Bogotá, April 12th, 2026.
The best player in Bogota won the first World Cup of 2026. You would be excused for saying “the best player in the world won Bogota”, because the world champion of 2024 currently is. His victory started to look inevitable after his majestic run of 17 in the final against Thanh Luc Tran, taking him from 10-22 to 27-22. Cho followed up on the 17 with 3-2-3-5 and that was the load that broke Tran’s back.
Myung Woo Cho started his World Cup career as a 13-year-old kid with a ton of talent. He paid his dues, and all through the years he never stopped learning. Even a forced 18-month pause in his billiard life due to military service didn't put him off. That's maybe the most remarkable thing about this new flag-bearer of 3-cushion: that he still hasn't reached his plateau. Myung Woo Cho could become even more scary than he already is.
The Vietnamese Bogota winner of 2025 is now firmly one of the top contenders in the circuit. Few World Cup wins will have been defended a year later with such determination, and Tran’s courage is a thing to behold. He will trust his judgment on shots with kiss danger, and he often lives on the edge, which makes good viewing. Had he succeeded in defending his Bogota title, he would have been the first player to win the same World Cup two years in a row since Frédéric Caudron (Sluiskil 2008 & 2009).
In the first semi of the day, Cho had a dream first half where he ran away from Tayfun Tasdemir by an amazing 25 points to 3. The Turk did put up a fight after that, but it was a hill too high: 50-26 in 20/19. Cho finished in style with a run of 10.
The second semi between Tran and Horn went to 23-23 before Tran broke the deadlock with a run of 11. For once, the German did not have an answer and Tran cruised to a 50-33 in 27/26 win. It’s the 10th bronze medal for Horn in his World Cup career, and he has three golds and seven silvers. It gives him an almost identical resume to Tayfun Tasdemir, who is on 3/7/12.
The tournament average in Bogota (last 32) was 1.546.
The best individual general average was played by Marco Zanetti: 2.240.
The best match was played by Dick Jaspers, Marco Zanetti and Luis Martinez: 3.636 (40 in 11).
The tournament high run was made by Luis Martinez: 21.
The World Cup circuit will have its second event of the 2026 season in Ho Chi Minh City next month (18-24 May).
Bogotá, April 11th, 2026.
Only Tasdemir, Cho, Tran and Horn are left standing.
The cruelty of a World Cup: a main draw has 32 excellent players, and 31 of them have to lose at some point. On the Saturday in Bogota, a golden quartet of European top players was eliminated: Caudron, Merckx, Jaspers, Zanetti. Are they in the winter of their career? Or do they have ten more years in them? Four mostly cautious quarterfinals left us with four semifinalists: Thanh Luc Tran, Martin Horn, Tayfun Tasdemir and Myung Woo Cho.
Why do the averages drop a bit, in the K.O. stage? Because there is an incentive for defense, and no reward for a high average. Winning your match is all that counts. That principle resulted in the elimination of Wan Young Choi (Jaspers), Birol Uymaz (T.L. Tran), Frédéric Caudron (Horn), Glenn Hofman (Sidhom), Marco Zanetti (Tasdemir), Eddy Merckx (B. Karakurt), Luis Martinez (M.W. Cho), and Jeremy Bury (H.C. Thai).
Quarterfinals:
Myung Woo Cho is winning a lot because he is outscoring his opponents. They simply can’t keep up with his pace, and he is so hard to defend against. The former world champion got past a dangerous opponent: Hong Chiem Thai, who we might see on a World Cup final day in the future. Cho won 50-30 in 26/25.
Tayfun Tasdemir and Berkay Karakurt know each other’s game very well, needless to say. The younger of the Berkay brothers has all the tools, physically and mentally. But Tasdemir has more experience, and he has that deadly position play. The Turkish elder statesman won it 50-41 in 31/30.
Martin Horn built up a good lead against Sameh Sidhom, but the Egyptian is never a pushover and he made a comeback. From 29-19 it went to 39-39 and there was a little trench war for a few innings. All part of the game. Horn finished coolly at 50-40 in 29/28.
Perhaps the most exciting of the four quarterfinals was the one between Thanh Luc Tran and Dick Jaspers. Neither could get away from the other: it was 26-25 and later 44-46. In the very tense last few innings, Jaspers fell into the trap of a hard-to-avoid kiss, and Tran cashed in with a gorgeous closing 4.
Semifinals tomorrow:
Tasdemir – M.W. Cho
Horn – T.L. Tran
All the action can be watched on Soop.
Bogotá, April 10th, 2026.
Luis Martinez is living the dream.
It was quite a day in Bogota. Birthday boy Marco Zanetti was the best player of the Friday, but nobody was cheered on like local hero Luis Martinez, who walked on water for two matches, and finds himself in the K.O. stage of a World Cup.
Spectators were treated to several top-notch performances, most notably 40 in 13 (twice) and 40 in 11 (three times). Caudron, Merckx, Zanetti, Jaspers and Martinez were the authors. Martinez added to his glory with a run of 21.
Group A.
