The Iron Man from Flanders has won his third world title, to solidify his unique place in the history of the game. As in 2006 (St. Wendel) and 2012 (Porto), Eddy Merckx was the best in Blois, France, where he defeated Phuong Vinh Bao in a high-quality final: 50-39 in 19. The Belgian confirmed his reputation as one of the best players ever in major finals: he won three, lost three world championship finals, and has an even better record in World Cups: played 14, won 12. The final against Bao went neck and neck for a long time. Despite a great run of 15 by the Belgian, Bao held on until 41-39. Merckx showed incredible composure to end the championship with a run of nine.
A Korean spectator remarked: “It’s like watching the Terminator”. He was correct. Merckx on a mission is like a freight train coming at you. Makes precious few mistakes, pierces through your defense and looks mentally unflappable while doing it. Bao had very little to blame himself for, he played an excellent final.
The Vietnamese talent who has outshone even Quyet Chien Tran lately, booked his place in the final after a series of nailbiter matches. 50-47 against Salazar, 50-47 against Jung Han Heo, and to top it off a 50-48 over Tayfun Tasdemir in the semi. Bao has all it takes, and he’s a joy to watch. Tasdemir will be happy with the way he played throughout the week.
Merckx reached the final with a win over Sameh Sidhom, who is still waiting for his first Major. This match too, was of a high standard, Merckx just edging it 50-48 in 24/23. There was an unforced error in one of the last innings, and Sameh will be replaying it in his head for a while. What a difference half an inch makes in our sport! Nevertheless: the Egyptian player is firmly established as one of the best in the world.
The main tournament average in Blois (last 32) was 1.556.
The best general average was played by Eddy Merckx: 1.993.
The best match was played by Frédéric Caudron: 40 in 10.
The high run was made by Myung Woo Cho: 16.
The result in Blois means the “curse” lives on. Once again, the title holder could not win the next year, and that’s how it has been for forty years.
In the remaining months of 2026, we still have two World Cups to look forward to: Korea in November and Egypt in December.
Sameh Sidhom and three world champions.
September 26, 2026
The final four in the Blois UMB World Championship are known: Sameh Sidhom, Phuong Vinh Bao, Tayfun Tasdemir and Eddy Merckx. That means the fluent Egyptian finds himself in the company of three former world champions. Bao (2023) and Tasdemir (2022) held the title once, Merckx (2006 and 2012) won it twice.
Phuong Vinh Bao had a day filled with more tension than he would have liked. First, a narrow escape against Alexander Salazar (50-47 in 31/30), then an equally close battle with Jung Han Heo, who had the lead most of the way. Many mistakes were made by both players in the closing innings; the weight of the world championship tends to make a cue heavier. Bao came through that one with 50-47 as well, this time in 37 innings.
Tayfun Tasdemir was a bit under the radar this season, but he appears to have found his groove. His win over German surprise Tom Löwe was certainly convincing: 50-24 in 25. In the quarterfinal, he ran into a Martin Horn out of sorts. The German had a single point after nine innings, and he never recovered from being 22-1 behind. A Tasdemir cruising on or over 2 average is a major danger.
Eddy Merckx started his day against the world number one, Myung Woo Cho. High expectations for this match, but it turned out to be a one-sided affair. Merckx had a stretch of 6-13-0-3-8, and it knocked out the Korean superstar. A 50-26 win in 21 innings gave the Belgian a boost in his quest for a third world title. In the quarterfinal, he came across Jun Hyuk Son, who had knocked out Marco Zanetti in the last 16. Merckx started with 23 points after four innings, and a later stretch of 5-0-6-5-5 sealed the deal.
Sameh Sidhom is an excellent candidate for the title “best player in the world without a world cup or world title to his name”. He’s really good, and a future win looks inevitable. Sidhom first had to get past Glenn Hofman, who couldn’t fire on all cylinders: 50-32 in 38/37. His opponent in the quarters was Frédéric Caudron. The balls rolled awkward: it was only 12-11 after ten innings. Neither player ever found a big run, but Sameh’s consistent threes and fours did the work: 50-47 in 37.
Tomorrow’s semifinals:
12.00 Sidhom – Merckx
14.30 Tasdemir – Bao
18.00 final.
