ANTALYA - The 50-year-old Belgian Frédéric Caudron has gloriously launched the new year at the Turkish gold coast. The victory in the Antalya World Cup illustrated the supremacy of the world champion who started the new era of global billiards on the top of his career. With the final win against Murat Naci Coklu, the home child in Turkish billiards, Caudron earned a first prize of 16.000 euro's, the highest amount ever in a World Cup. The Turkish number two took 10.000 euro's. The decisive battle for the final victory was won by Caudron 40-23 in 13 innings. The Belgian started his attack with runs of 5, 4 and 13 in the middle part, built up a lead after 16-16 to 38-20, finished with two and he showed his joy to the Turkish crowd.
The applause after the winning carom was a tribute to the winner and the losing finalist. The podium was completed by Korean Jae-Ho Cho, one of the stars in this World Cup and the Spaniard Dani Sánchez.
King Caudron reigned irrevocably in the Turkish domain, where the opponents were all overpowered. With 40-points matches in 12, 18, 18, 12 and 13, the Belgian finished not far from the world record tournament average. On his way to victory, Caudron successively defeated Hugo Patino (40-5), Jung-Han Heo (40-19), Dinh Nai Ngo (40-18), Dani Sánchez (40-16) and Murat Naci Coklu, the only one who scored more than twenty points (40-23).
The world champion and world's number one increased his status with the win in Antalya. On the global ranking, Caudron now gathered 492 points and is followed by Eddy Merckx (359), Marco Zanetti (327), Haeng-Jik Kim (322) and Dick Jaspers (292). Jae-Ho Cho couldn't make the jump to the top five, despite his great performances. The next World Cup in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam, is very important as the top 20 after that tournament will be invited to the first Masters tournament with high prize money.
Frédéric Caudron achieved his 19th victory in a World Cup with the highest average in that series: 2.739. His previous record was 2.420, in Vienna 2011. The Belgian took his first World Cup in Oosterhout, 1997.
The first act of the World Cup cycle 2018 in a series of six put two young talents in the spotlight on the first days: Frenchman Gwendal Maréchal and Japanese Yusuke Mori. Filipos Kasidokostas, making his come-back, was eliminated in the pre-rounds. Martin Horn didn't survive the first round in the main event, when Jung-Han Heo outplayed the German 40-35. The Korean Hyung Bum Hwang, a former top-ten player, showed a glimpse of his class after two years (30-8 in 9 against Tüzül). The revival was short-lived.
Two players out of the top three of the world ranking ran into an early loss. Eddy Merckx met stiff competition from Javier Palazón (40-31 in 24), Dick Jaspers went out against Lütfi Cenet 40-29 in 15. The highlights, when the first day rolled out, were the runs made by Jae-Ho Cho (21) and Caudron's home stretch of 18.
SEMI-FINALS
Caudron-Sanchez 40-16 in 12
The stars were not so favourable for Dani Sánchez in the run-up to the clash: in the last five matches between the two greats, Frédéric Caudron was the best four times, including at the World championship in Bogóta, where the Spaniard lost his world title and the Belgian showed up as his successor. The gap between the two was rarely as big as this Sunday morning, in the semi-final in Antalya. The match was a torment for Sánchez, who had an unlucky start with five kisses in the first five innings and didn't succeed to make high runs in the second part. Caudron, playing fast as always, dictated the march, first with some small runs, 6, 3 and 4 and with the knock-out (10) in the tenth inning. The match scores in between, 9-4, 16-8, 24-11 and 34-13 made it clear who was the best of the two world class players: Caudron finished in 12 innings for the second time in this tournament: 40-16.
Coklu-Cho 40-38 in 20
The untouchable Jae-Ho Cho so far, turned out to be vulnerable on the final day. All the glitter was not gold in the final part of the match. For his own fans, Murat Naci Coklu threw the first punch with a run of 13 in the second inning (15-3). The Korean needed a come-back as in his previous matches and indeed: after the break (21-9 in 5), he showed his mental resilience again. With a strong eleven in the eighth inning, the Korean bounced back. The match was tied again to 24-24. And five innings later, in a visibly nervous phase, there was still a balance at 29-29. Coklu seized power with a five then (34-29) and was slowly slipping to the finish. But then, he felt the huge tension on his way to victory. The Korean came back to 38-38 with three and four, but missed out on a simple position. Coklu grapped the win in an ice-cold finish, 40-38.
Top four players Caudron, Coklu, Cho and Sánchez
Caudron with the trophee
Jae-Ho Cho, happy with his performance in Antalya
The final ranking in Antalya World Cup
1 Frédéric Caudron 2.739-18
2 Murat Naci Coklu 1.906-13
3 Jae-Ho Cho 2.393-21
3 Dani Sánchez 1.563-7
5 Marco Zanetti 1.806-12
6 Lütfi Cenet 1.803-10
7 Dinh Nai Ngo 1.750-7
8 Semih Sayginer 1.676-9
9 Nikos Polychronopoulos 1.941-11
10 Jung-Han Heo 1.638-8
11 Eddy Leppens 1.581-8
12 Dong-Koong Kang 1.571-10
13 Javier Palazón 1.463-10
14 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 1.463-8
15 Haeng-Jik Kim 1.428-8
16 Quyet Chien Tran 1.173-12
17 Martin Horn 1.944-10
18 Dick Jaspers 1.933-5
19 Jean Paul de Bruijn 1.750-8
20 Sameh Sidhom 1.500-9.
The new world ranking:
1 Caudron 492
2 Merckx 359
3 Zanetti 327
4 H.J. Kim 322
5 Sánchez 299
6 Jaspers 292
7 Blomdahl 288
8 Cho 275
9 Coklu 260
10 Sidhom 220
11 Choi 214
12 Heo 208
13 Polychronopoulos 202
14 Bury 187
15 Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 176
16 Kang 175
17 Minh Cam Ma 155
18 Tran 152
19 Leppens 150
20 Tasdemir 146
21 Cenet 145
22 Myung-Woo Cho 143
23 Sayginer 140
24 Martinez 134
25 Forthomme 123.
Turkish hope Murat Naci Coklu, excellent performance, out of chance in final against Caudron
Frédéric Caudron, the best of all with an almost record average
Murat Naci Coklu shakes hands with Jae-Ho Cho after their semi-final match
Frédéric Caudron, on his way to victory
Dani Sánchez, beaten in the semi-finals by the later winner
Jae-Ho Cho, one of the star players in Antalya