12/18/2016
HURGHADA EL GOUNA - The El Gouna World Cup had a surprise winner: 39-year old Jung Han Heo from Korea. The 2016 World Cup cycle's winner had a more familiar name: Dick Jaspers. Frédéric Caudron remains on top of the world ranking, he will start 2017 as the nr. 1.
In the final match of the World Cup in the Egyptian resort El Gouna, Jung Han Heo defeated Dick Jaspers 40-29 in 19 innings. The Dutchman had hoped to kill no less than three birds with one stone: the El Gouna World Cup win, the overall World Cup victory for the year, and the nr. 1 position on the ranking. Jaspers did take the 2016 World Cup trophy, but Heo prevented the trilogy.
Jung-Han Heo, who lives in Gimpo, not far from Seoul, celebrated his first big triumph with an emotion rarely seen among Koreans. Doing his victory tour in the arena, he wildly swung his cue, hugged Jaspers and even kissed the billiard table. The proud winner, who is married and has a son and a daughter, then shook hands with the fans and received lots of compliments. His victory in the Red Sea resort was well deserved. On the final day, Heo first defeated another Asian coming-man, Quyet Chien Tran, by a final run of six, 40-24 in 25 innings. The decisive match against Jaspers swung in Heo's favor due to runs of 8, 7 and 8. and his opponent could not keep up with that productivity.
Dick Jaspers did win a consolation prize, serious enough to make him a happy man. The fifth overall World Cup win in his career became a certainty when he had beaten the new world champion Dani Sánchez (40-27 in 15), who will also be his opponent in next year's battle for the Super Cup in Antwerp.
The last Korean winner in a World Cup was Jae-Ho Cho, in Istanbul, 2014. The growing three cushion nation, with hundreds of thousands of billiard players, has been on the rise for years now, but even their best players often get beaten by the European heavyweights in the final stages of World Cups. Jung-Han Heo had recorded some triumphs in his home country, but this was his first big win on the global stage.
The extraordinary moment in his race to the title was in the match with Roland Forthomme in the first round. The Belgian finished at 40-33 and forced Heo to perform a small miracle. The Korean came up with the goods: he made it 40-40 with a run of seven and won the shoot-out after a costly miss by Forthomme, 1-0. From then on, he was never really in danger, beating Eddy Merckx (40-27 in 25), Kwang-Yeol Park (40-20 in 19) and then Tran and Jaspers on the final day.
Frédéric Caudron, the only player to win two World Cups, was eliminated by Hyung-Kon Kim in the first session, lost his chances to win the World Cup cycle 2016, but is still the number one in the world. Kwang-Yeol Park was one of the stars with victories over Jae-Ho Cho and Marco Zanetti. Haeng-Jik Kim excelled among others against Torbjörn Blomdahl (40-12 in 14), but was outplayed by Martin Horn in his next performance.
Jung-Han Heo climbed into the world's top ten with his victory in El Gouna. The ranking is still led by Frédéric Caudron with 392 points ahead of Dick Jaspers and Dani Sánchez. Jaspers won the World Cup trophy 2016 with 286 points, followed by Frédéric Caudron (254) and Eddy Merckx with 182.
Semi-finals:
Dick Jaspers Martin Horn: 40-26 in 22
The German, away from the World Cups for a few seasons now, played a fantastic tournament. He was stopped by the Dutchman in his twelfth match of this Egyptian event, having beaten the likes of Polychronopoulos, Bury and Haeng Jik Kim. ,,I will take my chance if I get it from Jaspers'', he predicted before the match.
But Jaspers quickly regains control, after Horn starts with an early run of seven, making six and nine himself. The Dutchman grabs the win, 40-26 in 22 innings, and for the third time this year he is in the final of a World Cup: a victory in Bursa against Frédéric Caudron, a loss against Caudron in Ho Chi Minh.
Jung-Han Heo-Quyet Chien Tran: 40-28 in 25
Jung-Han Heo and Quyet Chien Tran face each other in a tactical match without high runs. The match is slightly in favor of the Korean at halftime (23-17), but Tran is back in the 20th inning, 26-26. Heo than runs away with a six (34-28) and decides the match after 25 innings with another run of six (40-28).
The final ranking of the last World Cup:
1 Jung-Han Heo 10-1.680-9
2 Dick Jaspers 8-1.852-9
3 Martin Horn 6-1.678-14
3 Quyet Chien Tran 6-1.644-13
5 Dani Sánchez 4-1.844-12
6 Haeng-Jik Kim 4-1.833-11
7 Kwang Yeol Park 4-1.470-7
8 Sameh Sidhom 4-1.294-9
9 Ahmet Alp 2-1.861-9
10 Jérémy Bury 2-1.550-10
11 Marco Zanetti 2-1.500-7
12 Torbjörn Blomdahl 2-1.485-6
13 Hyung Kon Kim 2-1.416-12
14 Dong Koong Kang 2-1.379-6
15 Murat Naci Coklu 2-1.361-13
16 Eddy Merckx 2-1.340-8.
The new world ranking:
1 Frédéric Caudron 392 points
2 Dick Jaspers 368
3 Dani Sánchez 346
4 Torbjörn Blomdahl 326
5 Marco Zanetti 301
6 Haeng-Jik Kim 280
6 Eddy Merckx 280
8 Nikos Polychronopoulos 279
9 Sameh Sidhom 228
10 Jung-Han Heo 227
11 Jérémy Bury 222
12 Murat Naci Coklu 196
13 Jae-Ho Cho 195
14 Quyet Chien Tran 190
15 Tayfun Tasdemir 170
16 Pedro Piedrabuena 162
17 Semih Saygıner 155
18 Lütfi Cenet 146
19 Eddy Leppens 145
20 Roland Forthomme 140.
World Cup ranking 2016:
1 Dick Jaspers 286
2 Frédéric Caudron 254
3 Eddy Merckx 182
4 Nikos Polychronopoulos 176
4 Jérémy Bury 176.
Best matches in the World Cup cycle:
Dick Jaspers, Oh Tae Jun, 5.000
High run: Nikos Polychronopoulos 22.
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