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Jung Han Heo and Ye Sung Jeong beat legend
September 26, 2026
Even if you are a very accomplished Korean player like Jung Han Heo, you’ll consider a win over Dick Jaspers to be something special. And if you are a 22-year-old with a great future like Ye Sung Jeong, you’ll be proud that you came across Torbjörn Blomdahl in the autumn of his career, and managed to win.
It was quite a day in Blois, France. No fewer than sixteen matches needed to be played, and three of those ended in an exciting 50-47. Caudron, versus Haeng Jik Kim, Horn, versus Thanh Luc Tran and Hofman, against Quyet Chien Tran all won by that slim margin.
Caudron had a 26-8 lead, but Haeng Jik played a strong second half with a little sequence of 6-2-10, that always helps. Caudron closed the door just in time. Tran’s comeback against Hofman was even more spectacular. He trailed 22-43 and ran 11 and 14! With that much time spent on the chair, Hofman’s closing 2 was almost heroic.
Phuong Vinh Bao had the best win of the day: 50-25 in 17 against Roland Forthomme. Zanetti, Merckx, Horn, Sidhom and Tasdemir had solid wins in 27, 26, 36, 23 and 32 innings. Berkay Karakurt, who had already struggled against van Erp in the group, was another seed to be eliminated. He fell against Alexander Salazar: 50-36 in 23 to the Colombian. Salazar has some world championship pedigree: he won the bronze in Antwerp 2013.
Tom Löwe will be pleased to find himself in the last 16 of the championship. He got past Mikael Devogelaere, 50-43 in 36. Peter Ceulemans had produced some stratospheric averages in the group, but this time it was back to the grind, with a hard-fought win over Jose Miguel Soares, 50-35 in 42. Ruben Legazpi set William Villanueva aside: 50-37 in 31. Jun Hyuk Son ended the aspirations of Jean van Erp, 50-39 in 33.
World number one Myung Woo Cho needed one of his feared monster runs to get past Huberney Catano. It was 16-15 when he ran a 16, and Catano never recovered.
We can now look forward to these last-16 matches:
Caudron – Ye Sung Jeong
Sidhom – Hofman
Myung Woo Cho – Merckx
Jun Hyuk Son – Zanetti
Tasdemir – Löwe
Legazpi – Horn
Phuong Vinh Bao – Salazar
Jung Han Heo – Ceulemans
The tournament resumes on Saturday at 11.00 local time.
Blois gives out second chances
September 25, 2026
The world championship in Blois, France had an opening day with many upsets. A few big names lost their opening match, and they played under pressure on day two. Things got back to normal pretty quickly. The cream rose to the top, and all the pre-tournament favorites survived the group.
Eddy Merckx was one of those players. He needed a win against Pierre Soumagne, and made sure of it: 40-13 in 17. Berkay Karakurt was in the identical situation, and he handled it in the same manner, with a 40-14 in 15 win over Seleventas. Jaspers could not afford to lose to Knudsen, and didn’t: 40-20 in 27. Thanh Luc Tran played a must-win match against Arnim Kahofer (40-33 in 23) to finish second in the group behind the Mexican surprise Raymundo Munoz. Jeremy Bury survived thanks to his win over Hong Thai Chau.
That last player should not be confused with Hong Chiem Thai, who was one of the stronger names to be eliminated. Bad day at the office for the talented Vietnamese.
The escape artist of the week was Haeng Jik Kim, who first lost to Salazar, then played a draw against Piedrabuena. That one match point was just enough to carry him into the K.O. round. Glenn Hofman (2 points and 1.452) did just enough to stay ahead of Tolgahan Kiraz (2 points and 1.428).
Best player of the qualifications was Frédéric Caudron, who looked imperious with a 40 in 16 and a 40 in 10 (3.076). His countryman Peter Ceulemans wasn’t far behind with 2.758, Tasdemir and Zanetti also over 2 average. Munoz on 1.860 is good news for Mexico.
It all resulted in Friday’s K.O. round:
Caudron – H.J. Kim
Y.S. Jeong – Blomdahl
Sidhom – Bury
Q.C. Tran – Hofman
M.W. Cho – Catano
Munoz – Merckx
Van Erp – H.J. Son
Zanetti – Panaia
Tasdemir – Abdin
Löwe – Devogelaere
Legazpi – Villanueva
Horn – T.L. Tran
P.V. Bao – Forthomme
Salazar – B. Karakurt
Jaspers – J.H. Heo
Ceulemans – Soares
Matches start at 12.00 local time.
