The Portuguese three cushion title is back in the hands of Rui Manuel Costa, the most successful player in his country. The 59-year-old FC Porto player was crowned the winner after a marathon of preliminary rounds and a final with eight players, in which he finished ahead of Paulo Andrade.
He came to the Pan Americans to defend the title he won last year. And again the Colombian Pedro González was the best of all in Lima, Peru. The 2018 and 2019 Mister Pan American beat Erick Téllez from Costa Rica in the final 40-33 in 24 innings.
The Frenchman Jérémy Bury, number ten in the world ranking and vice-world champion, has been crowned three-cushion champion of his country. It was his third French championship in a row, and his ninth in total. That brings Bury just two titles behind another French champion in three cushion: Richard Bitalis, who won 11 titles.
Congratulations to Torbjorn Blomdahl who regained the national championship of Sweden for the 29th time after a rare loss to David Pennor in 2018.
The 2019 edition of the UMB World Cup held in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam was akin to a mirror image of the 2018 result. Frederic Caudron won the title with two fellow Belgians - Roland Forthomme and Eddy Merckx joining him on the podium. Marco Zanetti of Italy rounded out the field. In 2018 it was 3 Vietnamese atop the field in this same event, oddly with Caudron as the fourth man.
At US Bida in Houston, Texas, Hugo Patiño won his fourth USBA three-cushion national title, defeating defending champion Miguel Torres, 40-32, in the finals. Multiple-time champion Pedro Piedrabuena finished third, and local player John Park finished fourth. But the story of the tournament was Patiño’s majestic run of 18 from the break in the finals. Patiño’s streak tied the USBA record set by Mazin Shooni in Miami in 2006 for the longest run in a national championship. For his victory, Patiño won $3250 and another $100 for the high run. (Pictured above L to R: Patrick Tran, owner of US Bida and Hugo Patino)
The current 3-cushion world champion Dick Jaspers is now the 2019 European champion, cementing his well-deserved number one ranking. In the continental championships held in Brandenburg, Germany the Dutchman secured the title with a victory over the reigning 2018 champion Marco Zanetti of Italy.
Vietnam’s Tran Quyet Chien came from behind to defeat Korean billiards prodigy Cho Myung-woo in the three-cushion carom final at the 10th Asian Carom Billiards Championship 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Pictured above L to R this year's top four: Myung-Woo Cho (2nd), Quyet Chien Tran (1st), Dong-Koong Kang (Korea) and Nguyen Trung Hau Do Vietnam sharing 3rd/4th.