SEOUL - The first tournament in the cycle of the 3CC World Masters, an organization of UMB and Kozoom, gets its kick-off in Seoul, South Korea. Twenty players from the top of the world ranking and four wild card players are invited to play in the Imperial Palace Hotel in Gangnam-gu in Seoul. The tournament, according to a totally new gaming system and with high prize money, will be played from Thursday 12 to Sunday 15 July and broadcast live on kozoom.com. The next two Masters tournaments scheduled for this year will be held from 13-16 September and from 8-11 November.
The main innovation of the system is that players first play against each other in the groups and later in the knock-out and are presented with the same twenty positions. The first position is the break, the other 19 positions are computer generated. The players score as much points as they can from each position (runs are never stopped). The referee will place the balls using laser placement system (MYWEBSPORT technology). The runs are only stopped when the player has missed. The player who made the most points after twenty innings is the winner of the game.
Player A starts the match with the first shot, then player B gets the same position. In that order, the two players play the first ten positions. Then, there is a five-minute break, followed by player B who starts the first of the next ten positions. There is a 30 second shot clock and 4 extensions (time-outs) per match.
The leaders in the eight groups of three players are Frédéric Caudron, Eddy Merckx, Marco Zanetti, Dani Sánchez, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Murat Naci Coklu, Dick Jaspers and Tran Quyet Chien. The wildcards have been distributed to Roland Forthomme, Cho Chi-Yeon, Choi Wan-Young and Yusuke Mori. Three Korean top players, Haeng-Jik Kim, Jae-Ho Cho and Dong-Koong Kang are missing, because of a conflict between UMB (world federation) and KBF (Korean federation), which is putting pressure on Korean players to not participate in the tournament.
The matches will be played on two Gabriels Rafale match tables in a room on the 7th floor of the Imperial Palace Hotel. The cloths are Simonis 300 Grey Masters, a new color introduced for the 3CC Masters. The balls are Aramith Pro Cup Prestige. Two practice tables are available to the players during the tournament. The players will be dressed in polo shirts with collar and long or short sleeves. Free design, but no stripes or motifs. Black shirts are reserved for referees.
The Imperial Palace hotel in Seoul were the 3CC Masters are played
The prize money for the Masters: Winner: 40.000 dollar
Number two: 20.000
Three and four: 15.000
Five to eight: 10.000
Nine to sixteen: 6.000
Seventeen to 24: 4.000.
Best run: 5.000
Best general average: 5.000.
Total prize money: 220.000 dollars.
The group line-ups are:
Group A: Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) Ma Minh Cam (Vietnam) Yusuke Mori (Japan)
Group B: Eddy Merckx (Belgium) Jérémy Bury (France) Choi Wan-Young (South Korea)
Group C: Marco Zanetti (Italy) Eddy Leppens (Belgium) Cho Chi-Yeon (South Korea)
Group D: Dani Sánchez (Spain) Nikos Polychronopoulos (Greece) Roland Forthomme (Belgium)
Group E: Torbjörn Blomdahl (Sweden) Nguyen Quoc Nguyen (Vietnam) Semih Sayginer (Turkey)
Group F: Murat Naci Coklu (Turkey) Choi Sung-Won (South Korea) David Martinez (Spain)
Group G: Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) Heo Jung-Han (South Korea) Tayfun Tasdemir (Turkey)
Group H: Tran Quyet Chien (Vietnam) Sameh Sidhom (Egypt) Ngo Dinh Nai (Vietnam).
Two first ranked players qualify per group, after the pre-rounds, new ranking 1-16 is made based on general average.
The time schedule: Wednesday 11 July: press conference and photo sessions
Thursday, July 12: Qualifying matches at 11.00, 13.00, 15.00, 17.00, 20.00 and 22.00
Friday, July 13: Qualifications at 11.00, 13.00, 15.00, 17.00, 20.00 and 22.00
Saturday, July 14: Last 16 at 11.00, 13.00, 15.00, 17.00 Last 8 at 20.00, 22.00. Sunday, July 15: Semi-finals at 15.00 and 17.00. Final at 20.00.
Two of 2018 World Cup winners at the start: Frédéric Caudron and Dick Jaspers
Ho Chi Minh World Cup winner Tran Quyet Chien