The illustrious list of winners of the title of 3-cushion billiards world champion has been enriched by a completely new name. Phuong Vinh Bao, until recently a totally unknown billiard player from Vietnam, grabbed the 2023 world three cushion billiard title at the tournament held in Ankara, Turkey.
In a demonstration of skill and class, Tayfun Tasdemir has won the 2022 UMB 3-cushion world title. In Donghae City, South-Korea, he defeated Ruben Legazpi in a one-sided final: 50-14 in 15/14 innings. For Turkiye, it had been a nineteen-year wait since Semih Sayginer was world champion in 2003.
Pedro Piedrabuena defeated long-time rival and former champion Miguel Torres to win his 11th USBA 3-Cushion National Championship title.
His play throughout the event was nearly perfect and included an incredible come-from-behind victory against Kang Lee in the penultimate Semi-final round.
The sport of carom billiards is a relative newcomer to Houston, Texas. A decidedly pocket billiards / pool-player's town since the 1940’s, the city was famous for rooms such as Big Tyme Billiards, Legends Billiards, and Bogey’s Billiards. When I moved to Houston in 1979 I played pool at LeCue Billiards and later at The Cushion & Cue - both long since shuttered. But beginning with the turn of the millennium the carom games have arrived or - depending on whom you ask - have been re-discovered. Carom billiards rooms seem to be sprouting up like mushrooms, leading to a resurgence of interest in the sport here in Houston.
At the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo (the 2021 Olympics, in reality), several new sports were added to the line-up for the Games. It’s always the case with each new Olympic Games that some sports will be removed from the roster, with new additions added to take their place. The process is complicated, involving input from the host city, lobbying from different sports bodies and the whims of the big-wigs on the IOC. Among those to be added to the Tokyo Olympics was skateboarding. And the question begs: if skateboarding can be an Olympic sport, why not 3-cushion billiards?
Green has been the traditional color of billiard cloth for over four centuries. Blue has been the traditional color for billiard chalk for about 100 years. Today, chalk and cloth both come in literally dozens of colors, but green cloth and blue chalk remain the most popular choices.