UMB: Ho Chi Minh City World Cup 2026

When Caudron is in full flow, he is still the irresistible force. The natural talent pur sang, with the quick decisions and the effortless technique. Emotional and turbulent years did not affect his stroke or his focus, a double hip replacement was only a temporary setback. Upon his return to the UMB a few seasons ago, he must have had these two goals in his mind: become world champion again, and start winning World Cups again. He can lean back and treat himself to a vacation now: he’s done both.

In a one-sided final, Caudron ran away from his talented Vietnamese opponent immediately. From 11-0 and 23-14 it was almost done and dusted when Fred ran a 15 to get to 38. Thai’s holy fire had died out, as was visible in his high run of the match: a three. He should be proud of his week though, and a World Cup silver medal is nothing to look down on. Caudron counted his gold medals in WC’s, and saw he now has 22, making him the third-best player ever in World Cups, behind Blomdahl (46) and Jaspers (32).

The first semifinal was remarkable because it had two faces. Merckx had an 18-1 lead after six innings, and Thai looked lost. A little stretch of 10-1-3-14 turned the entire match upside down, and Merckx’s production dried up. Quite obviously, the loud vocal support for Hong Chiem bothered him, but fans will be fans. Thai himself put up a hand in apology for a point that many would not even consider a fluke, which tells you something about the respect he has for his opponent. The 50-46 in 25 took him into the first final of his life.

The second semifinal was a classic: Caudron – Zanetti. The two have a long history together, both bring formidable egos to the table, and they don’t like losing. This encounter in Ho Chi Minh was incident-free though. The match had trouble getting in gear: after 14 innings it was 21-11 to Caudron. After Zanetti had made 9-1-3-5 it got a bit more interesting (41-37), but in the home stretch Caudron was certainly the cooler player: 50-39 in 34/33. Check out the video from this match: you’ll come across a kiss-back shot by FC that looked easy but was a little work of art. And the same can be said about a massé by Zanetti, played with the subtlest of curves.

We can think of a third goal for Caudron: regain the number one position on the world ranking. And who is to say he’s not going to do that as well? He’s climbed to the number two position already, behind Myung Woo Cho.

The tournament average in Ho Chi Minh City was 1.689 (last 32). That is the highest tournament average since Blankenberge 2019.

The best individual general average was played by Ja In Kang: 2.355.
The best match average was played by Jeremy Bury: 4.444.
The tournament high run was made by Eddy Merckx: 20.

After two World Cups, Caudron leads in the race for the Overall World Cup of 2026, followed by Myung Woo Cho, Hong Chiem Thai and Thanh Luc Tran.

The next World Cup will be played in Ankara, from 8-14 June.

UMB.