UMB World Cup 2025 – Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt

Sharm El Sheikh. December 7th, 2024.

The final of the Sharm El Sheikh World Cup was played by two of the hardest-to-beat professionals in the world: Marco Zanetti and Eddy Merckx. In a strange, two-faced match the Italian had the last word: 50-46 in 28. The Belgian had been as good as handcuffed for the first twenty innings, which must have been frustrating. It was also a testament to Zanetti’s perfect defence. Merckx broke loose with a wonderful run of 15, to change 46-31 into 46-46. Zanetti instantly replied with a winning run of four, to win the fifth World Cup in his long career. The last time he won a WC, was also in Sharm, in 2019. His five Cups put him eighth on the all-time list, now ahead of Sang Chun Lee. 

Merckx was the favourite in many people’s eyes, because of his amazing resume in finals: he played 14 and won 13. Zanetti, through the years, lost more World Cup finals and semifinals than he would care to remember. But on this day, before Merckx ran his 15, Zanetti was the better player. He suffered through the fifteen on his chair and played his closing four with authority. At 62, he’s still mentally fit. Merckx showed strength as well: he played perhaps the hardest match of his entire season and got close to winning it against the run of balls.  

In a semifinal that was nervy and tense, Merckx had gotten past the tournament revelation, Hong Chiem Thai. The young Vietnamese (25) had made a name for himself with wins over Dick Jaspers and Myung Woo Cho. He had given a lot, and there wasn’t enough left in the tank to compete with Merckx. Final score: 50-39 in 31/30.

Marco Zanetti meanwhile, in the other semi, did to Torbjörn Blomdahl what Blomdahl had done to Berkay Karakurt a day earlier. In a perfect blend of productive and defensive play, he kept all the good positions for himself and left the Swede with garbage. Final score: 50 – 11 in 18/17.  

The Sharm El Sheikh World Cup also decided the 2024 Overall World Cup win. Dick Jaspers finished first, Quyet Chien Tran second, and Tayfun Tasdemir third. Jaspers won the 30.000 Euro UMB bonus. 

Sameh Sidhom played the best general average in Sharm: 2.384. 

The high run was made by Marco Zanetti: 19. 

The best match average was recorded by Birol Uymaz: 4.000 (40 in 10). 

The tournament average (last 32) was 1.538. 

Dick Jaspers remains firmly in the lead on the UMB Events Ranking. 

The next World Cup will be played in Bogota, Colombia, starting on 24 February 2025.