Dick Jaspers wins his 31st World Cup in Seoul

SEOUL - Two Europeans colored the World Cup three-cushion in Seoul this Sunday, Dick Jaspers was the glorious winner in the final match with Tayfun Tasdemir. The Dutch world number one, who also won this year's World Cup in Porto, showed overjoyed afterwards. ’’I feel that the end of my career is not so far away, so I intensely enjoy every big win,’’ Dick Jaspers said afterwards in the TV interview with Korean television. Joining Dick Jaspers and Tayfun Tasdemir on the final podium were Myung Woo Cho, the world champion, and Jun Tae Kim, also from South Korea. The World Cup in Seoul was the penultimate one this year, after this only the last one in Sharm El Sheikh will follow from 1 to 7 December.

Dick Jaspers and Quyet Chien Tran are in first place in the World Cup cycle now before that last World Cup. The Dutchman and the Vietnamese gathered 248 ranking points and can no longer be threatened for the leading two positions. The number one gets €30,000, the number two €15,000. Jaspers received 20,000 euros for his victory in the Seoul World Cup on Sunday.

The final in the South Korean capital ended with the winner it deserved. Dick Jaspers dominated the match, which was tied until 22-22 and could go either way until 35-34. Then, in the final part, Dick Jaspers showed his winning mentality and character in the closing stages: first he went to 45-35 and finally grabbed the win 50-36 in 20/19 innings. Jaspers' victory accentuates his top position in the rankings. The Dutchman, who spoke to the Korean spectators from the podium, is one of the three best billiard players in palmares, in the history of three-cushion for many years with Raymond Ceulemans, the former legend, and Torbjörn Blomdahl.

He also showed himself to be an real entertainer in the final ceremony while holding the winner's flowers. Jaspers spoke out his respect to the federations, the spectators, his fellow players and even the billiard maker Hollywood. The Dutch winner further said in the interview: ’’The world top is so strong now, it gets tougher every year to win World Cup tournaments. I feel lucky that I can still compete with the best. Hopefully that will last for a few more years. I'm 59, there's a wonderful generation coming up that will only make billiards stronger. Anything I win from now, I see as a bonus. I could win this World Cup and go back to the Netherlands as a happy man.‘’

Jaspers played his first full tournament in Seoul with a new cue: the Dutch lion made by Longoni. ,,I had played with one match in Veghel and once in the competition. But here I played the whole tournament with the cue. I have a wonderful feeling  because of the victory.‘’

Semi-finals

Dick Jaspers overwhelmed in the semi-finals young Korean Myung Woo Cho, who is this year's world champion and was one of the favorites in his own country. Tayfun Tasdemir closed his match with a high class stunt: he had a formidable final sprint against Jun Tae Kim, the Korean who equaled the world record high run in this tournament with 28. The Tasdemir-Kim match had a bizarre finish. When the Korean was up to play-off (44-34 and 48-39), the Turk suddenly asked the referee for a toilet break. He rushed out of the venue, returned to the arena and finished the match with runs of 5 (missed by a miscue) and 6: 50-48 in 28.

The furiously started Jaspers in the match against Myung Woo Cho ran out to 39-29 at halfway, Cho came back with a run of 11 and still led 40-39, but Jaspers was quicker up to the finish with two small runs of 4 and 3: 50-42 in 25 (2,000/1,680, runs 7 for Jaspers, 11 for Myung Woo Cho. Jun Tae Kim, in his match for the other semi-final against Tayfun Tasdemir, took a 40-30 lead as the match's final went in. The Korean high run specialist failed to seize his chances in the closing stages, after which Tasdemir was able to settle in a wonderful style.

World Cup overview:

The penultimate World Cup in 2024 exceeded all high expectations. The rise in level, already shown in the previous World Cups, mainly due to the high class matches of the Asians and best European players, continued in the Korean billiard enclave. The upcoming new talents and further growing sub-top players was symptomatic again and seen in wonderful matches and brilliant runs. Jun Tae Kim, the big riser in the rankings, became the star player of this World Cup with his run of 28, equaling the world record held by Junichi Komori (Japan), Raymond Ceulemans (Belgium), Roland Forthomme (Belgium) and Frédéric Caudron (Belgium). The peculiarity of Jun Tae Kim's run was, that in his match against Glenn Hofman, he finished with 28 (from 12 to 40), thus preventing him to attack the new record and a bid for the premium of 29,000 euros.

The first skirmishes in the preliminary rounds were dominated by Chi Yeon Cho, Beom Yeoi Lee, Sung Il Jeong and Wan Young Choi, among others, and in the final qualifier Ye Sung Jeong of the home country.

The main draw with 32 players showed strong winners in the group schedule with Eddy Merckx (2,418), Van Ly Dao (2,387), Jun Tae Kim (2,142) and Myung Woo Cho (2,068). Glenn Hofman, playing for the Netherlands, was even eliminated in those group matches with 2.200 on average. Highly ranked, renowned players like Marco Zanetti and Torbjörn Blomdahl did not survive that run-up to the knock-outs with 16. It was on that day with 32 that Korean Jun Tae Kim exploded with the 28 run.

Dick Jaspers started the knockouts with a sublime 2,941 against Haeng Jik Kim, Myung Woo Cho, with a 21 run, won the thriller against Jun Han Heo 50-49, Martin Horn (winner against Sidhom), Quyet Chien Tran (against Kiraz) and Jun Tae Kim (against Dao) were other stars in that round.

That all led to the quarter-finals, in which Myung Woo Cho was the top winner against Bao, Dick Jaspers won vs Martin Horn, Tayfun Tasdemir vs Eddy Merckx and Jun Tae Kim vs Quyet Chin Tran.

The world ranking is still led by Dick Jaspers after this penultimate World Cup with 426 points ahead of Myung Woo Cho with 392, Jun Tae Kim with 30, Quyet Chien Tran with 314 and Eddy Merckx with 295..

The 2024 World Cup cycle will be a battle between Quyet Chien Tran and Dick Jaspers, both with two victories this year and 248 points.

Dick Jaspers (r) and Tayfun Tasdemir shake hands before the final match

The final ranking in the Seoul World Cup:

1. Dick Jaspers 13-2.091-10
2. Tayfun Tasdemir 12-1.638-8
3. Myung Woo Cho 10-2.046-21
4. Jun Tae Kim 8-2.040-28
5. Quyet Chien Tran 8-1.879-12
6. Martin Horn 7-1.830-16
7. Phuong Vinh Bao 6-1.814-8
8. Eddy Merckx 6-1.629-10
9. Peter Ceulemans 5-1.718-9
10. Van Ly Dao 4-2.214-12
11. Haeng Jik Kim 4-1.746-12
12. Daniel Morales 4-1.655-14
13. Sameh Sidhom 4-1.617-9
14. Jung Han Heo 4-1.536-12
15. Tolgahan Kiraz 4-1.500-10
16. Roland Forthomme 4-1.435-10
17. Wan Young Choi 3-1.615-13
18. Glenn Hofman 2-2.200-12
19. Marco Zanetti 2-1.814-12
20. Beom Yeoi Lee 2-1.740-9