Streams available on Soop.
Van Erp and Löwe are first to advance
September 24, 2026
In the World Championship in Blois, some players have finished just a single group match on day one, others have played twice already. That means we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get a good idea of the two large groups: 16 who will be eliminated, 32 who will advance to the K.O. stage.
Two players can sleep on both ears because they’ve won twice: Jean van Erp and Tom Löwe. The Dutch Masters champion controlled the match against Seleventas (40-25 in 20) and surprised with a 40-30 in 32 win over top-10 Turk Berkay Karakurt. Tom Löwe joined van Erp in the dragon slaying with a 40-37 in 39 win over Eddy Merckx, and another 40-37 over Pierre Soumagne. It means that Merckx has a must-win match against Soumagne tomorrow, and Karakurt faces a must-win against Seleventas, in order to stay in the tournament.
Of the favorites, title defender Caudron made the strongest impression. He’s only played once, but it was a showstopper: 40-17 in 10 against Panaia. Myung Woo Cho, Sidhom, Horn, Zanetti, Tasdemir, Blomdahl (in a group with Jaspers) are all on one played, one won.
More notable results: Tolgahan Kiraz loses 30-40 in 22 to Ye Sung Jeong, Pedro Piedrabuena is seen off by Alexander Salazar 40-19 in 27. All-round technician Arnim Kahofer loses big to Raimundo Munoz: 40-19 in 24. Huberney Catano shines with a convincing win over Hong Chiem Thai: 40-24 in 23. Tasdemir just about secured the group win with a 40-28 in 19 over Roland Forthomme, provided he can beat Itai tomorrow.
Frédéric Caudron had both the best match and the high run of the day: 40 in 10 with a 15.
Full results are available on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.
The event in Blois continues on Thursday at 10 AM local time.
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Caudron defends the world title. Can he break the curse?
September 21, 2026
From 23-27 September, Blois, France will host the 2026 UMB World Championship 3-cushion. It’s the event of the year, and the only opportunity a 3-cushion player has to be crowned world champion. It’s the one you want to win.
Looking at the honor list of world champions, one statistic just demands attention. It looks to be virtually impossible to successfully defend a world title, even multi-winners like Jaspers, Sanchez and Caudron couldn’t do it. The last person to win it two years in a row was Torbjörn Blomdahl in 1991 and 1992, when the title was contested in a five- or six World Cup series. The last person to win it in two consecutive one-week events was Raymond Ceulemans in 1979 and 1980!
As mentioned, Caudron is the title holder, he won in Antwerp in 2025 in an all-Belgian final against eddy Merckx. Other recent world champions: 2024 Myung Woo Cho, 2023 Phuong Vinh Bao, 2022 Tayfun Tasdemir, 2021 Dick Jaspers.
The championship in Blois will be played in 16 groups of three, two players to advance to the K.O. round. Matches are to 40 points in the group, with equalizing inning. Matches in the K.O. are to 50, without equalizing inning.
The tables in Blois are Predator, the cloth is Simonis 330 Prestige, and the balls are Aramith Prestige.
These are the groups:
A) Caudron, Romero, Panaia
B) M.W. Cho, Villanueva, D. Morales
C) Merckx, Löwe, Soumagne
D) Sidhom, Abu Tayeh, J.H. Son
E) Horn, Soares, Tellez
F) Zanetti, Abdin, Novak
G) B. Karakurt, Seleventas, van Erp
H) Tasdemir, Forthomme, Itai
I) P.V. Bao, Devogelaere, Cetin
J) Ceulemans, Catano, H.C. Thai
K) Jaspers, Blomdahl, Knudsen
L) T.L. Tran, Kahofer, Munoz
M) H.J. Kim, Piedrabuena, Salazar
N) Hofman, Kiraz, Y.S. Jeong
O) Bury, Legazpi, H.T. Chau
P) J.H. Heo, Q.C. Tran, Y.D. Song
All matches can be watched on Soop.
Full results are available on the websites of Five & Six and the UMB.