HURGHADA 19/12/2015 - Along the banks of the Red Sea, the Belgian star player Frédéric Caudron closed the year with a victory in the Hurghada World Cup. Dani Sánchez crowned himself to overall winner of the World Cup cycle 2015. The final stage of the series with six tournaments, in a beautiful setting, turned out into a one-man show from Frédéric Caudron, who was superior in the match against Marco Zanetti. The winner showed his immense joy when he was showered by a thundering applause in the arena. The emotion and the relief were understandable: for Caudron, who is among the greatest players in the world, the year of 2015 was not one of his best. His victory in the last World Cup, in which he finally demonstrated his world class, silenced the critical followers of three cushion.
,,I think this was one of my best matches ever'', was Caudron's remarkable statement after the match. He dominated the final against Marco Zanetti, who was one of the other stars in this World Cup, from the beginning.
The Belgian led to the break 20-6 in eight innings after a run of nine in the fourth and finished it off with six, three and seven in the last three innings: 40-13 in 11 innings. For the first time in this World Cup series, with six different winners, the Belgian national anthem sounded through the arena in Sunrise Garden Beach resort.
The final day for Marco Zanetti was marked by a special end. The Italian, who is on his best when he plays under pressure, was brilliant in the semi-final against Dani Sánchez with a 40-30 victory in thirteen innings (3.076). That level, he couldn't reach at all in the final, where he had only two caroms in the first five innings and in the eleventh made his highest run of four.
The last World Cup was also the glorious final of the year for Dani Sánchez. The Spaniard was rewarded by the price for the most regular player in the circuit. He won the tournament in Guri this year with a world record average that he shares with Torbjörn Blomdahl (2.739), played the semi-finals in Luxor, Hurghada and Porto and the quarterfinals in Ho Chi Minh City and Istanbul.
In the memorable match against Tayfun Tasdemir, in the quarterfinals of Hurghada, Sánchez already left all his competitors behind him. That match against the Turk was one of the most spectacular of the entire tournament: after 40
-40 in the regular match, the Spaniard took the shootouts 4-2.
Marco Zanetti performed in the run-up to the final with a magnificent victories over Eddy Leppens, Ji
n Pyo Hong, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Dani Sánchez. The former European and world champion felt great pressure in Hurghada, where he won last year and had to defend the maximum points (80) in this edition. ,,I was intensely looking forward to this World Cup, because it was so important for my position in the world'', he said on the final day. ,,My first goal was to stay in the top twelve, but I felt that my form and my feeling was growing in the last days before the start.'' With his average after four games (2.388), Zanetti was even the best in the tournament.
Lütfi Cenet was the fourth man on the podium after one of his best performances ever, which he started with the best match (ten innings) and ran sixteen and fifteen in that match against Jae Ho Cho. He was the last player remaining of eight Turks in the main tournament.
The final result in Hurghada:
1 Frédéric Caudron 2.197-10
2 Marco Zanetti 2.217-12
3 Lütfi Cenet 1.866-16
3 Dani Sánchez 1.851-8
5 Kostas Papakonstantinou 2.000-16
6 Torbjörn Blomdahl 1.676-11
7 Tayfun Tasdemir 1.600-8
8 Choong Bok Lee 1.356-12
9 Jung Han Heo 2.225-11
10 Sung Won Choi 2.085-10
11 Murat Naci Coklu 1.904-11
12 Dick Jaspers 1.761-12
13 Javier Palazón 1.756-11
14 Eddy Merckx 1.647-5
15 Jin Pyo Hong 1.489-8
16 Tolgahan Kiraz 1.367-13
17 Adnan Yüksel 1.923-11
18 Jae Ho Cho 1.900-8
19 Eddy Leppens 1.785-7
20 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 1.764-10
Tournament Average: 1.648.
The new World ranking:
1 Torbjörn Blomdahl 452
2 Dani Sánchez 341
3 Dick Jaspers 307
4 Tayfun Tasdemir 277
5 Eddy Merckx 271
6 Frédéric Caudron 221
7 Marco Zanetti 198
8 Roland Forthomme 173
9 Sameh Sidhom 173
10 Jae Ho Cho 170
11 Quyet Chien Tran 157
12 Jung Han Heo 152
13 Murat Naci Coklu 145
14 Hyung Bum Hwang 144
15 Haeng Jik Kim 135
16 Adnan Yüksel 133
17 Dong Koong Kang 133
18 Riad Nady 131
19 Sung Won Choi 127
20 Eddy Leppens 119.
HURGHADA, 16-12-2015 – The last World Cup winner is in the house and the Sunrise Garden Beach in Hurghada is ready for another great fight. Murat Naci Coklu, the Turkish hero after his World Cup win in Istanbul, showed his fabulous form in the last round of the qualifications with a master class victory over Nikos Polychronopoulos, which he won 40-31 in 15 innings with runs of 11, 9 and 11.
The final day of the qualifications was a day with lots of Turkish fireworks, with Murat Naci Coklu on top Semih Sayginer, who used the turbo in his match against Jean Paul de Bruijn and Tolgahan Kiraz who finished with two runs of seven against Can Capak.
The main draw starts tomorrow with eight Turkish players and seven Koreans.
Torbjörn Blomdahl, the world’s number one, kicks off against Mohsen Fouda from Egypt, Dani Sánchez meets Semih Sayginer and two Dutch, Dick Jaspers and Jean Paul de Bruijn, are facing each others on the first day.
