SEOUL - The second last World Cup in the 2024 cycle will be played next week (November 4-10) at the KBS arena in Gangseo-gu, Seoul. The Koreans are with 37 in the traditional field of 149 participants. The home country is fielding its major players for the main prizes, like Myung Woo Cho, the world champion, Jun Tae Kim, Jung Han Heo and Haeng Jik Kim. Playing for the Belgians among others Korea's most-feared Eddy Merckx, a multiple winner in this billiard enclave. The Vietnamese, country of rising stars, comes with 14 players, the Turks with 20, Japan and Colombia have 10 players. Those are the biggest suppliers for the World Cup, where 13 Dutch and 4 Belgians come into action.
Jef Philipoom, who plays for Belgium, and his son Luca (with Dutch passport) have taken a round-the-world trip to arrive in Seoul. ‘’We have been on the way for 33 hours,‘’ said the Belgian, partly due to delays, a typhoon and unexpected overnight stays. ‘’We had to deal with not 1, but 2 jetlags, but we finally arrived in a wonderful hotel.‘’
With two World Cups left to play (the last from 1-7 December in Sharm El Sheikh), Quyet Chien Tran leads the ranking for the World Cup standings ahead of Dick Jaspers, Jung Han Heo, Sameh Sidhom and Frédéric Caudron. His final place in Veghel moved Caudron up to 24th in the rankings by leaps and bounds, but Caudron will not play in Seoul for personal reason. Peter Ceulemans, who reached the semi-finals in Veghel, is nos ranked 20.
The main draw in Seoul on Friday 8 November starts with, among others, interesting matches in the groups of four: Eddy Merckx- Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dick Jaspers-Daniel Morales, Marco Zanetti-Martin Horn, Quyet Chien Tran-Chang Hoon Seo, Jun Tae Kim-Haeng Jik Kim, Phuong Vinh Bao- Sameh Sidhom and Jung Han Heo-Tayfun Tasdemir.
The seeded players are Dick Jaspers, Quyet Chien Tran, Myung Woo Cho, Jun Tae Kim, Eddy Merckx, Martin Horn, Tayfun Tasdemir, Phuong Vinh Bao, Sameh Sidhom, Jung Han Heo, Marco Zanetti, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Haeng Jik Kim and Tolgahan Kiraz. The Korean wildcards go to Chang Hoon Seo and Joong Kun Park, the UMB/CPB wildcard to Daniel Morales.
The two Philipooms, father and son, are already playing on the first day, Monday 4 November: Jef against Koreans Jeong Hyeon Park and Jin Voul Kim, Luca against Japanese Masayuki Sawaoka and Korean Hyeon Woo Kim. Also playing that day Joris van ‘t Zelfden, the Dutchman who had to leave for Korea oneday later due to a misspelled name.
Also on that first day are strong Colombian Alexander Salazar, Korean Chi Yeon Cho and Alessio D'Agata, the young Italian who feels at home in Korea. Day two is for Ali Ibraimov, Tom Löwe, Vietnamese Thanh Tien Le, standout in Veghel, Ryuuji Umeda, Birol Uymaz, Sergio Jimenez, Ronny Lindemann and Raymon Groot.
On the third day, Jose Juan Garcia, Kostas Kokkoris, Pierre Soumagne, Hugo Patino, Turgay Orak and TTT Nguyen enter the arena as the best-known players. Coming to the final qualifiers are Nick Polychronopoulos, Rolanjd Forthomme, Peter Ceulemans, Glenn Hofman, Jérémy Bury, Berkay Karakurt, Jeffrey Jorissen, Ruben Legazpi, Thanh Luc Tran, Gwendal Maréchal, Duc Minh Tran, Hong Chiem Thai Sam van Etten and Omer Karakurt.
All matches are streamed by Soop (YouTube).
The top of the World Cup ranking with only Seoul and Sharm El Sheikh yet to be played:
- Quyet Chien Tran 222
- Dick Jaspers 168
- Jung Han Heo 134
- Sameh Sidhom 128
- Frédéric Caudron 120
- Myung Woo Cho 108
- Tolgahan Kiraz 108
- Jun Tae Kim 108
- Tayfun Tasdemir 106
- Thanh Luc Tran 98
- Berkay Karakurt 96
- Martin Horn 90
- Phuong Vinh Bao 90
- Nick Polychronopoulos 90
Dick Jaspers, the world number 1
Peter Ceulemans from Belgian, one of the rising stars