SEOUL - Six of the best players in the world of three-cushion are invited for a battle with the best Korean players in the LG U+ 3 Cushion Master Cup next week. The winner of the tournament, played in Seoul from 8 to 11 November, is rewarded by the jackpot: 70 million Korean won, almost 60.000 euros. The Korean Dong Koong Kang, who defeated the Dutchman Dick Jaspers last year in the final, defends his title. The heroic performance by the Korean Kang made a huge impression in the first edition. He was taken to hospital in the early tournament days with severe stomic cramps. He decided to return to the tournament and reached the final in which he defeated Jaspers 40-35 in 18 innings. Frédéric Caudron recorded the best match in the preliminaries against Sung-Won Choi: 35-8 in 8 innings.
The opening ceremony of the second LG U + Cup is next Tuesday at 13.00, followed by the first qualification at 14.00. The draw for the four groups of four will be done on Monday. All matches will be broadcast live on kozoom.com. The matches are played to forty caroms.
The tournament is played in the shopping centre of Yeouido-dong in Seoul. The organizer is Young-su Kwon, owner of a mobile phone company. His motivation to organize the tournament: ,,Billiards is a healthy sport. The number of players and fans is growing every year. With my organization, I want to show the top players in the world to my customers and billiard fans. I hope it is a new momentum to increase the popularity of this sport.''
The first tournament, last year, was a South Korea-Europe battle with five Europeans and eleven Koreans. Ten Koreans have been invited for this year and six players from the top of the ranking from different continents. Torbjörn Blomdahl and Frédéric Caudron are the numbers one and two on the world ranking. The other players are Dani Sánchez (Spain), Pedro Piedrabuena (USA), Sameh Sidhom (Egypt) and Quyet Chien Tran (Vietnam), who start the battle with the players from the home country.
The Korean players invited are: Dong-Koong Kang Jae Ho Cho, Jae-Guen Kim, Haeng-Jik Kim, Hyung-Ki Kim, Sung-Won Choi, Jin-Pyo Hong, Choong-Bok Lee, Jung-Han Heo, Myung-Woo Cho. HaengJik Kim, who finished his military service last year and the new young talent Myung-Woo Cho play for the first time in the tournament. The Koreans play a national ranking tournament as preparation this week.
The prize money for the LG U + Cup:
Winner: 70.000.000 won (59,000 euros)
Second finisher: 30.000,000 won
Losers semifinals: 10.000.000 won
The matches are played on two tables with live broadcasts of all the games.
The schedule (Korean time):
Monday, November 7: draw
Tuesday, November 8: qualifications from 14.00 to 22.00
Wednesday, November 9: qualifications from 14.00 to 22.00
Thursday 10 November: qualifications from 14.00 to 22.00
Friday, November 11: Semi-finals 15.00 and 17.00. Final at 19.30.
The stage last year with Dong-Koong Kang, Dick Jaspers, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Frédéric Caudron
Dong-Koong Kang in his final match with Dick Jaspers
Dong-Koong Kang showing his joy to the audience after his win in the final