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He may be fourth on the world ranking list after “Veghel”, but in the eyes of many, Dick Jaspers is still the best player in the world. After a somewhat disappointing season, the Dutchman re-established himself with a superior display in the fourth World Cup of 2023. Martin Horn got beaten in a one-sided final of great quality: 50-22 in 12 (!) innings. It was the best World Cup final ever to 50 points. 

The fourth World Cup of 2023 will be played in Veghel, the Netherlands, from 22-28 October. The small city in the South of the country has also hosted World Cups in 2022, 2021 and 2019, with Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dani Sánchez and Haeng Jik Kim as the winners. For many years, Veghel was home to the Dutch 3-cushion championship, known as “The Masters”. There’s always an appreciative crowd in the old industrial building “De Koekbouw”, and the 148 player slots are easily filled. 

The EXPO of Calangianus was ready this morning to show the final stage of this amazing competition.

In the morning session the two semifinals were planned.

On the main TV table the all-Italian team of Marco Zanetti and Michelangelo Aniello faced Luc Tran Thanh (Viet Nam) and Daniel Lopez (Italy). Zanetti made immediately clear his intentions scoring the 25 points of the carom fraction in only 6 innings, his opponent could only score 11 points. Consequently the road to the victory for Aniello in the 5-pins fraction was cleared. The final score was 200-154 for the Italians.

After 11 years of not having a World Artistic Championship, the world has a new champion, and his name is David GONZALEZ from Mexico. He took the crown in his first appearance at a world championship with an overall average of 73,35%, which is not really far from the world record!

The World Championship for juniors is still firmly Korean territory, even after Burak Hashas won the title last year. With four titles for Haeng Jik Kim, one for Tae Kwan Kim and three for Myung Woo Cho, the Asian stronghold has dominated the junior event since 2007. 

Was she inspired by Phuong Vinh Bao, the surprising men’s world champion? Or maybe by her Korean colleagues, such as Myung Woo Cho and Haeng Jik Kim? Fact is, that Lee Shin Young established herself as a top player this week, winning the world title convincingly in a final against Japan’s Yuko Nishimoto: 30-18 in 26/25.  

Never before had a World Championship final been contested between two Vietnamese players, and never before had a debutant won the world title. It happened against all odds in Ankara, Turkey today. Phuong Vinh Bao, a 28-year-old economy graduate defeated his countryman Quyet Chien Tran in a convincing manner: 50 – 34 in 33.

Nikos Polychronopoulos (45, Greece) claimed his first career victory in the three-cushion  survival competition held in four years.

Polychronopoulos, who had failed four times in Billiards World Championship and World Cup finals, accomplished a feat after a 25-year playing career with this win.

More and more Vietnamese players are knocking on the door, but Quyet Chien Tran is still his country’s best. He proved it in a one-sided final in Porto, where he dominated Sameh Sidhom: 50-30 in 27. The Vietnamese position-play specialist won his first World Cup in Ho Chi Minh in 2018. 

In the final, supertalent Myung Woo Cho was the favorite. But 60-year-old Torbjörn Blomdahl clawed his way back into a match that looked like Korean one-way traffic for a while, and added yet another World Cup win to his long resume. With 46 gold medals, 19 silvers and 28 bronzes, Blomdahl has been on the podium of a World Cup prize ceremony an astonishing 93 times in 195 tournaments held since 1986.

The European Billiards Championships in Antalya/Turkey came to a crowning conclusion today with the medal decisions in three team competitions.

European Champion in the Men’s 3-Cushion National Teams was Greece, while the Netherlands won a thriller in the Women’s final. Last but not the least, the team from Sinop Spor (Turkey) became European Champions in the 3-Cushion event for Club Teams on the Small Table.

Viersen, March 12nd 2023

In an emotional year for the country, Turkiye’s best 3-cushion players dug deep and gave it their all. Semih Sayginer and Tayfun Tasdemir were unstoppable in Viersen, where they gave their country the third World Title for National Teams in a row. The strong twosomes of Sweden, the Netherlands, and Spain had to settle for silver and bronze. 

Las Vegas, March 4th, 2023

He is the reigning world champion, and he appears to be gaining in strength year by year. In Las Vegas, Nevada, Tayfun Tasdemir claimed his third World Cup, beating Haeng Jik Kim in the final: 50-39 in 34.