The world number one, Myung Woo Cho, is turning his 2026 season into a march of triumph. For the third time this year, the megatalent from Korea was victorious in a World Cup, beating Dick Jaspers in the final: 50-38 in 18 innings. It was the fifth career World Cup for the young Korean, who is starting to dominate the sport in a way that Jaspers did for many seasons. Blomdahl before him, and Ceulemans were also a cut above the rest, and Cho is working on a career of that magnitude.
The final took off calmly, it was 13-15 after nine innings, Jaspers having started the match. The Dutchman ran 6 and 11 to take a good lead, but Cho hit back with 11 and 7 a few innings later, to make it 34-44. Three more small runs, and it was done and dusted. Jaspers, as always, shook hands with a smile, knowing he is no longer the best player in the world.
In the first semifinal of the day, Cho took on Phuong Vinh Bao, one of the crown princes of the game. The mercurial Vietnamese did not play poorly at all, but he got steamrolled by a majestic run of 21. No tactic, no defense, no rock-solid mentality will do you any good when the opponent refuses to leave the table. Cho’s run was a thing of beauty, and the match was one of the high points of the event: 50-30 in 15 to the Korean.
The second semi saw another up-and-comer take on the reigning power: Berkay Karakurt played Dick Jaspers. The always so steady Turk started the match with six empty innings, and he was on the back foot before he had made a point. When Jaspers ran 10 to make it 33-12, the match was as good as over. To his credit, Berkay ran 6 and 5 and 9 to prevent a massacre. But Jaspers was happy with 37-50 in 23, and another final on his resume.
How many World Cups can Myung Woo Cho win? On the one hand: he is still young, insanely talented and he looks to have his career on solid rails. The number could be high. On the other hand: the level of play that is offered by the top-30 is closer than ever to the top-3. A dozen different players can win World Cups. Cho is leader of the pack, but there is a ton of competition.
(All pictures belong to TOM SMILDE)
The tournament average in Lier (last 32) was 1.712, which puts this World Cup in the top-5 of all time.
The highest individual general average was played by Marco Zanetti: 2.189.
The highest match average was played by Phuong Vinh Bao: 4.000 (40 in 10).
The event’s high run was made by Myung Woo Cho: 21.
In the race for the Overall World Cup of 2026, Myung Woo Cho has a big lead. He’s on 284 points, ahead of Jaspers (178) and Merckx (170).
The sixth and seventh World Cup of 2026 will be played in Korea (November) and Egypt (December).
It’s down to Jaspers – Karakurt and Bao – Cho
September 05, 2026
The best Korea, the Netherlands, Turkiye and Vietnam have to offer. On the final day of the 2026 Lier World Cup, the semifinals will be Jaspers – Karakurt and Bao – Cho. Honestly, if you were the event’s organizer, you couldn’t ask for much more. Well, maybe Kurt Ceulemans would have preferred a Belgian in the last four.
Dick Jaspers had a Vietnamese day. In the last 16, he had to deal with Hong Chiem Thai, a rising star who has given him headaches before. This time, Jaspers controlled the match and – without a high run, his best was five – kept the youngster at arm’s length: 50-28 in 27/26. Next up was the standard bearer of Ho Chi Minh billiards, Quyet Chien Tran. The tiny man with the large talent had not been in the best of form lately, but in this event, he got past Frédéric Caudron (50-41 in 23), which is no small feat. In the QF, Jaspers ran 10 and 5 early on, but Tran responded with 9 and 8. The Dutchman dominated the second half of the match: he made his last 24 points in 8 innings for a 50-37 in 19.
Berkay Karakurt needed four or five seasons at most, to go from “one of those strong Turks” to being a World Cup winner (Sharm El Sheikh 2025) and a top-10 player. He got past the dangerous Jung Han Heo (50-34 in 32), then took on the last Belgian in the field, Peter Ceulemans. The European champion of 2026 had a 30-22 lead when everything started to go wrong. He gifted the Turk a few prime positions, and was hit with a five and a ten. Karakurt has built up a reputation for missing very, very few makeable shots, but he did this time. The finish of the match was nervy from both sides, but Berkay was the coolest: 50-42 in 26/25.
Phuong Vinh Bao has amazed the world of 3-cushion at least twice: with his unexpected world title in 2023, and with his world record equaling 40 in 4 against Pennör last year. He started his day with a 50-48 in 27 win over iron man Eddy Merckx. It was, frankly, a toss-up, but a win is a win. Next up was Marco Zanetti, who had come through his group with flying colors. When Bao ran 6-0-3-15, Zanetti was under a lot of pressure. It was too much, even for him, and Bao cruised to a 50-38 in 20 win.
