UMB World Three-cushion Championship

UMB World Three-cushion Championship

Tournament information
Organisation(s)	UMB
Format	Round Robin / single-elimination
Recent edition	2023
Current champion	Bao Phương Vinh

Henk Robijns from the Netherlands shows some of his caramboles from the 1933 championship in Cairo, and two trick shots.

The UMB World Three-cushion Championship is a professional carom billiards tournament in the discipline of three-cushion billiards, organized mostly annually by the Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB). Until 1953 it was organized by the UIFAB (Union Internationale des Federations d'Amateurs de Billard). During a dispute between the UMB and Billiards World Cup Association (BWA), the UMB decided not to organize the championship between 1988 and 1993. Instead the overall winner of the World Cup was announced as also the world champion.

From 1928 to 1958 and from 1985 to 1987, matches were played as a single frame with a run to 50 points (or 60 points between 1960 and 1984). From 1994 to 2011 the tournament was played in a set-system, the winner achieving the best of five. Since 2012 it has been changed back to a single frame with the run to 40 points.

Prize money and ranking points

2013 Award ceremony.
Ludo Dielis hands over the diamant-cue to the winner Frederic Caudron.
From Left to right: Vice world champion Filippos Kasidokostas, Caudron, Bronze medal winners Alexander Salazar and Dick Jaspers.

Rank	Prize	Ranking points
Winner	40.000 € x 1	120
Runner-up	20.000 € x 1	081
3. & 4. Rank	12.000 € x 2	057
5. – 8. Rank	6.000 € x 4	039
9. – 16. Rank	3.000 € x 8	024
17. – 32. Rank	2.000 € x 16	012
33. – 48. Rank	1.000 € x 16	08
Total	118.000 €

Tournament records timeline

General Average (GA) GA Name Year 0,552 Edmond Soussa 1928 0,720 Emile Zaman 1929 0,755 Claudio Puigvert 1935 0,859 Edward Lee 1936 0,884 Augusto Vergez 1938 0,922 José Bonomo 1948 1,070 Pedro Leopoldo Carrera 1952 1,089 René Vingerhoedt 1958 1,307 Raymond Ceulemans 1963 1,345 Raymond Ceulemans 1966 1,478 Raymond Ceulemans 1973 1,500 Raymond Ceulemans 1976 1,679 Raymond Ceulemans 1978 1,745 Raymond Ceulemans 1986 2,015 Torbjörn Blomdahl 1997 2,122 Torbjörn Blomdahl 2010 2,123 Ma Minh Cam 2017 2,352 Dick Jaspers 2018 2,463 Tayfun Taşdemir 2021

Special Average (SA) SA Name Year 0,746 Emile Zaman 1928 0,961 Emile Zaman 1929 1,136 Claudio Puigvert 1932 1,162 Augusto Vergez 1938 1,562 Alfredo Fuentes 1948 1,612 René Vingerhoedt 1952 August Tiedtke 1958 2,068 Raymond Ceulemans 1963 2,500 Raymond Ceulemans 1966 2,631 Raymond Ceulemans 1986 2,812 Nobuaki Kobayashi 1988 Torbjörn Blomdahl 1991 Torbjörn Blomdahl 1997 Torbjörn Blomdahl 2001 3,461 Daniel Sánchez 2005 4,500 Dick Jaspers 2011 5,714 Kang Dong-koong 2013

High Run (HR) HR Name Year 09 Edmond Soussa 1928 10 Enrique Miró 1931 Claudio Puigvert 1932 12 Edmond Soussa 1933 Alfred Lagache 1938 Alfredo Fuentes 1948 Bernard Siguret 1952 August Tiedtke 1953 13 Johann Scherz 1958 14 Raymond Steylaerts 1964 Raymond Ceulemans 1974 15 Raymond Ceulemans 1975 Raymond Ceulemans 1980 Rini van Bracht 1982 Avelino Rico 1986 Torbjörn Blomdahl 1991 Jozef Philipoom 1995 Marco Zanetti 1997 Daniel Sánchez 1998 Raimond Burgman 1998 Sang Lee 1999 Marco Zanetti 2000 Eddy Merckx 2010 17 Frédéric Caudron 2012 Frédéric Caudron 2013 18 Pedro Piedrabuena 2014 19 Sameh Sidhom 2015 Tonny Carlsen 2018 20 Martin Horn 2021

List of champions

This is the list of UMB three-cushion billiards world champions, from 1928 to present.

