SHARM EL SHEIKH - The 2024 World Cup cycle over seven events has ended with a double winner. Dick Jaspers and Quyet Chien Tran were both eliminated in the first knock-out round with 16 players in Sharm El Sheikh this early Friday. Therefore, the two remain leaders with the same ranking points. Nevertheless, Jaspers has been designated the winner of the top prize, €30,000, according to the World Federation regulations.
The main prize for the cycle is 30,000 euros, the number two gets 15,000 euros, the number three 10,000 euros. According to UMB rules, the player who has come from a deficit to the top in the current season is the leader of the standings. In this case, that is Dick Jaspers, because he caught up with Tran later in the season. The Dutchman later commented: ,,I don't know how, but I won the World Cup, so he's mine.''
Dick Jaspers lost his match in the knockouts on Friday morning against Vietnamese Hong Chiem Thai 50-42 in 23 innings after Quyet Chien Tran was beaten by Sameh Sidhom in the same round.
The Dutchman and Vietnamese Tran were equal leaders with 248 ranking points after six World Cups. Both Jaspers and Tran won two of the six World Cups so far this year.
For Jaspers, it is the eighth time he has been the overall winner of the World Cup cycle, albeit this time it is a shared lead. The last four times went to Jaspers as the standings were not made up in two Covid years. Jaspers' first was in 1999, followed by 2008, 2010, 2016, 2019, 2022, 2023 and now 2024. With his eighth win, Jaspers equalled the record of Torbjörn Blomdahl, who was also winner of the ranking eight times. Frédéric Caudron won the cycle 5 times, Dani Sánchez 4 times.
Jaspers was eliminated for the World Cup in Sharm by the rising Vietnamese Thai, who was also Jaspers' opponent in the quarter-finals of the last World championship. The latter proved to be a tough opponent. In the closing stages of the match in Sharm, Jaspers led 39-36, Thai took a lead and held it until the finish, after Jaspers had missed two more chances.
Sameh Sidhom eliminated Quyet Chien Tran in Sharm 40-27 in 21.