven itself to be a pearl in the annual crown of tournaments. Frédéric Caudron, after the ceremony: ,,The audience is fantastic, they support their own players of course, but they cheer for all of us. That makes it a great ambiance to play in.’’
The Belgian phenom in all disciplines is back on top internationally after Ho Chi Minh. Caudron had a period of drought after he won the world championship in Antwerp in 2013, lost touch with the top-3 positions, but is now back as the proud leader of the pack.
His victory over Dick Jaspers is his revenge for the lost final in Bursa earlier this year. It was a completely different scenario this time: Caudron was superior in the final and Jaspers played his worst match of the tournament.
The World Cup in Ho Chi Minh, the third of this year's cycle, was again mostly a confrontation between Europeans and Asians. The ’old world’ had three players on the podium: Caudron, Jaspers and Zanetti. Quoc Nguyen Nguyen represented the new generation. The Koreans and Turks, remarkably, were absent in the top-5.
Torbjörn Blomdahl lost his status as world number one in the quarterfinal against Marco Zanetti (40-25 in 21).
UMB.