Myung Woo Cho is currently the best player in the world, but he was made to work hard in Lier. Thanh Luc Tran had an early 19-7 lead, but Cho turned it around with a six, a five and a ten. The Vietnamese had a long dry spell and never fully recovered: 50-43 in 26/25 to Cho. His opponent in the quarterfinal was Glenn Hofman, who had impressed in the previous round with 50 in 15. Myung Woo started like a rocket with a run of 13 in the second inning. Hofman, can you believe it, didn’t blink and answered with a 13 of his own. Then the match got tense, the balls found awkward spots and both players struggled. Cho needed eight innings for his last three points, but he got over the line: 50-44 in 31/30.
Semifinals:
Jaspers – B. Karakurt
Bao – Cho
Full results are available on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Marco Zanetti refuses to age
September 05, 2026
The senior player on the circuit is also the most consistent one in the group stages of World Cups. “Marco Zanetti, three wins and well over 2 average” is something you see several times a year after a World Cup Friday. The Italian maestro has his well-documented vulnerability in the K.O. stage, quarterfinals and semifinals having been his Achilles’ heel more often than he cares to remember. But he keeps coming back the next event, and again dominating his group, no matter who is in it.
You can’t keep adding winners like Phuong Vinh Bao, Thanh Luc Tran, Sameh Sidhom and Berkay Karakurt to a field without others having to take a step back. Tayfun Tasdemir, the 2022 world champion is not on the podium as regularly as he used to, and Torbjörn Blomdahl has made his peace with the fact that his playing strength has dropped a bit. In this round, the elimination of Martin Horn was notable, because the German has looked so strong recently.
Let’s go over the eight groups:
Group A. Hong Chiem Thai’s narrow win over Birol Uymaz proved decisive, it gave him second place after the big favorite Myung Woo Cho who wasn’t even fully fired up. Myeong Jong Cha came up short, and Uymaz had the dubious honor of ending fourth with the best average in the group.
Group B. Dick Jaspers has frequently struggled in the group stage this year, but not this time: three wins and 2 average. Peter Ceulemans did well to win twice and advance, at the expense of Gokhan Salman and Dinh Quoc Nguyen. Salman lost 39-40 to Ceulemans, and a draw would have sent him to the last 16 on a minimal average difference.
Group C. Eddy Merckx lost his last match to Glenn Hofman when he was already safe. For Hofman however, it was his last lifeline and the 40-23 in 21 was what you call, “rising to the occasion”. Bong Joo Hwang and Roland Forthomme both booked one win, but they were eliminated anyway.
Group D. This turned out to be the strongest group of all. Zanetti was again imperious with three wins and 2.307. Jung Han Heo won twice, just kicking out Ye Sung Jeong who made a name for himself this week. Both were over 2 average, and even Nikos Polychronopoulos, with three losses, was over 1.7.
Group E. Wan Young Choi found himself in a gallery of greats, competing against Caudron, Q.C. Tran and Blomdahl. The home favorite was clearly the best (two wins and a draw against TB), Quyet Chien Tran coming in second. W.Y. Choi and Blomdahl are out.
Group F. Jeremy Bury capitalized on his relatively easy group, if there is such a thing, with three solid wins. Huberney Catano sneaked into second place with a win and a draw, which meant that Ömer Karakurt and Tayfun Tasdemir are eliminated.
Group G. Is Berkay Karakurt the best Turkish player of the moment? He makes a good case, with another great report card and 2.400 average. Phuong Vinh Bao not far behind with two wins and 2.297. Legazpi third, Martin Horn gives us a run of 19 and a 40 in 13 but he’s still fourth.
Group H. Sameh Sidhom had a tough match against Haeng Jik Kim (40-38 in 17) but he dominated in the other two encounters. Haeng Jik Kim lost out in the fight for second place to Thanh Luc Tran, the tough as nails Vietnamese. Mikael Devogelaere worked on his future, adding experience.
Tomorrow’s K.O. matches:
Zanetti – Catano
Merckx – Bao
M.W. Cho – T.L. Tran
Bury – Hofman
Jaspers – H.C. Thai
Caudron – Q.C. Tran
B. Karakurt – J.H. Heo
Sidhom – Ceulemans
Exceptional Q-round in World Cup Lier.
