BOLZANO – The Italian billiard player Marco Zanetti (61 years of age) is the successor to 58-year-old Dick Jaspers as world number one. The older European generation is still ahead of the world's young upcoming talents, but the margin is very little. Marco Zanetti, from Bolzano in Italy, was awarded this Sunday after the World Championships in Ankara for his years of achievements, because never before the Italian maestro had been leader of the world rankings. Dick Jaspers lost that position after leading the rankings from 8 December 2018 (total 2103 days). Marco Zanetti is feeling better in this period of his career than in his much younger years and is ready to defend his position. "There is finally a new player at the top of the rankings after Dick Jaspers, that is good for our sport. We’re running into a big battle in the coming years with still top players of this generation and a lot of young talents. I received a lot of reactions from players all over the world. That feels so good for me, I feel like good Italian wine, the older the better.''
Dick Jaspers did not react with great disappointment on the day of the World final. ''I don't see it as a tragedy, because I didn't play well enough at this World championship to keep my position. The long period is over for now, I have been dethroned by Marco Zanetti. But I still believe in myself and I see possibilities to come back. The differences are very small, nice tournaments coming up and I am already looking forward to the next World championship in Vietnam.''
The new world ranking leader was eliminated in the quarter finals of the World championship in Ankara by one of the new top five players, Quyet Chien Tran. Marco Zanetti explained that he was not physically top for that match on the Saturday before the final. The Italian: "I got a food poisoning on the eve before my match against Tran after dinner. Therefore, I had a bad night. I couldn't sleep the night before the most important day at the World championship. I still played a good match against Cha, but against Tran I felt completely empty, I had no strength and was not ready to fight.'' Zanetti lost that match 50-35 in 25 innings.
Reaching the quarter-finals, however, was good enough for Zanetti to pass Dick Jaspers in the world rankings, because the Dutchman had lost one match earlier to Eddy Merckx. Korean Myung Woo Cho, who was also a threat, lost to coming-man Bao in the semi-finals a day later and climbed to second place behind Zanetti.
Marco Zanetti feels happy to be the new number one. "It took me a long time to achieve this. I remember winning a Bayer World Cup in Berlin in 1999 and by then I was 1 ranking point away from the number 1 position. And even in these last years, I was often just behind the leader of the rankings. My career has now been crowned. We will see how far we, players like Blomdahl, Jaspers, Merckx and others of our generation, can hold out against the young players. That’s gonna be an interesting fight.''
This is good for our sport, assures Zanetti, that it is so exciting at the top of the rankings. ''It's also about that bit of luck or bad luck now and then. Jaspers lost in Porto to Sidhom 50-49 and here in Ankara to Merckx 50-49. Things can also turn out differently. I can't say it has been luck for me that I am number one now. I had a very good shape, I wanted to have a shot at the world title, but being sick has affected my strength. On the other hand, other players missed opportunities.''
The margins at the top are extremely small after this World championship in Ankara. Zanetti leads with 373 points ahead of Myung Woo Cho with 358, Torbjörn Blomdahl with 354, Dick Jaspers with 348, Quyet Chien Tran with 331 and Sameh Sidhom with 328. The margin between No 1 and No 6 is only 45 points.
The threat to Marco Zanetti in the upcoming World Cups comes most of all Myung Woo Cho, who has far fewer points to surrender in the upcoming World Cups than Zanetti. The same goes for Quyet Chien Tran.
Marco Zanetti is not surprised by the Vietnamese power grab in Ankara. "The talent of Bao, the new world champion, is undeniable. He gets the support of his father to play in the big tournaments and made the most of those opportunities. He was at the peak of his form at this World championship, the stars were not against him and he played much more relaxed than the big favorites. The Vietnamese players, in my view, are also a bit more hungry than the Koreans, they can bite more, are better fighters. They are warriors with a great temper. The prize money is a huge motivation for players from their country, but they also show less respect for the older European players in recent years. We’re running into a wonderful fight between these two worlds. I expect a lot of movements at the top of the world rankings in the coming years. The averages will still grow, for sure among the young players. There are no secrets anymore for the players at the top. And it’s also nice that the prize money will be increased by half to €40,000 for the next winner. Although that is less important than winning the title. I don't play a World championship for the money, but for the title.''
Marco Zanetti, named The Italian gentleman, was world champion twice in his career, in 2002 in Randers and in 2008 in Sankt Wendel. He won four World Cups, won the European Cup seven times with Agipi's team and was Italian champion 25 times.
Pictures: Paul Brekelmans and Ton Smilde
Marco Zanetti, the new world's number 1
Marco Zanetti, after a long career finally rewarded with the top spot
Marco Zanetti: I feel like Italian wine, the older, the better
Marco Zanetti dethroned Dick Jaspers as the nr. 1
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