The twelve group winners on Wednesday:
1 Murat Naci Coklu 4-1.904-11
2 Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1.860-13
3 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen 4-1.739-10
4 Kostas Papakonstantinou 4-1.632-16
5 Jae Guen Kim 4-1.568-10
6 Javier Palazón 4-1.568-7
7 Semih Sayginer 4-1.538-11
8 Murat Tüzül 4-1.269-7
9 Gokhan Salman 4-1.111-7
10 Lütfi Cenet 3-1.403-8
11 Arnim Kahofer 2-1.355-8
12 Eddy Leppens 2-1.245-7
The reserve players to advance to the main tournament:
1 Jin Pyo Hong 3-1.290-8
2 Nikos Polychronopoulos 2-1.731-6
3 Jean Paul de Bruijn 2-1.480-7
4 Adnan Yüksel 2-1.469-11
The draw for the main tournament:
12.00:
Torbjörn Blomdahl-Mohsen Fouda
Quoc Nguyen Nguyen-Javier Palazón
Jae Guen Kim-Jin Pyo Hong
Marco Zanetti-Eddy Leppens
14.00:
Tolgahan Kiraz-Roland Forthomme
Dani Sánchez-Semih Sayginer
Murat Naci Coklu-Nikos Polychronopoulos
Tayfun Tasdemir-Arnim Kahofer
16.00:
Dick Jaspers-Jean Paul de Bruijn
Jae Ho Cho-Lütfi Cenet
Sung Won Choi-Sameh Sidhom
Hyung Bum Hwang-Choong Bok Lee
18.00:
Frédéric Caudron-Jose Juan Garcia
Jung Han Heo-Adnan Yüksel
Kostas Papakonstantinou-Gokhan Salman
Eddy Merckx-Murat Tüzül.
Hurghada, 09/12/2015.
Who will be the challenger of Torbjörn Blomdahl, the new world champion in three cushion, in the battle for the Super Cup in Antwerp? The last World Cup this year, in the sunny Egypt resort of Hurghada, is decisive for the overall win in the cycle of six 2015 World Cups. The Spaniard Dani Sanchez is the ranking leader after five tournaments, by a small margin over his main competitors Dick Jaspers and Torbjörn Blomdahl. Tayfun Tasdemir also has a small chance to win.
This year’s World Cup series comes to a climax from 13 to 19 December in the sea, sun and beach paradise of Hurghada, where hundreds of billiard players love to combine their sport with a holiday.every year The field in the Egyptian city was again fully booked (149 players) very quickly this year. The huge interest in three-cushion in Egypt will extend in the years ahead. Next year in December (2016) not only a new World Cup is planned, also the world championship for players under 22 will be organized near the Red Sea.
Farouk Barki (UMB): This year’s World Cup is the 15th consecutive 3C event organized in Hurghada, starting with two Europe Cups and the World Cup from 2003 till 2016.’’The World Cup organizations in Egypt get an apotheosis in 2018, when the individual World championship will be held in Luxor. The world class players, headed by new world champion Torbjörn Blomdahl, and others who compete in World Cups on a regular basis, will travel to Hurghada for the ultimate World Cup 2015, one week after the successful World championships in Bordeaux.
The Kozoom team in the southern French city can be very proud of its professional organization and the many spectators in the stands at the Palais des Congrès. The tournament was not only dominated by Torbjörn Blomdahl and Korean star Dong Koong Kang, but also by the African coming man Sameh Sidhom.
The most remarkable exponent of Egyptian 3- cushion outplayed one of the game's giants, Frédéric Caudron, in Bordeaux. He took the spotlights with the highest run of the tournament (19) which helped him to beat the Belgian champion Eddy Leppens. He hopes to make headlines again in his own country. The African president Alsharif Alhussein and Farouk Barki, UMB’s vice president and sports director, glistened in the Vip boxes of the World championship. Sameh Sidhom, who completed a dentistry study, has strengthened his position in the top twelve of the world and seems on his way to become a fixture in the ranking.
Torbjörn Blomdahl has already claimed a starring role for the Super Cup and the Player of the year election, organized by Ludo Dielis in Antwerp on 5th of March 2016. The opponent that evening is the winner of the World Cup cycle. The World Cup in Hurghada closes the series of six in which Dick Jaspers (Luxor), Torbjörn Blomdahl (Porto), Tayfun Tasdemir (Ho Chi Minh), Dani Sánchez (Guri) and Murat Naci Coklu (Istanbul) were the winners. Dani Sánchez has taken the lead with 208 points followed by Dick Jaspers 202, Torbjörn Blomdahl 196 and Tayfun Tasdemir 174. Marco Zanetti, as last year’s winner, loses the most ranking points in Hurghada Torbjörn Blomdahl, will maintain his number one position, defending a substantial lead over Dani Sánchez, Dick Jaspers, Eddy Merckx and Tayfun Tasdemir.
The twelve seeded players in Hurghada (according to the former ranking: 1 Torbjörn Dahl (Sweden) 2 Eddy Merckx (Belgium) 3 Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) 4 Tayfun Tasdemir (Turkey) 5 Dani Sánchez (Spain) 6 Sung-Won Choi (Korea) 7 Marco Zanetti (Italy) 8 Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) 9 Jae Ho Cho (Korea) 10 Hyung Bum Hwang (Korea) 11 Haeng Jik Kim (Korea) 12 Jung Han Heo (Korea) The wildcard players are: Choong-Bok Lee (Korea), ACBC Roland Forthomme (Belgium), CEB Jose Juan Garcia (Colombia), CPB Sameh Sidhom (Egypt), Org Mohsen Fouda (Egypt).
The action will start on Sunday, December 13th at 11:00. The final day is Saturday December 18th. All matches can be viewed live at www.kozoom.com, on all tables in high quality.
Don’t miss out one single day and join the matches.
UMB.