No.	Year	Venue	Winner	Avg.	2nd	Avg.	3rd	Avg.
01	1928	Reims	Edmond Soussa	0,552	Carel Koopman	0,493	Otto Unshelm	0,489
02	1929	Brussels	Edmond Soussa	0,604	Emile Zaman	0,720	Arnoud Sengers	0,542
03	1930	Amsterdam	Hendrik J. Robijns	0,587	Edmond Soussa	0,541	Arnoud Sengers	0,542
04	1931	Barcelona	Enrique Miró	0,551	Edmond Soussa	0,632	Arnoud Sengers	0,571
05	1932	Vichy	Hendrik J. Robijns	0,679	Claudio Puigvert	0,698	Franz Aeberhard	0,557
06	1933	Cairo	Hendrik J. Robijns	0,628	Edmond Soussa	0,593	Claudio Puigvert	0,547
07	1934	Barcelona	Claudio Puigvert	0,695	Jacques Davin	0,590	Jean Albert	0,508
08	1935	Algiers	Alfred Lagache	0,656	Claudio Puigvert	0,755	Emile Zaman	0,643
09	1936	New York	Edward Lee	0,859	Eugene Deardorff	0,665	Edmond Soussa	0,631
10	1937	Köln	Alfred Lagache	0,696	August Tiedtke	0,680	Arnoud Sengers	0,603
11	1938	Buenos Aires	Augusto Vergez	0,884	Jean Fransisco Vergez	0,677	Alfred Lagache	0,745
	1939 to 1947: not held
12	1948	Buenos Aires	Rene Vingerhoedt	0,877	Jose Bonomo	0,922	Augusto Vergez	0,819
	1949 to 1951: not held
13	1952	Buenos Aires	Pedro Leopoldo Carrera	1,070	August Tiedtke	0,961	Carlos Friedenthal	0,943
14	1953	Antwerp	Enrique Navarra	0,937	Rene Vingerhoedt	1,001	Pedro Leopoldo Carrera	0,921
	1954 to 1957: not held
15	1958	Barcelona	Enrique Navarra	0,913	Rene Vingerhoedt	1,089	August Tiedtke	0,921
	1959: not held
16	1960	Buenos Aires	Rene Vingerhoedt	0,961	Carlos Monestier	0,811	José Bonomo	0,887
17	1961	Amsterdam	Adolfo Suarez	0,997	Egidio Vieira	0,801	Bernard Siguret	0,905
	1962: not held
18	1963	Neuss	Raymond Ceulemans	1,307	Johann Scherz	1,077	Enrique Navarra	0,817
19	1964	Ostend	Raymond Ceulemans	1,231	Marcelo Lopez	1,040	Roger Hanoun	0,939
20	1965	Hilversum	Raymond Ceulemans	1,290	Johann Scherz	1,152	Koya Ogata	1,127
21	1966	Buenos Aires	Raymond Ceulemans	1,191	Enrique Navarra	1,006	Alfonso González	0,878
22	1967	Lima	Raymond Ceulemans	1,345	Humberto Suguimizu	0,957	Keizo Kubo	1,003
23	1968	Düren	Raymond Ceulemans	1,227	Koya Ogata	0,910	Johann Scherz	1,009
24	1969	Tokyo	Raymond Ceulemans	1,276	Koya Ogata	0,992	Diego Martínez	0,906
25	1970	Las Vegas	Raymond Ceulemans	1,164	Nobuaki Kobayashi	0,998	Johann Scherz	0,876
26	1971	Groningen	Raymond Ceulemans	1,266	Rini van Bracht	0,865	Henny de Ruyter	0,814
27	1972	Buenos Aires	Raymond Ceulemans	1,315	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,025	Peter Thøgersen	0,902
28	1973	Cairo	Raymond Ceulemans	1,478	Nobuaki Kobayashi	0,966	Humberto Suguimizu	0,811
29	1974	Antwerp	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,312	Raymond Ceulemans	1,325	Yoshio Yoshihara	1,130
30	1975	La Paz	Raymond Ceulemans	1,308	Rini van Bracht	0,922	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,206
31	1976	Ostend	Raymond Ceulemans	1,500	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,305	Junichi Komori	1,238
