OFFICIAL RESULTS
https://www.umb-carom.org/PG344L1/Union-Mondiale-de-Billard.aspx
afreecatv LIVE
https://billiards.afreecatv.com/
FIVE&SIX LIVE AND RESULTS
http://umb.cuesco.net/competition/liveScore?idx=168#content
Sharm El Sheikh , December 9th 2023.
All is well that ends well. The year 2023 ended on a high note for Dick Jaspers, because he added yet another World Cup win to his impressive resume (his 29th) and he won the Overall World Cup for the 2023 season, his eighth overall win.
Jun Tae Kim is becoming a steady guest in World Cup quarter- and semifinals. In Sharm El Sheikh, he had to win a tough battle with tournament revelation Glenn Hofman to go a step further, into the final. Their match was more exciting than high quality, and from 45-45 it was a coinflip. But Jun Tae made the final point: 50-47 in 38. Glenn Hofman can look back on the best World Cup of his life, with wins over Marco Zanetti and Eddy Merckx.
The other semifinal had Jaspers as the favorite, but his opponent Tolgahan Kiraz had made quite an impression during the week. He beat strong opponents, ran a 16 and played 3-cushion that was a joy to watch. Against the 5-time world champion he came up short though: Jaspers was trailing 23-22 when he ran a 15, only to add 11 a few innings later: 50-28 in 16.
The final had Jun Tae in the lead for the first ten innings, but the Dutchman changed gears mid-match. He dominated the table in the second half and outscored Kim: 50-35 in 26/25. The talented young Korean will have to wait a little longer for his first World Cup.
To give you an idea of Jaspers’ presence in World Cups: he has won seven of the 29 that have been played in the past five years, so roughly a quarter of the gold medals goes to St. Willebrord, the Netherlands.
The best match of the tournament in Egypt was played by Jaspers: 40 in 10.
The high run was made by Kiraz and Seo: 16.
The best general average was played by Jaspers: 2.130.
The 2023 overall World Cup final standing: 1. Dick Jaspers 232 pts, 2. Jun Tae Kim and Eddy Merckx 188 pts, 4. Martin Horn 186 pts, 5. Myung Woo Cho 180 pts.
The first World Cup of the 2024 season will be played in Bogota, Colombia, in Feb/March of next year.
Breaking News!
Dick Jaspers wins again in the red sea.
Kim Jun Tae runner-up and Glenn Hoffman and Tolgahan Kiraz on the podium for the first time.
The semi-finals played today in Sharm El Sheik were very different, in the first a great battle developed between the Dutchman Glenn Hoffman and the Korean player Kim Jun Tae, the match was even and very tough as usually happens in this round reserved for the privileged , both players had a chance to win the match that Kim Jun Tae finally won with a score of 50 – 48 in 38 innings.
The second semi-final was clearly Dick Jaspers who reacted quickly to a great start from Tolgahan Kiraz who put distance in the first innings, with a solid game and great confidence. Dick first caught up with Kiraz and then easily reached his place in the final 40 -28 in 16 innings.
The final was once again an exhibition by Dick Jaspers who scored a 2.00 match average, winning despite the resistance of Kim Jun Tae by 50 – 35 in 25 innings. With this result Dick scores a new World Cup and there are already 29 in his history and also the title of winner of the World Cup series in 2023.
Sharm El Sheikh , December 8th 2023.
From sixteen players to eight to four: that’s what happens on a World Cup Friday. All that’s left now is the Saturday: two semifinals and a final.
The day started off relatively calmly, with regular wins by Jun Tae Kim over Jeremy Bury, world champion Phuong Vinh Bao over wildcard Daniel Morales, Burak Hashas over Thanh Luc Tran, Tolgahan Kiraz over Chang Hoon Seo. But there were also fireworks: the elimination of Myung Woo Cho by Martin Horn, the hard battle between Eddy Merckx and Torbjörn Blomdahl, the 15-inning win by Dick Jaspers over Haeng Jik Kim and, last but not least, the exit of Marco Zanetti at the hands of tournament revelation Glenn Hofman.
Quarterfinals:
Phuong Vinh Bao runs out of steam and has no answer to Jun Tae Kim’s relentless scoring: 50-22 in 23 to the Korean.
Glenn Hofman goes neck and neck all the way with Eddy Merckx. The mighty Belgian, uncharacteristically misses a handful of chances in the closing innings, and Hofman (helped by a matchpoint fluke) gets another big scalp: 50-49 in 35.
Jaspers meets Horn again. This time, the match is not as good as the final in Veghel was, but it’s the same winner: 50-41 in 34 to the Dutchman.
Two Turks fight over the last semifinal ticket, and it’s the always-smiling Tolgahan Kiraz who comes out on top, at the expense of the youngest guy in the field, Burak Hashas. 50-30 in 23. Hashas could have been the youngest ever medalist at a World Cup! But he’ll get more chances in the future.
