3-C World Championship Groups Picked
The sixteen groups of three players have been selected for the three-cushion world championship that begins next month in Antwerp, Belgium. Eddie Merckx from Belgium returns to defend the crown he won last year in Portugal. He will face tough competition from Torbjörn Blomdahl and Frédéric Caudron, currently ranked first and second, respectively, in the world by the Union Mondial de Billard (UMB).
The United States has two players participating, both of whom qualified through the Pan American championship. Six-time national champion and two-time Pan American Champion Pedro Piedrabuena will battle Sung Won Choi from Korea and Christian Rudolph from Germany I Group H. Choi is currently ranked fifth in the world by the UMB.
Michael Kang will compete in Group N with Adnan Yüksel from Turkey and Roland Forthomme from Belgium.
The groups are:
A: Eddy Merckx, Dinh Nai Ngo, Peter Ceulemans
B: Torbjörn Blomdahl, Riad Nady, Javier Teran
C: Frédéric Caudron, Jérôme Barbeillon, Emilio Sciacca
D: Jérémy Bury, Jung Han Heo, Michael Lohse
E: Marco Zanetti, Jef Philipoom, Khaled Salem
F: Dani Sánchez, Kouji Funaki, Arnim Kahofer
G: Dick Jaspers, Jean Paul de Bruijn, Martin Bohac
H: Sung Won Choi, Christian Rudolph, Pedro Piedrabuena
I: Kyung-Roul Kim, Ryuuji Umeda, Sergio Jimenez
J: Jae Ho Cho, Nikos Polychronopoulos, Miguel Canton
K: Filippos Kasidokostas, O Takeshima, William Villanueva
L: Lütfi Cenet, Dong Koong Kang, Alexander Salazar
M: Murat Naci Coklu, Eddy Leppens, Huberney Catano
N: Adnan Yüksel, Roland Forthomme, Michael Kang
O: Martin Horn, Sameh Sidhom, Mario Aranha
P: Tayfun Tasdemir, Choong-Bok Lee, Juan Carlos del Salto.
The tournament will be conducted on four Gabriels tables. Group play will begin on October 16. Piedrabuena is scheduled to play Rudolph at 19:30 DST/CEST time (7:30 p.m) on table 4. The loser of the first game will then play Choi on October 17 on table 1 at 16:00 (4:00 pm). The winner of the first game will play Choi on October 18 on table 2 at 16:00.
Kang tackles the big Belgium, Forthomme, on October 16 on table 2 at 21:30 (9:30 p.m.). The loser of the opening game will play Yüksel on October 17 at 21:30 on table 3, while the winner will play Yüksel on October 18 at 21:30 on table 4.
One player from each group will advance to the knock-out round of 16,which begins on October 19 at 14:00 (2:00 p.m.). The quarterfinal round begins on October 19, with the semi-finals and finals on October 20. The tournament will be broadcast live by Kozoom to its paid subscribers. For more information, go to www.Kozoom.com. Antwerp is currently 6 hours ahead of New York time. A game that begins at 21:30 DST/CEST (9:30 p.m.) will start at 3:30 p.m. New York time (Eastern/Daylight Savings).