CAIRO/SEOUL/INCHEON IZMIR - The Grand Hilton hotel in Seoul is the next stop where seven European top players, eight Koreans and one Vietnamese take a shot at the huge prize money in the upcoming week. The LG U + Cup, a famous invitational tournament that returned to the calendar after UMB and the Korean federation found each other again, will be organized with sixteen players from Tuesday 4 to Saturday 8September. The Korean event is quickly followed by more high profile tournaments and championships: the 3CC Survival Masters in Incheon from 13 to 16 September, the World championships for women and juniors in Izmir from 18 to 23 September and the main World championship for seniors at the Mariott Mena House hotel in Cairo from 2 to 6 October.
The world championship in Cairo, at the foot of the famous pyramids, is traditionally played with 48 players: 17 seeded players, 13 Europeans, 8 from America, 6 from Asia, 2 from Africa and 2 wildcards from the hosting country. Frédéric Caudron is the defending champion. The LG U + Cup, next week from Tuesday to Saturday, is played in four groups of four, of which the best two from each group advance to the knockouts. Dong-Koong Kang, Choong-Bok Lee and Marco Zanetti were the first three winners. The total prize money is 160.000 dollar.
The 3CC Survival Masters, the second in the series of Masters tournaments with 24 players, of which the first tournament (named 3CC World Masters) in Seoul was won by Eddy Merckx, is played according to a new, well known formula in Korea clubs with four players simultaneously in one match. The location is the Hotel Skypark in Incheon Songdo. The matches are played in two parts of 45 minutes. At the start of both half, each player receives a credit of 40 points. The number of points can be increased or reduced to make the game more exciting. Each point scored by one player is removed from the total points of his three opponents and added to his own total of points. When a player has no points anymore, he is out of the match. The order of play is determined by the computer (Cuesco). The player who reaches 0 points is out of the game. After 90 minutes of play, the number of points of each player will determine the final ranking. The format will be presented in detail in the rule meeting on the 12th of September.
The world championships for women and juniors in Izmir are played according to the UMB rules. Four-time Japanese world champion Orie Hida defends her title in the ladies event, Carlos Anguita from Spain, who plays his last tournament as a junior, is the defending champion at the juniors WC.
The LG U + Cup (4-8 September):
Participants:
South Korea: Haeng-Jik Kim, Jae-Ho Cho, Dong-Koong Kan, Myung-Woo Cho, Hyung-Kon Kim, Jae-Guen Kim, Sung-Ok Oh, Hyun-Min Su.
Europe: Frédéric Caudron, Eddy Merckx, Dick Jaspers, Marco Zanetti, Dani Sánchez, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Murat Naci Coklu.
Vietnam: Quyet Chien Tran.
Draw for the four groups: Monday, September 3.
Match length: 40 caroms.
3CC Survival Masters (13-16 September):
Participants (top 20, wildcards Kang, Cho, Patiño, Horn):
Match A: HaengJik Kim, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Sameh Sidhom, Hugo Patiño
Match B: Jung-Han Heo, Murat Naci Coklu, Quyet Chien Tran, Martin Horn.
Match C: Dick Jaspers, Sung-Won Choi, Dani Sánchez, Jérémy Bury
Match D: Marco Zanetti, Jae-Ho Cho, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, Nikos Polychronopoulos.
Match E: Eddy Merckx, Semih Sayginer, Eddy Leppens, Dong-Koong Kang
Match F: Frédéric Caudron, Tayfun Tasdemir, Ding Nai Ngo, Myung-Woo Cho.
Two best players per group and second advance to next round with 12 players.
Three groups, of which the winners and best number two, advance to the semi-finals.
Semi-finals on Sunday, September 16 at 16.00 and 19.00, finals at 22.00.
Winner: 50.000 dollars
2nd: 21,000
3rd: 18,000
4th: 15,000
5-8: 9,000
9-16: 6,000
17-24: 4,000.
Total: 220,000.
World championship ladies (18-20 September):
Group format:
Group A: Orie Hida, Jeannette Jensen, Steffi Daske, Srong Pheavy
Group B: Gülsen Degener, Johana Sanoval, Claudia Lalinde, Ayako Sakai
Group C: Therese Klompenhouwer, Helga Mitterbock, Paola Castillo, Gúzin Mujde Karakasli
Group D: Jackeline Perez, Jaimie Buelens, Bo Mi Kim, Aysegui Fendi
Junior World championships (21-23 September):
Group A: Carlos Anguita, Mahmoud Ayman, Maxime Panaia, Björn Mikkel Jensen.
Group B: Gwendal Maréchal, Myung-Woo Cho, Santiago Ocampo, Alperen Cebeoglu.
Group C: Christopher Ramirez, Mario Mercader, Stef van Hees, Daehyeon Jang.
Group D: Syouta Funaki, Julian Vasquez, Joey de Kok, Arda Güngor.
World championship in Caíro (2-6 october):
Poule A: Frédéric Caudron, Arnim Kahofer, Mohsen Fouda
Poule B: Eddy Merckx, Erick Tellez, Murat Celik
Poule C: HaengJik Kim, Guido Sacco, Filipos Kasidokostas
Poule D: Marco Zanetti, Ahmed Abdallah, Christakis Christoforou
Poule E: Dick Jaspers, Dustin Jäschke, Robinson Morales
Poule F: Jung-Han Heo, Mohamed Abdin, Yusuke Mori
Poule G: Sung-Won Choi, David Pennör, Hyun Min Seo
Poule H: Jae-Ho Cho, Riad Nady, Ruben Legazpi
Poule I: Murat Naci Coklu, Tonny Carlsen, Jose Juan Garcia
Poule J: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Pedro Piedrabuena, Radovan Hajek
Poule K: Sameh Sidhom, Anh Vu Duong, Alexander Salazar
Poule L: Quyet Chien Tran, Minh Cam Ma, Alessio D'Agata
Poule M: Dani Sánchez, Dong-Koong Kang, Pedro Gonzalez
Poule N: Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, Jérémy Bury, Harrie van de Ven
Poule O: Semih Sayginer, Eddy Leppens, Juan Patino
Poule P: Tayfun Tasdemir, Dinh Nai Ngo, Yasser Shehayeb.