SHARM EL SHEIKH – Turkish player Berkay Karakurt, in his early thirties, celebrated his first major career success at the Red Sea on Saturday afternoon and was overjoyed. Two players were vying for their first World Cup triumph. Home player Sameh Sidhom (34), a long-standing and highly ranked player, missed out on gold in front of his home fans. Berkay Karakurt won the final 50-46 in 32. Korean Myung Woo Cho, who was eliminated earlier, was the overall winner of the 2025 World Cup cycle ahead of Dick Jasers, Tayfun Tasdemir, Eddy Merckx, and Marco Zanetti.
On the Sharm El Sheikh stage, Berkay Karakurt was the joyful center of attention for his Turkish friends and other fans. To secure his final victory, he first won the semifinal against Jaspers on Saturday morning, 50-32 in 16, before facing Sameh Sidhom, by far the best African billiards player. That final went Karakurt's way, 16-4 after a run of 13. The score went to 15-26, but Sidhom pulled a little back with a run of 7, bringing the score to 24-29. The tension returned in the 20th inning with Karakurt leading 34-38. The Turk then briefly sprinted to 48-44, saw Sidhom close the gap to 46-44, but in a fit of joy, Karakurt secured the World Cup victory with the final carom: 50-46 in 32.
Berkay Karakurt started the race with a winning streak in the group of four, beating Zanetti, Blomdahl, and Jimenez (average 1.666). From there, the race continued with a victory over Legazpi (50-24 in 33) and finally, Zanetti was defeated (50-29 in 28) in the lead-up to the glorious day on Saturday.
Dick Jaspers quickly seemed overwhelmed against Karakurt in the semifinal (17-5, 30-8, 38-11), showed his teeth one more time at the end of the match after a difficult struggle to catch up with the Turk. Karakurt missed the match point once with a powerful draw shot, giving Jaspers another chance to claw back. Down 49-21 in 15, the Dutchman needed a world-record run to win the match. He closed that gap somewhat with 11 (49-32). In his next attempt, the Turk missed again in the corner, Jaspers sensed another opportunity, missed a bankshot, and offered Karakurt the match point again for 50-32 in 17.
Sameh Sidhom and Peter Ceulemans both opened strongly, leading Ceulemans 16-15 in 4 after a run of 9. It was Ceulemans's final gasp after a fantastic tournament. The Belgian fell further behind after a part with two caroms in 13 innings. Sidhom delivered the verdict with 7, 0, and 3 for a 50-30 score.
With Jaspers's loss, Myung Woo Cho was now assured of the overall 2025 World Cup victory, which will earn the Korean 30,000 euros.
Berkay Karakurt's victory saw him climb to 10th spot in the world rankings, with Myung Woo Cho remaining the leader ahead of Jaspers, Merckx, Zanetti and Tasdemir.
Berkay Karakurt and Sameh Sidhom at the start of the final
Berkay Karakurt, the joy after his winning point
Berkay Karakurt, climbing to 10th place on the world ranking
Peter Ceulemans, fantastic World Cup until the semi finals
Sameh Sidhom, runner up for his home crowd
Phuong Vinh Bao, player with the best average overall
Myung Woo Cho, the World Cup overall winner
Dick Jaspers in his match with Haeng Jik Kim
The final ranking in Sharm El Sheikh:
- Berkay Karakurt 14-1.758-13
- Sameh Sidhom 10-1.831-11
- Dick Jaspers 8-1.750-11
- Peter Ceulemans 8-1.487-15
- Marco Zanetti 6-1.803-9
- Haeng Jik Kim 6-1.781-14
- Tayfun Tasdemir 6-1.511-9
- Birol Uymaz 6-1.380-11
- Phuong Vinh Bao 6-2.048-14
- Martin Horn 6-1.591-10
- Thanh Luc Tran 6-1.568-9
- Myung Woo Cho 5-1.870-14
- Nick Polychronopoulos 5-1.833-12
- Frédéric Caudron 4-1.928-12
- Jérémy Bury 4-1.678-9
- Ruben Legazpi 4-1.194-9
- Eddy Merckx 4-1.507-7
- Jung Han Heo 4-1.269-9
- Myeong Jong Cha 2-1.712-7
- Tolgahan Kiraz 2-1.493-8
The world ranking after Sharm El Sheikh:
- Myung Woo Cho 356
- Dick Jaspers 342
- Eddy Merckx 340
- Marco Zanetti 314
- Tayfun Tasdemir 312
- Quyet Chien Tran 288
- Sameh Sidhom 266
- Frédéric Caudron 263
- Martin Horn 242
- Berkay Karakurt 239
- Thanh Luc Tran 215
- Haeng Jik Kim 204
- Jérémy Bury 203
- Peter Ceulemans 196
- Glenn Hofman 187
- Jung Han Heo 182
- Tolgahan Kiraz 164
- Phuong Vinh Bao 163
- Ruben Legazpi 138
- Hong Chiem Thai 134.
The top ten of the overall World Cup in 2025:
- Myung Woo Cho 240
- Dick Jaspers 208
- Tayfun Tasdemir 204
- Eddy Merckx 198
- Marco Zanetti 196
- Sameh Sidhom 186
- Berkay Karakurt 164
- Martin Horn 162
- Haeng Jik Kim 158
- Jérémy Bury 154
- Quyet Chien Tran 154.