CONTINENTAL CUP: A TRIUMPH FOR THE ASIAN EIGHT
12/23/2019
The 2019 Continental Cup, the Ryder Cup of 3-cushion, produced one of the most shocking upsets in history, when the eight players from Asia defeated their eight European opponents by an enormous margin: 600 – 451. It was an even bigger win than the one recorded last year in France, when the inaugural Continental Cup was won by Europe, 600 – 483. No European player looked for excuses. “We were simply outplayed in most matches, they were better.” It was true, and... »
CONTINENTAL CUP: THE REMATCH
12/17/2019
It’s eight against eight, it’s Europe against Asia: the Continental Cup is to 3-cushion what the Ryder Cup is to golf and the Mosconi Cup to pool. Last year, the inaugural edition of this event, held in Eysines, France, was emphatically won by the European team: 600 – 483 in 328 innings (1.829 – 1.472). Naturally, the event now moves to the other continent. Seoul, South Korea will host the second edition, now named “e-BEST CONTINENTAL CUP”. The... »
MARCO ZANETTI DOMINATES EUROPEAN FINAL DAY IN EGYPT
12/15/2019
The seventh and last World Cup of the 2019 cycle was a new high point in the long career of Marco Zanetti. His last World Cup victory was in 2014, and he added one this week, five years later. His best tournament ever was the 2013 European championship, where he remained unbeaten and averaged 2.500. He even removed THAT record from his resume, averaging a fantastic 2.718 over seven matches. The Italian managed to beat Jérémy Bury in the semifinal and Dick Jaspers in the final,... »
TASDEMIR AND MERCKX LEAD BEFORE SHARM EL SHEIKH
12/04/2019
Two questions present themselves, just before the World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt: who will win this seventh event of 2019, and who will win the overall World Cup for the season? Many players are still in win a chance. So far, we’ve seen Tasdemir win in Antalya, Caudron in Ho Chi Minh City, Palazon in Blankenberge, Jaspers in Porto, Haeng Jik Kim in Veghel and Merckx in Guri. World Cup winners collect 80 points, with second place good for 54, third 36, quarterfinalists 26, last... »
A SEVENTH WORLD CROWN FOR TORBJÖRN BLOMDAHL
11/30/2019
The 72nd UMB world championship was a week full of surprises, drama and great scoring by the world’s best players. The last man standing was one of Europe’s icons: Torbjörn Blomdahl from Sweden. He added a world title to his long resume, 32 years after he won his first. In a final with a tense second half, he beat the up and coming Vietnamese talent Duc Anh Chien Nguyen: 40–37 in 22 innings. Quite amazingly, there was just one Korean player in the last 16! Three... »
RANDERS: THIRTEEN CEB COUNTRIES, TWENTY-THREE CEB PLAYERS
11/24/2019
A very strong European delegation will compete in the World Championship 3-cushion, starting next week in Randers, Denmark. The Euro-contingent provides almost half the field: 23 of 48 players. They range from the young and talented, such as Gwendal Maréchal from France and Alessio D’Agata from Italy, to the seasoned and even legendary: players in their late fifties such as Marco Zanetti and Torbjörn Blomdahl. The Europeans bring no fewer than 19 past world titles to the... »
JASPERS WINS EVERY OTHER YEAR IN LAUSANNE
11/18/2019
If you wonder if the Lausanne Billard Masters is actually a major event, just look at this year’s final match. The numbers one and two in the world were the last men standing, and the current world champion won. It does not get much better than that. Jaspers had already won Lausanne in 2015 and 2017, now he adds 2019. All three groups in Diane Wild’s invitational had a lower-ranked player: Michel Boulaz was the local wildcard, Therese Klompenhouwer the invited lady, and... »
SEVENTH LAUSANNE BILLARD MASTERS, THE BEST YET ?
11/12/2019
The field in Lausanne has always been high quality, but this 2019 edition raises the bar. The charity event hosted by CEB president Diane Wild will have the current world champion Dick Jaspers, the under 22 world champion Myung Woo Cho, the European under 21 champion Maxime Panaia and the ladies world champion Therese Klompenhouwer. Since the LBM is played in three flights of four players, that leaves us with eight more names. Here they are, in random order: Jae Ho Cho, Martin Horn,... »
GURI WORLD CUP: EUROPE REFUSES TO HAND 3-CUSHION DOMINANCE TO ASIA
11/10/2019
There’s strength in numbers for the Asians. More and more Korean and Vietnamese players survive the early rounds in world cups. But on the final day, it’s usually Europeans that decide about the medals. Haeng Jik Kim may have won in Veghel, but the other world cups of 2019 were Turkish, Belgian, Spanish, Dutch and again Belgian property. Three Europeans and one Asian made it to the final day in Guri, and there was an unsurprising result: Eddy Merckx won the last two matches... »
GURI IS ALWAYS A GREAT WORLD CUP
11/01/2019
The sixth World Cup in the 2019 series will take place about an hour from Seoul: the Guri tournament will kick off on 4 November. The final matches will be played on the 10th. As usual, fourteen players have been seeded in this event: Jaspers, Zanetti, Tasdemir, Sayginer, Merckx, J.H. Cho, Q.C. Tran, Sidhom, Coklu, Bury, H.J. Kim, Horn, J.H. Heo and Blomdahl. The UMB wild card was given to Pedro Gonzalez from Colombia, the local wildcards went to Myung Woo Cho and Jung Pyo Hong.... »