September 03, 2026
Today was the Terrifying Thursday, the cut-off moment. You need to win your group or be one of the three best numbers two; in all other cases, you’re out. The Lier World Cup inspired the remaining players to do something unique: they produced a combined average of 1.694. That’s considerably higher than most World Cups have in their main draw, the last 32. This amazing number, almost 1.7, was created without the help of any of the seeds!
The longer you think about it, the more amazing that statistic is: twelve qualifiers producing a level that is usually too high for the best 32 in the world.
The Q-round group winners were:
Salman 4 – 1.904
Uymaz 4 – 1.860
Polychronopoulos 4 – 1.739
Blomdahl 4 – 1.702
Ö. Karakurt 4 – 1.702
Legazpi 4 – 1.666
Devogelaere 4 – 1.600
H.J. Kim 4. – 1.600
P.V. Bao 4- 1.568
Catano 3 – 1.860
W.Y. Choi 2 – 1.795
Y.S. Jeong 2 – 1.413
The three best numbers two also advance:
B.J. Hwang 3 – 1.632
D.Q. Nguyen 2 – 1.620
M.J. Cha 2 – 1.560
Many nails were bitten during the day. Birol Uymaz came through a hard fight with Jeffrey Jorissen, Torbjörn Blomdahl got hit with a run of 17 (highest in the tournament so far) by Jose Maria Mas, Huberney Catano and Bong Joo Hwang played a draw that worked out well for both. Brave Ye Sung Jeong soldiers on, as he has done all week.
It all resulted in this main draw:
Group A: Myung Woo Cho, Myeong Jong Cha, Birol Uymaz, Hong Chiem Thai.
Group B: Dick Jaspers, Dinh Quoc Nguyen, Gokhan Salman, Peter Ceulemans.
Group C: Eddy Merckx, Roland Forthomme, Glenn Hofman, Bong Joo Hwang.
Group D: Marco Zanetti, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Jung Han Heo, Ye Sung Jeong.
Group E: Frédéric Caudron, Wan Young Choi, Quyet Chien Tran, Torbjörn Blomdahl.
Group F: Tayfun Tasdemir, Ömer Karakurt, Jeremy Bury, Huberney Catano.
Group G: Martin Horn, Phuong Vinh Bao, Berkay Karakurt, Ruben Legazpi.
Group H: Thanh Luc Tran, Haeng Jik Kim, Sameh Sidhom, Mikael Devogelaere.
The main event starts of Friday at 10.00 AM local time.
All Matches can be watched on Soop.
Tough day for the Belgians in Lier.
September 02, 2026
There was no home court advantage for the Belgian players in the Lier World Cup this Wednesday. Half a dozen good local players were still in the running, but all came up short. Having a firmly established name and reputation, like Philipoom, Brants and de Backer, counts for very little these days.
Jeffrey Jorissen, Carlos Crespo and Jose Maria Mas were the top trio in the PQ. The best average was played by Y.S. Jeong (1.9670. The talented Korean was beaten by veteran Muharrem Peker, but he recovered with a fantastic 35 in 10 in his second match. It was, even with two points, sufficient to advance. Yesterday’s hero Kokkoris, like Jeong, had to work a bit harder today, but he survived.
The event lost (among others): Panaia, Garcia, Löwe, Seleventas, Alp, Vasseur. J.H. Son was the unluckiest player of the day: he’s out with 2 points and 1.906.
Here are the day’s winners:
Jorissen 4 – 1.627
Crespo 4 – 1.555
Mas 4 – 1.489
Van Etten 4 – 1.320
Yavuz 4 – 1.272
S.Y. Park 4 – 1.250
D.Q. Nguyen 4 – 1.111
Rahmet 4 – 1.111
Yildiz 4 – 1.093
Kokkoris 4 – 1.076
Kostistansky 4 – 1.076
Christoforou 4 – 1.060
Szivacz – 3 – 1.489
N.C. Long 3 – 1.186
Y.S. Jeong 2 – 1.967
Soumagne 2 – 1.347
Jeong ran both a twelve and an eleven in his ten-inning match.
Tomorrow is the Q-round, and we’ll welcome the likes of Phuong Vinh Bao, Haeng Jik Kim, Ruben Legazpi, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Bong Joo Hwang and Myeong Jong Cha.
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Kokkoris and Mas are a cut above the rest.
September 02, 2026
He’s not always firing on all cylinders, but he’s lethal when it all clicks. Kostantinos Kokkoris won the European team title with Nikos Polychronopoulos in 2023, probably the high point of his career so far. But he may be working on more success, because his performance in the PPQ round in Lier was truly excellent: two wins and 2.400. Jose Maria Mas came close with two wins and 2.142. It’s only the second day of the fifth World Cup of 2026, and fourteen of the sixteen qualifiers are over 1 average.
