Three wildcards left for Worlds in Porto

VILA NOVA DE GAIA - The European billard federation (CEB) has announced the twelve wildcards for the World championship three cushions in Vila Nova de Gaia (Porto). Three spots are still open for the tournament, that will be played from 5 to 9 september: one UMB wildcard (world federation) and two from the Portuguese organization.
 
It would be a nice gesture to the American champion Pedro Piedrabuena, who two weeks ago remained unbeaten in the former Sang Lee tournament at Carom Cafe in New York and defeated Torbjörn Blomdahl in the final, to give him a chance at this highest platform. He deserves it more than ever to receive one of the three wilecards (UMB).

The European players added to the list of participants are Raimond Burgman (Ned), Nikos Polychronopoulos (Gri), Savas Bulut (Tur), Jérôme Barbeillon (Fra), Christakis Christoforou (Cyp), Giorgio Mancini (Ita), Rui Manuel Costa ( Por), Gerhard Kostistansky (Aus), Michael Lohse (Den), Markus Dömer (Ger), Sameh Sidhom (Egy) and Nady Riad (Egy).
 
The Dutchman Raimond Burgman was a logical choice after his great performance at the Europeans in Turkey, where he only stumbled in the final over Filippos Kasidokostas. Nikos Polychronopoulos, a beautiful, attractive player, who unfortunately has dropped too far in the rankings, is definitely a good choice, like Jérôme Barbeillon, who deserves his spot based on his European title for countries with Jérémy Bury.
 
Two Egyptian players (Sidhom and Nady) is a a bit too much, considering the rankings: especially if we compare with traditional top nations in three-cushion like Belgium (three participants, no Forthomme, nog Peter Ceulemans and no Philipoom), the Netherlands (no Jean Paul de Bruijn and Glenn Hoffman ) and Spain (only Dani Sánchez and Javier Palazón).
 
Twenty players from the top of the world and the reigning champion Dick Jaspers have been confirmed so far. The German life and soul man Markus Dömer (273rd on the world ranking) is one of the most surprising players in the field, the Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran even has no ranking points at all.
 
The Swede David Pennör, Czech Jan Hudak, the Luxemburger Ramon Hamm and the Hungarian Slobodan Soro are the reserve players.