Myung Woo Cho started off with a misstep against van Etten, but he repaired the damage with wins in 19 and 18. Birol Uymaz even topped Cho to win the group with 1.885. Villanueva and van Etten are out, but both should proud of the tournament they played.
Group B.
Jaspers wins the group with 6 points, but it wasn’t all smooth sailing. A grinder of a match against Catano (37 innings) was followed by wins in 20 and 11. The Dutchman can recuperate like no other. Amazingly, Bao lost three times, and Hong Chiem Thai grabbed second place.
Group C.
Eddy Merckx showed two faces today: a 19-40 in 28 loss to Ja In Kang, and a 40-23 in 13 win over Glenn Hofman when it mattered most. We dare to speculate that Merckx will record 40 in 13 more often than 19 in 28; yes, even the greats are human. Hofman did well to beat Garcia and Kang, and he’s in the K.O. Garcia and Kang are eliminated.
Group D.
Marco Zanetti dominated the group; he started with impressive wins in 11 and 16 innings which already secured his place in the K.O. European champion Peter Ceulemans lost 39-40 to Zanetti when it no longer had much consequence for either. The gritty Wan Young Choi wins second place, Groot and Ceulemans are out. Zanetti records a group average of 2.448.
Group E.
After Jeremy Bury had played himself safe on five points, the group ended in a thriller match between Roland Forthomme and Tayfun Tasdemir, winner to advance. The Turk came from (far) behind, had a 39-33 lead but saw Forthomme get to 39-39. A position that the Belgian couldn’t humanly make or defend finally decided about the match: 40-39 to the ex-world champion. Bury and Tasdemir advance, Forthomme and Piza must go home.
Group F.
The Cinderella story: Luis Martinez has been in the tournament since the PPPQ round, and he keeps entertaining the fans while rising above himself. After wins over Devogelaere and T.L. Tran, he could afford to lose to Quyet Chien Tran if his average didn’t drop dramatically. He managed that (29-40 in 19), and Thanh Luc Tran did just enough to push his more famous countryman Quyet Chien Tran into third place.
Group G.
Two top players who tend to stay a bit under the radar finished first and second in Group G: Sameh Sidhom and Berkay Karakurt. Both have become very consistent, often nearing 2 average, and both are very low on unforced errors. It was all a bit too much for Sergio Jimenez and Ömer Karakurt, who are out.
Group H.
World champion Frédéric Caudron put some pressure on himself when he lost 39-40 to Martin Horn. He needed to win his third and last match, and did so emphatically in 13 innings. It ended the long and wonderful run by veteran Javier Vera, who must have been delighted with his performance. Muammer Rahmet showed some class with a run of 13 and a win over Horn, but he and Vera are out nevertheless, Caudron and Horn advance,
Tomorrow’s last 16:
Zanetti – Tasdemir
Merckx – B. Karakurt
Martinez – M.W. Cho
Bury – H.C. Thai
Jaspers – W.Y. Choi
Uymaz – T.L. Tran
Caudron – Horn
Sidhom – Hofman
Bogotá, April 9th, 2026.
Bao and Uymaz excel in the Q-round, Blomdahl is out.
The battle for fifteen spots in the main draw of the Bogota World Cup was a joy for the spectators, whose lively enthusiasm is well appreciated. The level was high: the LOWEST of all the group winners’ averages was 1.290. Many were in the 1.500 region, and Phuong Vinh Bao recorded a clear 2.000. Birol Uymaz, who has struggled with his form, also did an outstanding job with 1.951.
Dutch New Yorker Raymon Groot created a bit of an upset by winning his group (with 1.510) at the expense of Ruben Legazpi, considered by many to be a top player. Javier Vera kept his winning streak going: he stayed ahead of former World Cup winner Jung Han Heo, another formidable name.
The three best numbers two were Ja In Kang, thanks to his three points, Hong Chiem Thai, thanks to his 1.800, and Sam van Etten. The tall Dutchman made 71 in 42, and he kicked Torbjörn Blomdahl (71 in 43) to 4th place and out of the tournament.
The day’s group winners:
P.V. Bao 4 – 2.000
- Uymaz 4 – 1.951
W.Y. Choi 4 – 1.739 - Forthomme 4 – 1.600
- Devogelaere 4 – 1.568
Ö. Karakurt 4 – 1.538 - Vera 4 – 1.333
- Rahmet 4 – 1.290
- Jimenez 3 – 1.666
- Martinez 3 – 1.600
- Piza 3 – 1.538
- Groot 2 – 1.510
The three best numbers two:
J.I. Kang 3 – 1.333
H.C. Thai 2 – 1.800 - van Etten 2 – 1.690
The main event starts tomorrow, with group matches to 40. The survivors will then play K.O. matches to 50 points.
All the action can be watched on Soop.
Bogotá, April 8th, 2026.
The rest of the world puts up a fight.
Colombia put their mark on the first two days of the Bogota World Cup, but Asians and Europeans will not just surrender. Korea, France, Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands and Spain all had players who won their group today.
Wan Young Choi, in his peculiar style but with deadly precision, was the best of the bunch with two wins and 1.891. Mikael Devogelaere, Andres Lizarazo and Alejandro Piza were not far behind with 1.666, 1.627 and 1.627. Vera and Romero won their group for the third time; they’ll be back tomorrow.
