3-Cushion
LUXOR - The second World Cup this year, after the overwhelming success of the Koreans in Istanbul, is ready to host the world of three cushions in another stronghold of great historical value in about two weeks. The Egyptian tourist city of Luxor, known among others for its historical palaces, the famous Temple of Luxor and the mystic Valley of kings, will welcome the entire world top from 23 to 29 March at the five-star Sonesta St. George hotel.
Belgian player Frédéric Caudron leads the world rank on his way to city with 430.000 inhabitants on the eastern bank of the Nile. Korean Jae Ho Cho defends his position as leader of the 2014 World Cup after winning the final in Istanbul.
The world top in three cushion will travel almost immediately from the World championship for national teams in Viersen to the Luxor World Cup, where the first preliminaries start off on Sunday, March 23, the main event is launched on Friday, March 27th and the finals will be played on Sunday, 29th of March.
The new African confederation and Egyptian organization are particularly proud of the new location in Luxor, on the banks of the Nile, 300 kilometers inland from another great World Cup city Hurghada.
The African president Hussein Alsharif says: ,,The playing room is located on the 11th floor of the Sonesta Hotel, which has with two large terraces fantastic views over the Nile and also an amazing view on the west bank of the Nile, where all ancient Pharaohs tombs and most famous temples are located. ''
The hotel itself is located directly on the River Nile and all rooms in the hotel have a great Nile view. The hotel is ten minutes walks from the city center or 30 minutes by Felouka boats. And if anobody wishes, the boats are available on the Nile in front of the Hotel'', says Alsharif.
,,In the city center you can find antiques and souvenir shops, restaurants and of course the famous Luxor temple. The Egyptian federation is providing a touristic office in the lobby of the hotel for all touristic services. The weather, by the way, at the time of the tournament, will be warm in the morning and not very cold at night. A light jacket or pullover is advised. I am sure that all participants in this event will have a very nice trip they will never forget.''
Twelve players from the rankings are - as usual - automatically seeded: Frédéric Caudron, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Filippos Kasidokostas, Marco Zanetti, Eddy Merckx, Dick Jaspers, Sung-Won Choi, Jérémy Bury, Kyung-Roul Kim, Tayfun Tasdemir, Dani Sánchez and Dong Koong Kang.
Sameh Sidhom and Ragay Henry received a wildcard from the organization, the confederations wildcards were given to Lütfi Cenet, Quyet Chien Tran and Daniel Reyes.
Many Turkish players will show up in the tournament: 27 in total. Many Egyptian players start on the first Sunday of the preliminaries. Peter De Backer, Jorge Bastos, Jerry Herman, Benoni Delvaux, Murat Celik, Mehmet Yavas, Tolgahan Kiraz, Gülsen Degener and Karina Jetten will play on Monday.
On Tuesday, in the Pre qualification, already a lot of well-known players come to the tables like Murat Tüzül, Khaled Salem, Javier Teran, Therese Klompenhouwer, Pierre Soumagne, Vinh Ly The, Birol Uymaz, Mehmet Goren, Selim Özden, Luis Aveiga Young Chull Kim, Minh Cam Ma and Koray Kirman.
Jae Ho Cho, Murat Naci Coklu, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Roland Forthomme, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Eddy Leppens, Dinh Nai Ngo, Xuan Cuong Ma, Adnan Yüksel, Arnim Kahofer, Choong-Bok Lee, Jae Guen Kim, Christian Rudolph, Anh Vu Duong, Hyung Bum Hwang, Ahmet Alp, Ruben Legazpi and Savas Bulut are scheduled in the last qualification.
The matches will be broadcast live by kozoom.com starting on the first Sunday.