NICE - On the banks of the Mediterranean, in the magnificent Palais de la Mediterranée on the famous Promenade des Anglais in Nice, the famous Crystal Kelly tournament will be played in the next ten days. Ten top players are performing in the last event, the farewell of a phenomenon that has been played eighteen years since 1994. Sixteen times the event was hold in Nice and Monaco, once in Scheveningen and once in Antwerp.
Crystal Kelly disappears from the calender after this edition. Joop van Oosterom, the businessman who founded founded the software company Volmac in 1966 (and later handed it over to the quoted Cap Gemini) has made a thriving business of his company, but has also meant a lot to the billiard sport. Crystal Kelly's strong team with players like Frédéric Caudron, Raymond Ceulemans, Frans van Kuijk and Raimond Burgman excelled for many years in the Dutch league. Last year, mr. Van Oosterom announced that he will stop the sponsoring this year. The team has already played his last mathes, the tournament will be played for the last time this week.
The top players, who come from the European championships in Porto, were flown directly to Nice and will start in one of the best tournaments the world of three-cushion has known. Dick Jaspers and Torbjörn Blomdahl have participated in all eighteen editions, Jaspers is with eight victories record winner.
Seventeen different players have been invited to play the tournament. Raymond Ceulemans was there from the start too, but has retired in recent years and is now the tournament director. Many players have been invited through the years: Semih Sayginer (sixteen times), Frédéric Caudron (15), Frans van Kuijk (13), Marco Zanetti (11) and Daniel Sánchez (8). Marco Zanetti won the tournament last year.
The Crystal Kelly tournament, popularly known as 'Monaco', got a great reputation in the world of billiards and was loved by the top players. They were flown to Nice every year with their wives or partners and for one week invited to the family Van Oosterom. Every day there is a match for every player in the program, but they also make many trips and excursions. Thanks to the high prize, the tournament was known as the little world championship.
The last tournament starts with ten invited players tomorrow, divided into two groups of five. These groups are:
Group A: Marco Zanetti, Frédéric Caudron, Eddy Merckx, Frans van Kuijk and Filipos Kasidokostas.
Group B: Dick Jaspers, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Daniel Sánchez, Semih Sayginer, Peter Ceulemans.
The winners of the tournament:
1994: Dick Jaspers. 1995: Torbjörn Blomdahl. 1996: Torbjörn Blomdahl. 1997: Torbjörn Blomdahl. 1998: Frédéric Caudron. 1999: Dick Jaspers. 2000: Torbjörn Blomdahl. 2001: Dick Jaspers. 2002: Dick Jaspers. 2003: Dick Jaspers. 2004: Dick Jaspers. 2005: Dick Jaspers. 2006: Torbjörn Blomdahl. 2007: Dick Jaspers. 2008: Frédéric Caudron. 2009: Frédéric Caudron. 2010: Marco Zanetti.
Jaspers and Zanetti made the highest run: 21.
Jaspers played the best match: 50 in 10 innings.
The highest overall average: Jaspers in 2002 with 2.536