High runs were the theme of the day: no fewer than eight between 10 and 13 were made.
Wednesday’s group winners:
W.Y. Choi 4 – 1.891
- Devogelaere 4 – 1.666
- Lizarazo 4 – 1.627
- Piza 4 – 1.627
- Maréchal 4 – 1.428
- Morales 4 – 1.296
- Löwe 4 – 1.228
- Rahmet 4 – 1.186
- Alp 4 – 1.147
- van Etten 4 – 1.129
- Martinez 4 – 1.076
- Vera 3 – 1.346
- Romero 3 – 1.320
J.M. Mas 2 – 1.347 - Santiago 2 – 1.307
- Groot 2 – 1.232
Tomorrow, players like Blomdahl, Forthomme, Phuong Vinh Bao, de Bruijn, Legazpi and many others will enter the arena. The Thursday, when the tables have lost some of their slide, often produces the best averages.
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Bogotá, April 7th, 2026.
Spanish is the billiard language of the day.
The second day of the Bogota World Cup was as good as the first one, or better. Once again, the Spanish-speaking countries of the American continent had the best numbers. Add two guys from the USA, and no fewer than 13 of today’s 16 qualifiers were CPB players.
Henry Diaz was the best of all, with an astonishing average of 2.307. He only played one match though, so the second one must have been a forfeit. In his wake, several others put excellent numbers in the books. Alexander Salazar was the unlucky player of the day: he recorded a fine 1.676, normally a ticket to the next round. Not so this time, Quoc Thaun Pham got in the way.
One of the elder statesmen of Mexican billiards is Javier Vera. He’s getting on in years, but he still has that velvet touch. And isn’t he doing well. Merlin Romero won the first Q-round, now survived the second. He’ll feel good.
The 16 group winners of the day:
H. Diaz 4 – 2.307
- Martinez 4 – 1.666
- Vera 4 – 1.666
- Piza 4 – 1.500
- Gutierrez 4 – 1.395
Q.T. Pham 4 – 1.304 - Romero. 4 – 1.224
- Groot 4 – 1.176
- Ayala 4 – 1.090
- Lizarazo 4 – 1.034
- Martinez 4 – 0.967
- Montoya 4 – 0.845
- Park 4 – 0.810
- Tas 3 – 1.132
- Santiago 2 – 1.333
- Szivacz 2 – 0.847
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Bogotá, April 6th, 2026.
On the first day of qualifications for the Bogota World Cup, the Colombian players were everywhere. That’s no surprise, we all know how much talent there is in the coffee country. The standard of play was high for an opening day: ten players over 1,000 on average already, and that’s just the ones who advanced as group winner.
I guess we can call the likes of Romero, Lizarazo, Salazar, Diaz, Villegas and Zamora the “usual suspects”, you’d expect them to do well in an early round. One or two of them could create an upset later in the week. Salazar has the best resume: he was once third in a world championship (2013).
The best on day 1:
M. Romero 4 – 1.538
- Lizarazo 4 – 1.428
- Salazar 4 - 1.428
- Diaz 4 – 1.363
- Tas 4 – 1.132
C.M. Villegas 4 – 1.090 - Zamora 4 – 1.034
- Gutierrez 4 – 1.016
- Piza 4 – 1.000
- Garzon 4 – 0.937
- Ayala 4 – 0.937
- Martinez 4 – 0.869
L.J.I. Leon 4 -0.833 - Montoya 4 – 0.789
- Vera 3 – 1.090
- Rodriguez 3 – 0.769
All matches can be watched on SOOP.
Bogotá, April, 1st 2026.
There was never a lack of 3-cushion talent in Colombia. During the last few editions of the Viersen world championship for national teams, Huberney Catano and Pedro Gonzalez made a strong impression. They may be (among) the best in Colombia, but they are just two fish in a full pond. The qualification rounds in Bogota are going to bear evidence of that.
From 6 – 12 April, the high-altitude city in the north-west corner of the continent will host the World Cup for the sixth time. The first ever winner in Bogota was Frédéric Caudron in 1998. The last winner in Colombia was Thanh Luc Tran in 2025.
The UMB has seeded the following players: M.W. Cho, Jaspers, Merckx, Zanetti, Tasdemir, Q.C. Tran, Sidhom, Caudron, Horn, B. Karakurt, T.L. Tran, Bury, Ceulemans, Hofman. The local wildcards went to Jose Juan Garcia and Huberney Catano. The CPB/UMB wildcard went to William Villanueva.
The tables in Bogota are Jimar, the balls are Aramith Prestige and the cloth is Simonis 330 Prestige. The usual ranking points are at stake: 80-54-36-26-18-10-8.
Some players with big resumes find themselves outside the seeded positions: Polychronopoulos, Phuong Vinh Bao, Forthomme, Jung Han Heo, Tolgahan Kiraz, Hong Chiem Thai and the legend Torbjörn Blomdahl, to name just a few. Even the early days of the event are likely to produce some fireworks.
All matches can be watched on SOOP. Full match results are available on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.