SANTA CRUZ - The world top of three cushion will travel to South American Bolivia next month for the World championship. The Spaniard Dani Sánchez defends his title in a 48-players field from 8 to 12 November. The World championship in three cushion is held for the 70th time. The participants come from Europe (23), Asia (12), North and South America (11) and Africa (2). The tournament hall is in the Salon de Eventos El Emperador in Santa Cruz de la Sierra.
After two successful years in Bordeaux, with Torbjörn Blomdahl and Dani Sánchez as the winners, Bolivia has signed in as the organizer this year. The World championship was held one time before in Bolivia (La Paz), in 1975 with Raymond Ceulemans as the winner. In total, the World championship was organized eighteen times on American soil, of which seven times in Buenos Aires. The last time was in Peru, 2011, with Dick Jaspers as the winner.
The final field of players and the group format was announced today (Thursday) by the UMB, the World Federation. The 48 participants are divided, as usual, in sixteen groups of three, from which the sixteen winners and sixteen runners-up advance to the knockout stage after the preliminary rounds. That's the new UMB rule: 32 players for the knock-out stage. The sixteen players from the top of the world rankings are on top of the groups. Two Bolivians, Juan Carlos Cartagena and Jesus Salazar, received a wildcard from the organization.
The best represented countries are South Korea with five players, Vietnam with five, Belgium and Turkey with three players. Dani Sánchez is facing Tonny Carlsen and Christian Rudolph in the prelims. Dick Jaspers plays against Erick Tellez from Costa Rica and Nobuyasu Sakai from Japan. Marco Zanetti is in a group with two Europeans, Dionisis Tsokantas from Greece and Christiakis Christoforou from Cyprus.
The sixteen seeded players are Dani Sánchez, Dick Jaspers, Marco Zanetti, Frédéric Caudron, Haeng-Jik Kim, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Jérémy Bury, Murat Naci Coklu, Eddy Merckx, Sameh Sidhom, Jung Han Heo, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, Quyet Chien Tran, Sung-Won Choi, Jae-Ho Cho and Tayfun Tasdemir.
The group formats:
Group A: Dani Sánchez, Tonny Carlsen, Christian Rudolph
Group B: Dick Jaspers, Erick Tellez, Nobuyasu Sakai
Group C: Marco Zanetti, Dionisis Tsokantas, Christakis Christoforou
Group D: Frédéric Caudron, Huberney Cataño, Guido Sacco
Group E: Haeng-Jik Kim, Arnim Kahofer, Jin Pyo Hong
Group F: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Javier Teran, Fernando Diaz
Group G: Nikos Polychronopoulos, David Martinez, Jan Hudak
Group H: Jérémy Bury, Dinh Nai Ngo, Hyun My Seo
Group I: Murat Naci Coklu, Jérôme Barbeillon, Glenn Hofman
Group J: Eddy Merckx, Can Capak, Carlos Zarate
Group K: Sameh Sidhom, Riad Nady, David Pennor
Group L: Jung-Han Heo, Anh Vu Duong, Emilio Sciacca
Group M: Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, Pedro Piedrabuena, Juan Carlos Cartagena
Group N: Quyet Chien Tran, Minh Cam Ma, Javier Vera
Group O: Sung-Won Choi, Eddy Leppens, Jesus Salazar
Group P: Jae-Ho Cho, Tayfun Tasdemir, Amilcar Tapia.
The prize money: 10.000 euros for the winner, 6000 for the number two, 3500 for the numbers three and four, 2000 for the numbers five to eight. The training is on Tuesday, November 7th, the opening ceremony on Wednesday at 11.00.
UMB President Mr. Farouk Barki is the tournament director, Mr. Jose Luis Zambrana the sports director.
Haeng-Jik Kim, the winner of the two last World Cups