ANKARA – The world top three-cushion players are preparing for busy and important weeks coming up. The World Cup in Ankara, Turkey, starts this Monday 9 June and lasts until Sunday 15 June. Two weeks later, the global contingent will head to Porto, where the tournament will start on Sunday 29 June. Dick Jaspers' comfortable lead in the Events rankings is not under threat, but he will lose 80 points in Ankara from his victory in Sharm El Sheikh 2023. The rankings from 12th to 21st place are under pressure. The difference between Berkay Karakurt (12th) and Peter Ceulemans (21st) is only 29 points. For players like Frédéric Caudron, Jérémy Bury, Glenn Hofman and Haeng Jik Kim, the step to the top positions is certainly achievable. The big absentee in those ranks is Torbjörn Blomdahl, who is missing the upcoming World Cups due to an injury sustained while playing padel.
The Turks will be in action in their own country, at the Turkish Federation's ’TBF billiard complex’ in Ankara with 38 players. Three players are automatically qualified: Tayfun Tasdemir, Tolgahan Kiraz and Berkay Karakurt, while two players received a wild card: Gökhan Salman and Yilmaz Özcan. Two European billiards countries, France and Germany, are represented by a big delegation of 14 players in the arenas. The Greeks have 12 players in the field, the Dutch 11, the Vietnamese 10, and the Koreans and Spaniards 8. The South American contingent consists of only five Colombians and the Mexican wildcard Javier Vera.
The Turkish World Cup is the third in 2025 after the successes of Tran Thanh Luc in Bogota and Dick Jaspers in Ho Chi Minh. The seeded players are in action from Thursday in the 32-final phase. These are the 14 players at the top of the UMB Events ranking:
Dick Jaspers, Myung Woo Cho, Eddy Merckx, Quyet Chien Tran, Tanh Luc Tran, Tayfun Tasdemir, Marco Zanetti, Sameh Sidhom, Tolgahan Kiraz, Jung Han Heo, Martin Horn, Berkay Karakurt, Phuong Vinh Bao and Hong Chiem Thai. Three wildcards have been awarded:
Javier Vera for the UMB and the Turks Gökhan Salman and Yilmaz Özcan.
The time difference between Ankara and Western Europe, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany, is one hour. The matches are played from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., depending on the day. Last year, Jung-han Heo won the final in Ankara against Bao Phuong Vinh.
For the main tournament with 32 players, matches are planned in the 8 groups of 4 between Dick Jaspers and Javier Vera, Quyet Chien Tran and Phuong Vinh Bao, Thanh Luc Tran and Berkay Karakurt, Tayfun Tasdemir and Martin Horn, Marco Zanetti and Jung Han Heo, and Sameh Sidhom and Tolgahan Kiraz.
The important final qualifying day will be of high quality with players like Haeng Jik Kim, Frédéric Caudron, Nick Polychronopoulos, Jérémy Bury, TTT Nguyen, Peter Ceulemans, Jeffrey Jorissen, Roland Forthomme, Glenn Hofman, Myeong Jong Cha and Chang Hoon Seo.
On Monday, the first day of the tournament, we can watch Alexander Salazar, Jose Maria Mas, Carlos Crespo and Kostas Papakonstantinou, among others. On Tuesday, the field includes Kostas Kokkoris, Adrien Tachoire, David Pennör, Alessio D'Agata and Takeshima O. And on Wednesday, just before the final qualifiers, Sergio Jimenez, Ronny Lindemann, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Dimitrios Seleventas, Mikaël Devogelaere, Birol Uymaz, Van Ly Dao and Arnim Kahofer will come to the tables.
The world's number 1 Dick Jaspers
Turkish top favorite Tayfun Tasdemir