ROISSY-EN-FRANCE - The European men and Asian ladies are the winners of the World Team Trophy, which for the first time was in three billiard disciplines in one joint tournament. The French organization wanted to give the Olympic campaign an extra boost with the tournament, but now knows that billiards is not admitted to the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Jean-Pierre Guiraud, one of the initiators, nevertheless was very satisfied after the experiment, "We have shown the world how strong we are together."
The tournament in Roissy-en-France near Paris, broadcast live on the official Olympic Channel made famous players in three disciplines shine, such as Frédéric Caudron and Sruong Pheavy in three cushion, Joshua Filler, Ga Young Kim, Jasmin Ouschan in pool and Igor Figueiredo, Kyren Wilson and Amee Kamani in snooker. Belgium's Caudron and Cambodia's Pheavy were unbeaten in three cushion. Caudron finished with a high average. Brazilian Igor Figueiredo made a huge impression in snooker with two century breaks and Joshua Filler won the last and decisive game in 9-ball in a thriller against Brandon Shuff (5-4).
The European mens team crowned its supremacy with three wins, twice with the maximum score, once, in the last game against the Rest of the World with 2-1. Frédéric Caudron (Belgium) and Joshua Filler (Germany) dominated the matches against Asia, France and in the decisive game against Rest of the World. Caudron dealt with the Egyptian Sameh Sidhom (30-15), scoring his last, a bankshot, over six rails. Filler beat Shuff (5-4) and only Igor Figueiredo won the match against Kyren Wilson 2-0. Caudron played 2.500 on average over his three games.
Vietnamese Nguyen Quoc Nguyen won one match for Asia against Sidhom 30-8 in 14 innings with the best tournament run of 12. Jérémy Bury was the main player for the French team with two victories over Sameh Sidhom (30-22 in 14) and Nguyen Quoc Nguyen in his second match with a nice 8 to finish. The French team finished third on the final ranking after beating Asia in the last match of the day. Fabio Rizzi won the pool game against Chua from the Philipines 5-2, Brian Ochoiski the snooker match against Si Xu 2-0.
Sruong Pheavy from Cambodia (three cushion), Ga Young Kim from Korea (pool) and Amee Kamani from India (snooker) won all their matches in great style. Pheavy played 0.833, 0.735 and 1.366 on average in her three games, Gülsen Degener (Europe), who only lost to Pheavy, played her best match with 1.042.
Jean-Pierre Guiraud from the CEB and the French federation said in his commentary, ''With this format of play and in this setting we have shown billiards in all its beauty. It was a disappointment that we were not admitted to the Olympics, but our sport is still growing, being played in 135 federations in the world by young, old, men and women. We have presented ourselves two times, first at the press conference at the end of last year on the Eiffel Tower, now in this World Team Trophy. The ambition is there, but WCBS must decide whether to continue with this tournament.''
The final rankings:
Men:
1 Europe 6 points
2 Rest of the World 4
3 France 2
4 Asia 0.
Women:
1 Asia 6 points
2 Europe 4
3 Rest of the World 2
4 France 0.
The lady winners from Asia
Amee Kamani from India, unbeaten in the ladies snooker
Frédéric Caudron, three times a winner with an amazing average: 2.500
Sruong Pheavy, the ladies best in three cushion
Kyren Wilson, two wins and one loss for Europe
Igor Figueiredo from Brasil, star player in snooker with two century breaks
Jérémy Bury (right), two wins for France including the match against Sameh Sidhom
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Ga Young Kim, unbeaten in pool
The European star in pool: Jasmin Ouschan from Austria
Gülsen Degener from Turkey, two wins, and a loss against Sruong Pheavy
Joshua Filler, snooker crack in the Europe team
Celine Jacques from France in the match she won