Four home players won their group: J. Philipoom, de Backer, B. Ceulemans and Brants. Notable players who just missed out: Klompenhouwer (with 1.350), Haby, Wallerand, van Havere, van Beers, N. Duriez, Pennör.
These are the day’s group winners:
Kokkoris 4 – 2.400
Mas 4 – 2.142
D.Q. Nguyen 4 – 1.500
J.H. Son 4 – 1.500
De Backer 4 – 1.395
S.Y. Park 4 – 1.363
J. Philipoom 4 – 1.304
Y.S. Jeong 4 – 1.250
Crespo 4 – 1.111
Prassas 4 – 1.090
Brants 4 – 1.071
B. Ceulemans 4 – 1.016
Uluda 4 – 1.000
Yildiz 4 – 0.937
M. Morales 2 – 1.075
Christoforou 2 – 0.951
The high run of the day was made by Kokkoris, Nguyen, Crespo and others, with a nine.
A fresh army of talent will join these qualifiers tomorrow. We’ll see (among others): Rahmet, J.J. Garcia, Orak, Soumagne, van Etten and Amir Ibraimov. All matches can be watched on Soop.
Ye Sung Yeong has a flying start.
August 31, 2026
The two faces of a World Cup opening day: there is always someone badly struggling, and there’s always someone flying high. The star of the first day in Lier (near Antwerp, Belgium) was Korean Ye Sung Yeong, who walked on water. Both his matches lasted only twelve innings, giving him four points and a fantastic average of 2.500. It made him Monday’s best player by a mile.
The field in the pppq was of course dominated by players from the Low Countries, Belgium more so than the Netherlands. But the Greeks, the French and the Turks also made their mark. Well-known names in the top-16: de Backer, Kokkoris, Klompenhouwer, van Havere. Among the notable players that didn’t advance were van Beers, Blauwblomme, Forton, Weeremans and Wittens.
This is the list of today’s group winners:
Y.S. Yeong 4 – 2.500
S.Y. Park 4 – 1.333
K. Kokkoris 4 – 1.304
P. de Backer 4 – 1.200.
M. Janssen 4 – 1.132
P. Wallerand 4 – 1.132
D. Boutet 4 – 1.034
T. Klompenhouwer 4 – 1.034
A. Gerkez 4 – 1.016
J. Haby 4 – 1.000
D. van Havere 4 – 0.967
T. Duriez 4 – 0.867
B. Ibraimov 4 – 0.821
N. Christoforou 4 – 0.789
C. Yildiz 4 – 0.789
K. Prassas 4 – 0.731
Remarkably, all group winners were unbeaten, and without a draw.
Ye Sung Yeong ran both an eleven and a twelve, the highest of the day.
Tomorrow, players like Jose Maria Mas, Carlos Crespo, Karina Jetten and Raymon Groot, among others, will enter the arena.
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Antwerp gets ready for the fifth World Cup of 2026.
August 29, 2026
When we say Antwerp, we actually mean Lier. The small and beautiful city of Lier leans against the Belgian metropolis, which has traditionally been a hotbed of billiards. Both Lier and Antwerp have a history in which one name keeps popping up: Ceulemans. And for good reason: Raymond is the granddaddy of all things billiards, son Kurt is the event’s organizer, and grandson Peter is one of the dark horses in the race for the title.
The Lier World Cup (31 Aug – 6 Sept) will be the fifth in the 2026 cycle, following Bogota, Ankara, Ho Chi Minh and Porto. The winners so far? Myung Woo Cho, Caudron, Myung Woo Cho again, and Merckx.
The UMB has seeded the following players for
Lier : M.W. Cho, Jaspers, Merckx, Zanetti, Caudron, Tasdemir, Horn, T.L. Tran, Sidhom, B. Karakurt, Bury, Q.C. Tran, J.H. Heo, Hofman.
The local wildcards went to Peter Ceulemans and Roland Forthomme, the CEB/UMB wildcard went to Hong Chiem Thai.
The tables are Gabriels, the balls are Aramith Prestige, the cloth is Simonis 330 Prestige. The usual ranking points are at stake: 80 – 54 – 36 – 26 – 18 – 10 – 8.
Frédéric Caudron won two of his four world titles in Antwerp, so it is fair to say that he does well on his home turf. Or can Myung Woo Cho get even more dominant in the 2026 season? As much as a dozen very strong players will seek a different outcome, we are sure.
As usual, all matches can be watched on Soop. Full match results are available on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.