10/15/2016
BORDEAUX – The high point of the three cushion season is approaching: the World championship. From 15 to 19 November, Bordeaux will again host the most prestigious event in our sport, as it did last year. Who can forget that thrilling 2015 final, that gave Torbjörn Blomdahl the title after 40-40 draw and a shootout against Dong Koong Kang? The Palais des Congres is the venue for the 2016 final, and the UMB (world federation of billiards) has announced the 48 players who will participate in the event.
The field of players consists of 26 Europeans, eleven Asians, eight Americans and three Africans. The Koreans bring the biggest delegation with six players, followed by Belgium and France with four, Turkey, Colombia and Vietnam with three. Jérémy Bury and Jean-Christophe Roux play for the host country, the wildcards were given to Jérôme Barbeillon and Marc Boigneres.
The tournament director of the 69th World championship, held in Bordeaux for the second time in a row, is Kozoom CEO Xavier Carrer. Raymond Ceulemans ranked last year's championship among the five best ever organized. The prize money was raised to 10.000 Euros for the winner, 6.000 for the runner-up, 3.500 for the numbers three and four and 2.000 for the numbers five until eight.
Torbjörn Blomdahl from Sweden is the defending champion, Frédéric Caudron from Belgium is the number 1 ranked player in the world. Other favorites are Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) , Dani Sanchez (Spain), Eddy Merckx (Belgium) and Marco Zanetti (Italy). To complete the list of seeds: Sameh Sidhom (Egypt), Nikos Polychronopoulos (Greece) Jérémy Bury (France), Quyet Chien Tran (Vietnam), Dong Koong Kang (Korea), Jae Ho Cho (South Korea), Roland Forthomme (Belgium), Tayfun Tasdemir (Turkey), Haeng Jik Kim (South Korea ), Jung Han Heo (Korea), Murat Naci Coklu (Turkey).
The other players that were invited by the CEB are: Michael Nilsson (Sweden), Semih Saygıner (Turkey), Radek Novak (Czech Republic), Christian Rudolph (Germany), Kostas Kokkoris (Greece), Eddy Leppens (Belgium), Raimond Burgman (Netherlands) Jean-Christophe Roux (France), Javier Palazón (Spain), Arnim Kahofer (Austria), Lars Dunch (Denmark), Christakis Christoforou (Cyprus), Cetin Behzat (Switzerland).
The CPB (North and South America) will be represented by: Hugo Patino (USA), Erick Tellez (Costa Rica), Pedro Piedrabuena (USA), Huberney Cataño (Colombia), Robinson Morales (Colombia), Henry Diaz (Colombia), Ramon Rodriguez (Peru) and Guillermo Perez (Argentina).
For Asia (ACBC): Quoc Nguyen Nguyen (Vietnam), Jae Guen Kim (South Korea), Antoine Gholam (Lebanon), Ryuuji Umeda (Japan), Minh Cam Ma (Vietnam) Hyung Kon Kim (South Korea).
For Africa: Riad Nady (Egypt), Ihab El Messery (Egypt). The wildcards: Jérôme Barbeillon (France), Marc Boigneres (France).
The group format: Group A: Blomdahl, Christoforou, Rodriguez Group B: Caudron, Barbeillon, Tellez Group C: Jaspers, Kahofer, Gholam Group D: Merckx, Jae Guen Kim, Burgman Group E: Zaneti, Hyung Kon Kim, Patino Group F: Sánchez, Rudolph Diaz Group G: Sidhom, Ma, Kokkoris Group H: Polychronopoulos, Palazón, Behzat Group I: Bury, Leppens Nilsson Group J: Tran, El Messery, Morales Group K Kang, Sayginer, Umeda Group L: Cho, Nady, Novak Group M: Forthomme, Cataño, Dunch Group N: Tasdemir, Nguyen, Roux Group O: Haeng Jik Kim, Piedrabuena, Boigneres Group P: Heo, Coklu Perez.
In the group stage, matches will be played to 40 caroms with equal innings. The group winners advance to the knockout with sixteen players. The knock-out are also played to 40 points with equal innings and shoot-outs in case of a draw.
The tournament starts on Tuesday, November 15th at 14.00 with the matches Christoforou-Rodriguez, Barbeillon-Tellez, Kahofer-Gholam and Jae Guen Kim-Burgman. The semi-finals are on Saterday, November 19th at 13.00 and 15.00, the final is at 18.00. The delegates are Farouk Barki (UMB), Bennie Deegens (CEB) and Jean Paul Sinanian (France).
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