BLOIS – The region, famous for its wonderful, winding river, historic castles and the city of Blois on the right bank of the Loire will host a Challenge featuring the world's elite in three-cushion billiards in the coming days. The organizer has invited 24 renowned players to the Blois 3-cushion Challenge, kicking off on Thursday, December 18th, the final on Sunday, December 21st. The tournament venue is the Complexe Sportif Eric Tabarly. Patrice Lalanne, known from Doozy and the World Junior and Women's Championships in Blois, is organizing the event together with the UMB (world federation). Players were invited based on their UMB rankings.
The qualifications rounds are held on December 18th and 19th, with 24 players divided into four groups of 6 to 40 points. Four players from each group advance to the last 16 for the final, knock-out rounds on Saturday and Sunday.
The tournament will be played at six billiard tables. The attractive prize money:
Winner: €30,000.
Second place: €20,000
Numbers 3 and 4: €12,000
Numbers 5 to 8: €8,000
Numbers 9 to 16: €7,000
Numbers 17 to 24: €5,000
Total: €202,000.
The tournament in the French tourist city is a preview for the UMB World Masters, a promotional series organized by Drawshots (formerly Kozoom) and featuring substantial prize money. The events will be played next year in five countries: Colombia, France, Vietnam, Korea, and China.
In addition to the 20 seeded players from the world top, the Blois 3-cushion Challenge has reserved four wildcards for Torbjörn Blomdahl, Jose Juan Garcia, Mikaël Devogelaere and Maxime Panaia.
The format of the groups:
Group A: Dick Jaspers, Jung Han Heo, Sameh Sidhom, Phuong Vinh Bao, Peter Ceulemans, Maxime Panaia
Group B: Myung Woo Cho, Tayfun Tasdemir, Jérémy Bury, Haeng Jik Kim, Hong Chiem Thai, Mikaël Devogelaere
Group C: Quyet Chien Tran, Thanh Luc Tran, Tolgahan Kiraz, Martin Horn, Glenn Hofman, Jose Juan Garcia
Group D: Eddy Merckx, Marco Zanetti, Berkay Karakurt, Frédéric Caudron, Ruben Legazpi, Torbjörn Blomdahl.