HO CHI MINH - The golden glitters rained down on winner Frédéric Caudron, as he stood on the podium of the arena in Ho Chi Minh City. The 48-year old grand master killed two birds with one stone in Vietnam: he won the final against Dick Jaspers (40 - 20 in 17 innings) and dethroned Torbjörn Blomdahl as world number one. UMB-president Farouk Barki led the prize ceremony, and proudly announced that this World Cup in Vietnam will be on the calendar for another three years.
That is good news for billiards at the highest level, because Ho Chi Minh has already proven itself to be a pearl in the annual crown of tournaments. Frédéric Caudron said after the ceremony: ,,The audience is fantastic, they support their own players of course, but they cheer for all of us. That makes it a great ambiance to play in.''
The Belgian phenom in all disciplines, winner of all his country's Grand Prix tournaments so far this year, where he is averaging well over 2.000, is back at the summit internationally after Ho Chi Minh. Caudron had a period of drought after he won the world championship in Antwerp in 2013, lost touch with the top-3 positions, but is now back as the proud leader of the pack. The Belgian has 354 points and is ahead of Torbjörn Blomdahl with 340, Eddy Merckx with 321 and Dick Jaspers with 315.
Frédéric Caudron sticks to his habit of winning at least one World Cup per season: last year he won in Hurghada, beating Marco Zanetti, in 2014 he won in Luxor with Torbjörn Blomdahl as runner-up, and in 2013 he won in Medellin, also ahead of Blomdahl. His victory over Dick Jaspers is his revenge for the lost final in Bursa earlier this year, where the Dutchman won 40-34 in 19. It was a completely different scenario this time: Caudron was superior in the final and Jaspers played his worst match of the tournament. The Belgian had the lead all through the match, he was ahead 21-10 (11) at halftime, then made his decisive move with a run of 11 to make it 35-13 in 16. After one last ditch effort from Jaspers with a run of 7, he sealed the deal with a 40-20 win in the 17th inning. The average was clearly in Caudron's favor: 2.353 against 1.176.
Caudron, looking back on the tournament ,,The heat made it tough to play perfect billiards, but I was able to end all my matches with high runs, and focus on the difficult points I needed, to come from behind.'' In the final, tactical play was an important factor. ,,Dick had precious little to work with, he could not get going.'' And about his new position on the ranking: ,,It is nice to be nr. one again, but you need to re-establish yourself time and again.''
Before the final, two old Agipi teammates met in a classic semifinal battle. Frédéric Caudron had a poor start against Marco Zanetti and a strong finish ("that's better than the other way around, right?"). He turned a 25-16 backlog into a 40-34 (in 19) win with two runs of six and a closing run of seven. Dick Jaspers eliminated the last remaining Vietnamese player, the excentric Quoc Nguyen Nguyen, in a match where he still showed his best form. Jaspers made the gap with runs of seven and nine, to win 40-30 in 14 innings (2.857/2.143).
The World Cup in Ho Chi Minh, the third of this year's cycle, after victories of Jaspers in Bursa and Merckx in Luxor, was again mostly a confrontation between Europeans and Asians. The "old world" had three players on the podium: Caudron, Jaspers and Zanetti. Quoc Nguyen Nguyen represented the new generation. The Koreans and Turks, remarkably, were absent in the top-5.
Torbjörn Blomdahl lost his status as world number 1 in the quarterfinal against Marco Zanetti (40-25 in 21). The last Korean, Jae Ho Cho, was eliminated in that same round, by Frédéric Caudron (40-33 in 21). Dick Jaspers consecutively beat four Vietnamese players: Vinh Ly The, Quang Hao Truong, Minh Cam Ma and Quoc Nguyen Nguyen, but then fell victim himself to Caudron's superior play in the final.
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Frédéric Caudron and Dick Jasplers lag for the final match
The folklore during the opening and closing ceremonies added glamour and color to this World Cup. The Vietnamese crowd was passionate and supportive from day one, they helped make this tournament unforgettable for the players. The long qualification process also showed that the host country is a hotbed of three cushion talent. Quang Hao Truong, Minh Cam Ma and Chi Minh Truong were relative unknowns to the worldwide audience. They made a name for themselves in this World Cup, in the midst of all the famous billiard names. Four Vietnamese players ended in the tournament's top 12.
The undisputed crowd favorite was Quoc Nguyen Nguyen, a new star in billiards, who won over many hearts worldwide with his charisma and expressive face. The 34-year old Vietnamese is close to the world's elite already after his performance in Ho Chi Minh, where he got past the young Korean Jing Ju Shin (40-17 in 16), Roland Forthomme (40-23 in 19) and Nikos Polychronopoulos (40-34 in 20), only to be stopped in the semi by Dick Jaspers (40-30 in 14). Greek Nikos Polychronopoulos, in the top-12 after this WC, added another highlight to the week in his match against Dani Sánchez, when he ran a gorgeous 22 and out.
The final between Jaspers and Caudron had quite a history. The Dutchman and the Belgian had been teammates in both the Dutch and Belgian leagues (for Dallinga and DGQ), then went their separate ways. Matches between the two on the international stage mostly went Jaspers' way in the past seasons.The Dutchman came out on top against his rival of today, five times in a row, the last one being the win in Bursa. Caudron's equally convincing revenge in Ho Chi Minh demonstrates once again how close the qualities of these two world class players are.
UMB-president Farouk Barki was very satisfied with the organization in Vietnam. ,,We are very happy that we will return to this place, and play a World Cup here for three more years.''
The final ranking of the World Cup in Ho Chi Minh (average and high run):
1 Frédéric Caudron (Bel) 1.980-11
2 Dick Jaspers (Net) 1.935-8
3 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen (Viet) 2.173-11
3 Marco Zanetti (Ita) 2.000-11
5 Torbjörn Blomdahl (Swe) 2.187-8
6 Nikos Polychronopoulos (Gri) 2.111-22
7 Jae Ho Cho (Kor) 1.686-10
8 Minh Cam Ma (Viet) 1.643-10
9 Anh Vu Duong (Viet) 1.777-12
10 Jung Han Heo (Kor) 1.736-8
11 Quang Hao Truong (Viet) 1.166-10
12 Haengjik Kim (Kor) 1.577-17
13 Hyung Kon Kim (Kor) 1.514-9
14 Can Capak (Tur) 1.478-14
15 Roland Forthomme (Bel) 1.188-6.
The new world ranking:
1 Frédéric Caudron 354 pts
2 Torbjörn Blomdahl 340
3 Eddy Merckx 321
4 Dick Jaspers 315
5 Dani Sanchez 263
6 Marco Zanetti 210
7 Tayfun Tasdemir 200
8 Roland Forthomme 184
9 Sameh Sidhom 184
10 Dong Koong Kang 177
11 Jae Ho Cho 174
12 Nikos Polychronopoulos 164
13 Murat Naci Coklu 140
14 Haengjik Kim 139
15 Quyet Chien Tran 139
16 Riad Nady 139
17 Jung Han Heo 135
18 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen 134
19 Jérémy Bury 130
20) Pedro Piedrabuena 125 (-)
21 Lütfi Cenet 116
22 Adnan Yüksel 108
23 Huberney Catano 99
24 Chi Yeon Cho 97
25 Semih Sayginer 96.
Caudron's elation after the last point
Cheers from the crowd, for winner Caudron
Jaspers and Nguyen smile after their semi
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, the crowd favorite
Marco Zanetti, the third European on the podium
