BOGÓTA - The first event at the UMB calendar is about to start and the new season promises lots of spectacle. As usual, seven World Cups are scheduled for 2025 with Colombia in February, Vietnam in May, Turkey in June, Portugal in July, Belgium in October, South Korea in November and Egypt in December. In mid-October, the World championship three-cushion individual will be played in Antwerp, after the fifth World Cup of the circuit in the same city. Bogota will host the world elite from Monday for a week from 24 February to 2 March 2025.
The first signs of dominance of the new generation with mostly Koreans and Vietnamese over the old bunch of top players were more evident than ever last year. Yet the old guard with the ‘Big 5’, all five over 56 years old (Dick Jaspers, Eddy Merckx, Marco Zanetti, Torbjörn Blomdahl and Frédéric Caudron), all multiple world champions, still are in top 20. These giants are expected to occupy positions in the top 10 to 15 again after this year. Frédéric Caudron, who was the first winner in 1998 of a World Cup in Bogóta, is missing next week in Colombia for unknown reasons.
The assault on the high positions when the going gets tough comes mainly from younger players such as Myung-woo Cho, Quyet Chien Tran, Jun-tae Kim, Haeng-jik Kim, Sameh Sidhom, Thanh Luc Tran, Phuong Vinh Bao, Hong Chiem Thai, Berkay Karakurt, Glenn Hofman, Peter Ceulemans and others, who are perennial favorites at the top of the World Cups and will eventually contribute to the slow decline of the golden generation! The answer will be revealed from next week in Colombia.
The 17 seeded players to live up to their status, in the order of the UMB Events Ranking last December, are Dick Jaspers, Myung Woo Cho, Eddy Merckx, Quyet Chien Tran, Jun Tae Kim, Marco Zanetti, Martin Horn, Jung Han Heo, Sameh Sidhom, Tayfun Tasdemir, Thanh Luc Tran, Tolgahan Kiraz, Phuong Vinh Bao and Hong Chiem Thai. Wildcards were awarded to Erick Tellez, Huberney Cataño and Pedro Gonzalez (organisation).
Three well known players dropped out of the top and will start in the qualifiers: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Haeng Jik Kim and Jérémy Bury.
Dick Jaspers holds on a comfortable lead in the world ranking with 480 ranking points. Myung Woo Cho is number two with 340 with a narrow lead over Eddy Merckx 336. Further in the top five are Quyet Chien Tran with 318 and Jun Tae Kim with 262. The players in shaky positions are Phuong Vinh Bao (13), Hong Chiem Thai (14), Berkay Karakurt (15), Torbjörn Blomdahl (16), Haeng Jik Kim (17), Peter Ceulemans (18), Jérémy Bury (19), Frédéric Caudron (20), Glenn Hofman (21) and Nick Polychronopoulos (22).
The player list includes 25 Turks, the best represented nation, 24 Colombians of whom Pedro Gonzalez and Jose Juan Garcia at 45 and 46 are the highest qualified. The South Americans total 17, the Netherlands has 15 participants, France 11, Korea and Germany 10 and Vietnam only 5 of whom 4 are in the top 14.
Dick Jaspers, the world number one, starts the tournament facing Erick Tellez from Costa Rica. The first day in the main tournament with groups of 4 players will see the following matches, among others:
Myung Woo Cho-Huberney Cataño, Quyet Chien Tran-Phuong Vinh Bao, Jun Tae Kim-Tolgahan Kiraz, Martin Horn-Tayfun Tasdemir, Jung Han Heo-Sameh Sidhom.
On Wednesday, the second last qualification day, are showing up among others: Mikael Devogelaere, Gwendal Maréchal, Ronny Lindemann, Birol Uymaz, Sergei Jimenez, Kostas Kokkoris, Volkan Cetin, Pierre Soumagne, Ja In Kang, Daniel Morales, Joey de Kok, Huub Wilkowski, Lukas Stamm.
On Thursday, the last qualifying day: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Haeng Jik Kim, Peter Ceulemans, Jée1my Bury, Roland Forthomme, Duc Minh Tran, Ruben Legazpi, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Glenn Hofman, Turgay Orak, Sam van Etten, Jeffrey Jorissen, Rui Costa, Omer Karakurt, Berkay Karakurt and Gökhan Salman.
There is a 6-hour time gap between Western Europe and Colombia, so the day starts at 5pm Western European time from Monday to Wednesday, at 4pm from Thursday and ends around 01am!
The Complejo Deportivo El Salitre in Bogota should gradually fill with a festive atmosphere, with fans in the stands sure to put on a great show!
All matches will be broadcast live by Soop.