Saturday’s matches:
Glenn Hofman – Jun Tae Kim
Dick Jaspers – Tolgahan Kiraz.
All matches can be viewed on Afreeca TV.
Sharm El Sheikh, December 7th 2023.
After a long day of group matches, the field in Sharm El Sheikh has been reduced to 16 players. The 2022 world champion Tayfun Tasdemir, Asian favorite Quyet Chien Tran and local Egyptian hero Sameh Sidhom were among the most notable victims. Dick Jaspers recorded the best match of the tournament so far: 40 in 10.
Group A: Morales the surprising group winner, Zanetti second. Alp and Forthomme are out.
Group B: Glenn Hofman continues his fine play in Sharm, M.W. Cho joins him. Berkay Karakurt and Nady eliminated.
Group C: Horn books three wins, Blomdahl does just enough to qualify. Thai and Ayman are out.
Group D: Jaspers starts with a loss but he recovers well. T.L. Tran wins three times. Ömer Karakurt and Jung Han Heo finish 3d and 4th.
Group E: Jun Tae Kim and Chang Hoon Seo advance, Gören and Q.C. Tran are out.
Group F: Kiraz and Bury first and second, Sidhom and Rahmet have to go home.
Group G: Three wins for Merckx, world champion Bao joins him. Ceulemans and van Etten come up short.
Group H: H.J. Kim and Hashas win the group, exit for Maréchal and Tasdemir.
Tomorrow, the K.O. line up will be:
Merckx – Blomdahl
Hofman – Zanetti
J.T. Kim – Bury
Morales – P.V. Bao
T.L. Tran – Hashas
Kiraz – C.H. Seo
H.J. Kim – Jaspers
Horn – M.W. Cho
All matches can be viewed on Afreeca TV.
Sharm El Sheikh, December 6th 2023.
Sharm: Hofman eliminates Polychronopoulos.
On the final day of qualifications in Sharm El Sheikh, fifteen players and two best seconds managed to book a place in the main draw of the 199th World Cup. The last 32 will begin their group play tomorrow, and finish off the tournament in a K.O. format for the last 16.
As is always the case on a World Cup Wednesday, many good players got eliminated. Nikos Polychronopoulos, who was one of the seeded players in the recent past, could not win his group, as a result of the fine play by Glenn Hofman (2.051). Hofman was the best of today’s group winners. He is the king of the high runs so far in this event: the day’s best with a 14 yesterday, again today with a 13.
Ruben Legazpi, another big-name player (former runner-up in the World Championship) went out. His group was won by Peter Ceulemans.
Glenn Hofman – 4 – 2.051
Roland Forthomme – 4 – 1.739
Ömer Karakurt – 4 – 1.600
Mehmet Goren – 4 – 1.600
Tolgahan Kiraz – 4 – 1.568
Peter Ceulemans – 4 – 1.403
Gwendal Maréchal – 4 – 1.379
Burak Hashas – 4 – 1.355
Sam van Etten – 4 – 1.230
Muammer Rahmet – 3 – 1.600
Chang Hoon Seo – 3 – 1.142
Thanh Luc Tran – 2 – 1.704
Hong Chiem Thai – 3 – 1.311
Berkay Karakurt – 2 – 1.925
Ahmet Alp – 2 – 1.717
Robinson Morales – 2 – 1.591
Bong Joo Hwang – 2 – 1.529
Ömer won the battle of the Karakurt brothers, but Berkay had done just enough to get in on average.
Eight groups of four will compete tomorrow for 16 spots in the K.O. All matches can be viewed on Afreeca TV. All specified results can be found on the UMB page, or the Five & Six website.
Sharm El Sheikh, December 5th 2023.
World Cup continues.
The internet has been restored throughout the region. Sharm El Sheikh World Cup Live-Streaming will be back with Wednesday morning´s matches on afreecatv.
Internet services were interrupted all over the region for a number of hours on Tuesday, authorities worked quickly to solve the issue and the service was restored at 8.30pm!
The Sharm El Sheikh World Cup in Egypt was affected – as the entire country was - by an Internet failure. Scores and results were updated via alternative hotspots, but the international fans had to go without streaming for most of the Tuesday. Some viewers were quick to blame either Afreeca TV or the UMB, but neither had any responsibility for the technical problems.
The PQ round was high quality though, with solid averages from more than a dozen group winners. T.T.T. Nguyen was the best of the bunch, with two wins and 1.578.
Advancing to Wednesday’s round, the Q-round:
T.T.T. Nguyen – 4 – 1.578
J.I. Kang – 4 – 1.428
Y. Gungordu – 4 – 1.363
H.K. Kim – 4 – 1.333
M. Rahmet – 4 – 1.333
B. Hashas – 4 – 1.304
T. Yavuz – 4 – 1.250
R. Morales – 4 – 1.200
L. Stamm – 4 – 1.200
Ö. Karakurt – 4 – 1.132
M. Goren – 4 – 1.034
V. Cetin – 4 – 0.789
G. Hofman – 3 – 1.621
A. Alp – 3 – 1.000
E. Basegmez – 2 – 1.350
S. van Etten – 2 – 1.208
Among the better-known players who did not make the cut today were J.H. Son, P. de Backer, G. Salman, V.L. Dao, J. Jorissen and R. Lindemann.
