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He will turn sixty next year, but there is no talk of retirement. Jaspers loves his billiards too much to go sit on the porch. And he loves winning World Cups, as he did this week in Seoul for the 31^st time, beating Tayfun Tasdemir in the final: 50-36 in 20/19 innings. If the new generation wants to take the crown away from this Dutchman, they will have to match his mental strength and professionalism. That’s a big ask. 

Who can stop the Vietnamese tsunami? Not even Frédéric Caudron could do it. In a tense final where nerves were eating away at both finalists, the precision master from Ho Chi Minh overcame the fluency genius from Turnhout: 50-38 in 28/27 innings. 

The 5-Pins World Championship in Venaria Reale-Torino was recently concluded with the victory of Andrea Ragonesi in this 26th edition, who beat Andrea Quarta in a spectacular final 4-3, defending champion. The podium was completed by Ciro Davide Rizzo and Camilo Gomez. Andrea Ragonesi closed a spectacular championship, which he entered from the qualification phase.

He’s still young, but he carried expectations on his back for the last ten years. Everybody called him “a future world champion”. That’s nice and well-intended, but praise doesn’t make points. Practice does. 

In a one-sided final, Myung Woo Cho dominated the surprise from Vietnam, Thanh Luc Tran. The 35-year-old local had eliminated Legazpi, Zanetti, Bury and Jaspers, and a proud man he must be. But in the final, the balls didn’t obey as well as they did against Jaspers. Tran struggled; Cho played billiards. As the gap in points grew, so did Cho’s confidence. He ended the final with a fluke, but the smile on both players’ faces said they didn’t mind. The final score was a reflection of the match: 50-23 in 20/19.

The under-22 three-cushion has traditionally belonged to South Korea. They have dominated the event for a long time, with great players like Haeng Jik Kim and Myung Woo Cho. This year’s Korean finalist Yeong Yun Jo though, had to concede that the 2024 title belonged to a young Turk: Seymen Ozbas. He won the juniors final 35-26 in 27.

Joy on her face, and also a bit of disbelief. Charlotte Sörensen from Denmark is the 2024 women’s world champion after she beat Therese Klompenhouwer in a high-class final: 30-29 in 27/26. The Dutch woman, five times world champion already, was the big favourite. But Sörensen showed in the final how much she has grown in a short few years. A pupil of Tony Carlsen, she is the real deal and she has not peaked yet. 

On the last day in Seoul, South Korean player CHO Myung Woo was the brilliant winner in a final in which he beat two world champions, Edy Merckx who took second place and Tayfun Tasdemir accompanied in third place by a brilliant player from the Netherlands Glen Hofmann. The tournament was played brilliantly at the Soop Convention Center in Seoul.

There’s no such thing as a bad podium in a World Cup. But a foursome as good as this, you don’t see that very often. The Porto World Cup was the 30^th win for Dick Jaspers after he beat Myung Woo Cho in the final: 50 – 35 in 27/26.  

The second consecutive edition held in Ankara of the World Artistic Billiards Championship has closed with the unappealable victory of the Turkish player Haci Arap Yaman, escorted by the Turkish players Baris Cin who obtained the silver medal and Serdar Gumus, only the Spanish player Hector Cuadrado was able to resist Turkish hegemony, reaching the podium with the bronze medal.

It was an eight-year wait, but worth it. Jung Han Heo from South Korea, one of the most stylish 3-cushion players on the circuit, followed his 2016 El Gouna win with a victory in Ankara in 2024, where he beat Phuong Vinh Bao from Vietnam in the final: 50 – 31 in 26/25.  

Korea? Turkiye? No, Vietnam is currently the number one 3-cushion country in the world. They supplied the current world champion (Phuong Vinh Bao), the world champions for national teams (Bao and Quyet Chien Tran) and the two most recent World Cup winners, Q.C. Tran and Duc Minh Tran.

The final of the World Championship for National teams could not have had a later moment of truth: the dying seconds of extra time as they say in football. It took two singles matches and a Scotch Double play-off that went to 14-14 before Vietnam’s Phuong Vinh Bao made the glorious last point.