WONJU - The triumphal march of Dick Jaspers, the 57-year-old Dutchman in global billiards, cannot be stopped. The best player in the world rankings is the wonderful winner of the World 3-cushion Grand Prix in Wonju, South Korea after two long weeks of matches with the world's best. The phenomenon Jaspers was rewarded with a 100,000 euros jackpot, 135 million in Korean won. The loser received 60 million (44,000 euros) from the organizer. It was Jaspers' second victory in this tournament, which was played for the second time with the highest prize money in a UMB tournament ever.
In the final, Dick Jaspers defeated the Korean Haeng Jik Kim 3-0 in sets: 9-8, 12-7, 12-10. Dick Jaspers, a well-paid professional billiards player all his life, father of two adult children, can rightly be called the cannibal of current three-cushion. Jaspers has been the number one in the world ranking for four long years, he is a five-time world champion, a five-time European champion and has already won 27 World Cups in his career. The lucrative second edition of the World 3-cushion Grand Prix is another pearl on his honors list, a glorious success achieved in the new billiard stronghold South Korea.
The Dutch champion celebrated his victory on the late Korean evening with joyful jumps in the arena and was cheered for a long time. The matches in the Grand Prix were viewed on Youtube by many tens of thousands of billiards fans. Dick Jaspers therefore thanked the organization, the audience and his fellow players afterwards. He later said in an interview for the Korean TV stations: ''These were two very exciting weeks, with matches at the very best level. I was able to win, I am very happy about that. It was often a matter of survival, which also involved a bit of luck. I've lived from match to match, focusing on my technique, mental strength and fighting spirit. It was great to beat players like Blomdahl, Merckx, Zanetti and the strong Koreans Kim, Heo and Choi. How nice is it to be able to play such a top event.''
Dick Jaspers has been the number 1 in the world in three cushion since 2018. He is also the winner and best-payed player in major tournaments at the World Federation. He was also the absolute top player when it came to surviving and winning in the exciting final phase in this Grand Prix.
Many fans had been looking forward to the final between Dick Jaspers and Haeng Jik Kim, because the Dutchman was vulnerable in three matches, which he won with penalty shoots. The Korean reached the final with superior matches, high averages and great victories over the world top players Zanetti, Tasdemir and Heo. But in the final, Jaspers prevailed in the decisive moments and Kim could not grow to great heights. The Dutchman cleared an 8-3 deficit in the first set and won 9-8. In the second, Jaspers was the slightly better starter and won 12-7 after a run of seven in the last inning. And in the third, it became 10-4 for Jaspers. He did not relinquish that margin in the end: 12-10 for the 3-0 win.
The World 3-cushion Grand Prix concluded a tournament on this final day, which pitted the 48 players first in a team tournament and then in an individual Grand Prix. Over a period of more than two weeks, this resulted in a multitude of matches for each individual and a final ranking in which cash prizes were determined for all players. For the final phase with sixteen players, the tournament climaxed with a complicated system of Double Knockout. Haeng Jik Kim had not yet lost a match before the final, Dick Jaspers lost once in the entire process and therefore had to win four more matches than his opponent in the final.
In short, the format was that each player went on to the next phase after a win and got another chance after a loss. Two losses meant the final elimination for each player.
The circuit for the two finalists in a nutshell looked like this:
Dick Jaspers (57), five-time world champion, five-time European champion, winner of 2 World games and 27 World Cups) had a flawless start in the first session of preliminaries. He won his 7 matches with an average of 2.142. In the second stage (groups of 5) Jaspers won four times, was already qualified, but lost the last match against Sung Won Choi with an exceptional 1,000 average. That was not an expensive miss, because that match did not count for the remainder of the circuit.
The Dutchman started in the last sixteen with a loss against Nikos Polychronopoulos 2-1. That had a major influence on the sequel, because Jaspers could not afford to lose after that. The long journey to a place in the final started with a 1-1 win against Myeong Jong Cha in sets and a 2-1 penalty win for Jaspers. In the next round, Jaspers beat Sung-Won Choi and again he needed a penalty shootout after 1-1. Jaspers started strong with 5 from the break, Choi missed after 2 points, so Jaspers won.
The next opponent was Eddy Merckx, the Belgian who also played a great tournament. Jaspers opened the derby of the low lands with 8 and 6, Merckx made 5 twice, Jaspers won the first set 16-10. In the second set, Jaspers was better than Merckx, who had 5 zero's in 8 innings, so that the Dutchman won 14-8 (averages 2,727 against 1,300).
Another real thriller followed for Jaspers: against Torbjörn Blomdahl. The Swede won the first set 12-4, Jaspers the second 17-7 and in the third it became 10-10. Again Jaspers needed penalty shots: Blomdahl started with 1, Jaspers answered with 2 and the win of the match. And then there was two more matches that Jaspers was waiting for before the final. The second Korean, Jung Han Heo, was his opponent. The Dutchman won the first set superiorly 24-4 in 3, Heo answered 14-5 and in the third set the tension was untenable. Jaspers led 8-7 with 1 minute in extra time, was not allowed to miss anymore, but gave Heo one last chance. The Korean missed, Jaspers closed the match 9-7 and crowned a great circuit with a place in the final. The second last opponent was Marco Zanetti, beaten by Jaspers 2-0, averages 2.700/1.700.
Haeng Jik Kim (aged 30) four-time Junior World Champion, winner of 3 World Cups) emerged from the first qualifying rounds in 8-player groups as the winner of his group with six wins, losing only to Choong Bok Lee 14-13 in the decisive set. He ended that first round with 1.907 on average. The next was the qualifying round with 5 players per group. Haeng Jik won his four matches with an overall average of 2.661.
The Korean moved into the top 16, where he won his first match against Pedro Piedrabuena 2-0 (2.363) and faced fellow countryman Jung Han Heo in the next. That was a hard fight, in which it became 1-1 in sets (Heo run 16) and Haeng Jik won the last set (average 2.058). The next mission was Tayfun Tasdemir, the world champion, who was beaten 2-0 by Haeng Jik Kim (2.384). And finally Kim faced Marco Zanetti before moving up to the final: he also won that match 2-0 (average 2.545).
The number 3 in the final standings, Marco Zanetti, was only knocked out in the last phase by Haeng Jik Kim, in a match over two sets, which Kim won 12-8 and 16-9 (2.545/1.700). The Italian could look back on a strong performance, who was out after his loss to Jaspers, also shone against Blomdahl on the last day.
Jung Han Heo, the number 4 in the final standings, was eliminated by Jaspers, after he had eliminated world champion Tayfun Tasdemir 2-0 a round earlier with a great average of 3.111. Tasdemir went out with 2,222.
The final rankings:
1 Dick Jaspers, 135 million Korean won (100,000 euros)
2 Haeng Jik Kim, 60 million won (44,400 euros)
3 Marco Zanetti, 30 million won 22,200 euros)
4 Jung Han Heo, 25 million won (18,500 euros)
5 Torbjörn Blomdahl, 21 million won (15,500 euros)
6 Tayfun Tasdemir, 18.5 million won
7 Nikos Polychronopoulos, 16 million won
8 Eddy Merckx, 13.5 million won
9 Sung Won Choi, 12 million won
10 Hyung Kon Kim, 10.8 million won
11 Sameh Sidhom, 10.5 million won
12 Dion Nelin, 10.2 million won
13 Myeong Jong Cha, 9.9 million won
14 Pedro Piedrabuena, 9.6 million won
15 Murat Naci Coklu, 9.3 million won
16 Dani Sanchez, 9 million won.
Dick Jaspers in joy after his final win
The four final players at the podium