Glenn Hofman had the high run of the day, with 14.
Afreeca TV can stream again tomorrow. Matches start at 10.00 local time.
Sharm El Sheikh, December 4th 2023.
The Turkish 3-cushion players are doing well in Sharm El Sheikh. No fewer than eleven of them managed to win their group on Monday. Muammer Rahmet was the best of all, with two wins and 1.818.
As so often, there was also a battle for the best loser spot, with Dutchman Glenn Hofman sneaking into Tuesday’s round with a win, a loss and 1.571.
In tomorrow’s PQ, we’ll see players like Jeffrey Jorissen, Burak Hashas, Ömer Karakurt, Sung Il Jeong and Robinson Morales.
Here are today’s winners:
M. Rahmet – 4 – 1.818
Y. Gongordu – 4 – 1.578
V.L. Dao – 4 – 1.395
T. Yavuz – 4 – 1.395
A. Alp – 4 – 1.276
P. de Backer – 4 – 1.250
S. Özbas – 4 – 1.176
E. Basegmez – 4 – 1.176
H. Wilkowski – 4 – 0.967
A. Malkadi – 4 – 0.923
D. Jäschke – 4 – 0.882
M. Cavuso – 4 – 0.800
A. Gulbay – 4 – 0.759
V. Aykol – 4 – 0.652
M.K. Doan – 2 – 1.057
S. Bas – 2 – 0.960
Best second:
G. Hofman – 2 – 1.571
Tomorrow’s matches can all be viewed on Afreeca TV.
Sharm El Sheikh, December 3rd 2023.
The final World Cup of 2023 got underway in sunny Egypt on Sunday, 3 December. The qualification rounds will take up the first half of the week, and the main event will be played from Thursday to Saturday. The tournament in Sharm is the 199th World Cup in our history, which means the first World Cup of 2024 (Bogota – Colombia) will mark a jubilee.
A long day of qualification matches provided sixteen group winners who will advance to the Monday. Muharrem Peker from Turkey was the best: 4 points and 1.276. Here’s the list:
M. Peker – 4 – 1.276
M.K. Doan – 4 – 1.250
A. Tachoire – 4 – 1.224
K.I. Canbul – 4 – 0.983
T. Yavuz – 4 – 0.909
A. Topaloglu – 4 – 0.869
A. Malkadi – 4 – 0.789
M. Cavuso – 4 – 0.740
Y. Akyol – 4 – 0.681
Y. Ossama – 4 – 0.652
S. Farouk – 4 – 0.535
A. Refassi – 2 – 1.153
S. Ozbas – 2 – 0.881
C. Yildiz – 2 – 0.880
A. Ercan – 2 – 0.830
A. Emam – 2 – 0.578
The PPQ round starts on Monday at 11.00 local time. Some of the more familiar faces we’ll see in action then are Ramazan Dürdü, Huub Wilkowski, Mohsen Fouda, Glenn Hofman, Dustin Jäschke and Gülsen Degener. All matches can be viewed on Afreeca TV.
Sharm El Sheikh, November 30th 2023.
The final World Cup of the 2023 season will be played in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, from 3-9 December. Five World Cups were previously held in 2023: Las Vegas, Ho Chi Minh, Porto, Veghel and Seoul. A handful of players is still in with a chance to win the Overall World Cup for the year.
The seeded players in Sharm are Zanetti, M.W. Cho, Blomdahl, Jaspers, Q.C. Tran, Sidhom, Merckx, H.J. Kim, Tasdemir, world champion P.V. Bao, Bury, J.T. Kim, J.H. Heo and Horn. The local wildcards were given to Riad Nady and Mahmoud Ayman, the CPB/UMB wildcard went to Daniel Morales (Colombia).
As usual, the qualification event is fully booked, with an especially strong contingent of players from Turkey. At stake are 80 – 54 – 36 – 26 – 18 – 10 – 8 ranking points in the main event. The matches will be played on Gabriels tables, with ClassOne B2 black cloth and Dynaspheres balls.
All matches can be viewed on Afreeca TV.
In the battle for the Overall WC win for 2023, Eddy Merckx and Myung Woo Cho are in the lead with 162 points, followed by Martin Horn on 160, Dick Jaspers on 152 and Quyet Chien Tran on 150. Even Blomdahl (144) and Haeng Jik Kim (142) are still in with a chance. The legendary Swede has won the Overall title eleven times already in his long career.
Last year’s winner in Sharm was Myung Woo Cho, who defeated Dani Sánchez in the 2022 final.
