Porto World Cup 2024

Porto, July 13th, 2024.

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.  

On the steps, in bronze position, were the 2022 world champion Tayfun Tasdemir, whose game should be studied by anyone who wants to learn about position play, and Frédéric Caudron, the greatest allrounder the game has ever known. In silver position: Myung Woo Cho, perhaps the only player to rival Caudron in natural talent. And all three had to concede that Jaspers was the best this week. Nobody makes fewer mistakes, nobody has such consistent focus, and nobody wants to win more than he does.  

In the first semi, Myung Woo Cho had trouble getting started. He made only seven points in the first eight innings. But when this young man gets in a flow, he is a force of nature. Cho added 43 points in nine innings to beat Tayfun 50 – 28 in 17. The Turk, as always, was a gracious loser. 

The second semi was a match the fans had been waiting years for Jaspers – Caudron. The Belgian ex-PBA star had shown terrific play in the qualification rounds and expectations were high. He kept up with Jaspers in the first half of the match, mostly thanks to a run of 13. In the second half, however, he got outscored by the Dutchman who was sharp as ever: 50 – 36 in 21/20. 

The final was not as high quality as it might have been. Cho was given very few opportunities to score and Jaspers took a big lead. The young Korean, it has to be said, played an unlucky match where several shots were brilliant but they didn’t make. Jaspers took no prisoners and finished it at 50 – 35 in 27/26.  

The high run in Porto was made by one of the new stars from Vietnam: Tran Thanh Tu Nguyen, with 21. 

The best match was played by Frédéric Caudron: 4.285 (30 in 7). 

The best general average was recorded by Myung Woo Cho: 2.048. 

The tournament average (last 32) was 1.541. 

The World Cup cycle will continue with events in Veghel, the Netherlands (October), Seoul, South Korea (November) and Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt (December).

UMB.