WROCLAW - Fifteen of the world's top billiard players and one Polish guest player will show up in this year's World Games in Wroclaw, Poland. The four-year event starts on Thursday July 20th and ends ten days later on Sunday, July 30th. The World Games is a multi-sports event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The sports at the World Games are disciplines that do not belong to the Olympic program. More than 3000 athletes come from 31 sports and 110 countries take part in the games. Four years ago, the 10th World Games was held in Cali, Colombia, in four years the organizing city is Birmingham, Alabama (USA). Three former three-cushion winners, Dani Sánchez (twice), Dick Jaspers and Marco Zanetti, belong to the field in Wroclaw.
The Polish city of Wroclaw is the sixth European organization after London (1985), Karlsruhe (1989), The Hague (1993), Lahti (1997) and Duisburg (2005). Billiards first belonged to the World Games in 2001 in Akita, with Dani Sánchez as the winner ahead of Dick Jaspers and Sangchun Lee, in 2005 in Duisburg, where Dani Sánchez won followed by Dick Jaspers and Semih Sayginer, in 2009 in Kaohsiung, where Dick Jaspers won ahead of Torbjörn Blomdahl and Marco Zanetti. Four years ago Marco Zanetti was the winner ahead of Eddy Merckx and Glenn Hofman.
The range of sports consists amongst others of bowling, dance sports, canoeing, ju Jitsu, rugby, sumo wrestling, kickboxing, karate, squash, trampoline and bodybuilding. The last sports that were transferred from the World Games to the Olympic Games include badminton, triathlon and taekwondo in 2000, beach volleyball in 1996. Karate, climbing, and baseball/softball are first admitted to the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
The opening ceremony will be held in the Miejski Stadium on July 20th. Other stadiums where sports are organized include the Wroclaw Convention Center (Billiards), the Olympic Stadium (American Football, Motor Speedway), Orbita Hall (kickboxing), P5 Complex (beach handball), GEM sports complex (Karate, Ju Jitsu), Centennial Hall (Gymnastics, dance and trampoline).
Among the 3000 participants are 218 Poland athletes from the organizing country, 125 Americans, 193 French, 79 Dutch, 58 Japanese, 48 Germans, 40 Belgians, 36 British, 18 Brazilians and 12 Russians. The only Korean participant is the billiard player Sung-Won Choi, former world champion in the three-cushion.
The schedule for the sixteen billiard players:
26th and 27th of July, eighth finals:
Dani Sánchez-Dawid Tonojan
Hugo Patino-Javier Palazón
Quyet Chien Tran-Huberney Catano
Sameh Sidhom-Eric Tellez
Marco Zanetti-Kostas Kokkoris
Sung-Won Choi-Pedro Piedrabuena
Eddy Leppens-Can Capak
Dick Jaspers-Ryuji Umeda.
The quarter finals are on July 28, the semifinals on July 29 and the final on July 30 at 12.30.
The referees in three cushion are the Dutch Willem Hofman and Paul Brekelmans.
