HURGHADA/EL GOUNA - Who will be the final winner of the World Cup cycle after the last event in El Gouna, Egypt. Frédéric Caudron has collected 246 points in the previous six World Cups, Dick Jaspers 232. Those two players will decide who will perform at the Supercup Gala in Antwerp on the 4th of March. The opponent is the world champion Dani Sánchez. The pursuers are Nikos Polychronopoulos (168), Eddy Merckx (166) and Jérémy Bury (160), far behind the two leaders.
The World Cup cycle 2016 counted seven tournaments all over the world. The summary of the last six tournaments: Dick Jaspers was the winner in Bursa, Eddy Merckx won in Luxor, Frédéric Caudron in Ho Chi Minh City and Porto, Jérémy Bury triumphed in Guri and Murat Naci Coklu was the winner in La Baule.
Today, Sunday, one day after the finals at the Junior World championships, is the start of the traditional last World Cup in Hurghada, in the nearby El Gouna. Frédéric Caudron won the final tournament last year with 2.197 average. He defeated Marco Zanetti in the final, Lütfi Cenet and Dani Sánchez were the numbers three on the stage.
The world ranking is under pressure again in the last World Cup. The last eight World Cup points determine the total number of points, which means that the points of the 2015 World Cup in Istanbul will be withdrawn. Murat Naci Coklu will lose 80 points for victory, Roland Forthomme 54 as the second in that tournament.
Frédéric Caudron seems to be the solid number 1 in the world ranking as the Belgian leader (400 points) only defends 16 points against Dick Jaspers (346) 38 points.
The German Martin Horn returns at the World Cup podium and will start on the first day of the tournament, like the Dutchman Dave Christiani. The junior payerss Tae-Kwan Kim, Jiseung Han, Tom Löwe, Andres Carrion and Ahmed Hatem also start their performance on Sunday. The new world champion Myung-Woo Cho plays his first matches on Tuesday.
The play sessions start at 10.00 CET. The draw for the main tournament is on Wednesday. The seeded players are Frédéric Caudron, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Dick Jaspers, Eddy Merckx, Marco Zanetti, Dani Sánchez Sameh Sidhom, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Jérémy Bury, Quyet Chien Tran, Dong Koong Kang and Jae Ho Cho. The wild cards are distributed to Hyung Kon Kim (ACBC), Roland Forthomme (CEB), Henry Diaz (CPB), Riad Nady and Khaled Erfan (organization).
Kozoom will broadcast all matches live.
Frédéric Caudron tops the ranking in the World Cup cycle