SHARM EL SHEIKH - The Bolzano lion roared on the Red Sea as he did in his best years. Marco Zanetti (62), the old maestro, the never-to-be-underestimated phenomenon in three-cushion, won his fifth World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh this Saturday. He had to beat another multi winner, Belgian Eddy Merckx (56), for the overall win in a capricious final (50-46 in 28/27 innings). The final podium presented a magnificent and illustrious picture of this year's last World Cup. Three European giants, Marco Zanetti, Eddy Merckx and Torbjörn Blomdahl, in their full glory, were in the eyes of the billiard world with the young, 25-year-old Vietnamese Hong Chiem Thai.
Dick Jaspers was later allowed on the podium as the winner of the 2024 World Cup cycle, in which he finished equal in ranking points with Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran, but was declared the winner by a twist of the rules. Jaspers won the World Cup ranking for the 9th time in his career.
Marco Zanetti marked his way to the top in Sharm El Sheikh with a demonstration of supremely high class, routine and an inimitable spirit to decide a match under immense tension. The Italian hero, a comfortable winner in the preliminaries over Heo, Hofman and Long, was magisterial in the knock-outs afterwards in battles with Bury (50-48), Caudron (50-48), overpowered Blomdahl (50-11) and finally in the final against Merckx.
The best of the strong Belgians in this World Cup, having reached the final thanks to victories over Sidhom (50-47) and Thai (50-39), had an unusually weak start in that battle for gold (six zeros in first 7 innings), let Zanetti run out to 29-9, briefly had an attack with 9 and suddenly came back into the game when Zanetti led 46-31. The unleashed Merckx found himself back and levelled the score with a 15 run . Zanetti, a master of strategy, sensed the sudden threat and sprinted sovereignly to the finish with 4.
The last time Zanetti won a World Cup was also in Sharm El Sheikh in 2019. Eddy Merckx, a real killer in finals, won 13 out of 14 before Sharm this Saturday. On the Red Sea, he was part of a strong Belgian block, in which Caudron, Ceulemans and Forthomme also excelled. The second podium finish, due to the unusually moderate start, was the highest possible for Merckx this time.
Vietnamese Hong Chiem Thai was the revelation of the World Cup, having previously stood on the podium in Porto 2024. The obstacle Merckx kept the last Asian out of the final, after Thai had played both Dick Jaspers (world number 1) and Myung Woo Cho (world champion) out of the tournament on the penultimate day. Against Merckx, the score was 50-39 in 31/30.
Marco Zanetti had a remarkable walk-over in that semi-final against Blomdahl, the Swede who played a great World Cup but against Zanetti (both 62) had no chance to grow into the match. Zanetti was flawless in attack and defense, winning 50-11 in 18/17.
Dick Jaspers was awarded the €30,000 bonus for the World Cup overall win afterwards.
The best overall average was played by Sameh Sidhom: 2,384. The highest runs was by Marco Zanetti with 19.
The tournament average was 1,538 (last 32).
The next World Cup will be played in Bogota, Colombia, starting on 24 February 2025.
In the world rankings, Dick Jaspers remains 140 ranking points ahead of Myung Woo Cho, Eddy Merckx rises to 3rd ahead of Quyet Chien Tran and Jun Tae Kim. Marco Zanetti is the biggest riser to sixth place. Torbjörn Blomdahl is the number 16. Frédéric Caudron and Glenn Hofman are equal in ranking points at places 20 and 21 with 146 points.
The final podium with Zanetti, Merckx, Thai and Blomdahl
World ranking standings:
1 Dick Jaspers 480
2 Myung Woo Cho 340
3 Eddy Merckx 336
4 Quyet Chien Tran 318
5 Jun Tae Kim 262
6 Marco Zanetti 252
7 Martin Horn 242
8 Jung-han Heo 230
9 Sameh Sidhom 226
10 Tayfun Tasdemir 216
11 Thanh Luc Tran 203
12 Tolgahan Kiraz 203
13 Phuong Vinh Bao180
14 Hong Chiem Thai 173
15 Berkay Karakurt 170
16 Torbjörn Blomdahl 166
17 Kim Haeng-jik 162
18 Peter Ceulemans 156
19 Jérémy Bury 151
20 Frédéric Caudron 146
21 Glenn Hofman 146
22 Nikos Polychronopoulos 144
23 Ruben Legazpi 129
24 Myeong-jong Cha 118
25 Chang-hoon Seo 104
26 Duc Minh Tran 95
27 TTT Tu Nguyen 92
28 Roland Forthomme 87