32	1977	Tokyo	Raymond Ceulemans	1,372	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,187	Yoshio Yoshihara	1,176
33	1978	Las Vegas	Raymond Ceulemans	1,679	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,205	Junichi Komori	1,067
34	1979	Lima	Raymond Ceulemans	1,384	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,135	Yoshio Yoshihara	1,067
35	1980	Buenos Aires	Raymond Ceulemans	1,460	Yoshio Yoshihara	1,217	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,192
36	1981	Cairo	Ludo Dielis	1,222	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,426	Johann Scherz	1,271
37	1982	Guayaquil	Rini van Bracht	1,043	Yohio Yoshihara	1,146	Carlos Hallon	1,086
38	1983	Aix-les-Bains	Raymond Ceulemans	1,447	Richard Bitalis	1,332	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,258
39	1984	Krefeld	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,388	Ludo Dielis	1,278	Raymond Ceulemans	1,151
40	1985	Heeswijk-Dinther	Raymond Ceulemans	1,541	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,364	Junichi Komori	1,071
41	1986	Las Vegas	Avelino Rico	1,010	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,205	Raymond Ceulemans	1,745
42	1987	Cairo	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,099	Frank Torres	0,933	Arturo Bone	0,778
43	1988	Tokyo	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,594	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,224	Raymond Ceulemans	1,293
44	1989	Yokohama	Ludo Dielis	1,342	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,389	Raymond Ceulemans	1,312
45	1990	Tokyo	Raymond Ceulemans	1,527	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,619	Ludo Dielis	1,300
46	1991	Tokyo	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,504	Raymond Ceulemans	1,518	Dick Jaspers	1,498
(**)	1992	Palma	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,716	Raymond Ceulemans	1,412	Sang Lee	1,511
(**)	1993	Gent	Sang Lee	1,355	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,601	Raymond Ceulemans	1,464
47	1994	Aalborg	Rini van Bracht	1,149	Edgar Bettzieche	1,038	Brian Knudsen	1,194
48	1995	Grubbenvorst	Jozef Philipoom	1,494	John Tijssens	1,210	Nobuaki Kobayashi	1,345
49	1996	Hattingen	Christian Rudolph	1,025	Daniel Sánchez	1,277	Gerhard Kostistansky	0,982
50	1997	Grubbenvorst	Torbjörn Blomdahl	2,015	Raimond Burgman	1,453	Marco Zanetti	1,684
51	1998	Rezé	Daniel Sánchez	1,594	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,797	Christian Rudolph	1,155
52	1999	Bogotá	Frédéric Caudron	1,538	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,769	Dick Jaspers	1,614
53	2000	Saint-Étienne	Dick Jaspers	1,773	Tonny Carlsen	1,502	Marco Zanetti	1,590
54	2001	Luxembourg	Raymond Ceulemans	1,696	Marco Zanetti	1,866	Luis Miguel Ávila	1,260
No.	Year	Venue	Winner	Avg.	Finalist	Avg.	Semi-finalists	Avg.
55	2002	Randers	Marco Zanetti	1,732	Dion Nelin	1,519	Dick Jaspers	1,687
							Ramón Rodríguez	1,453
56	2003	Valladolid	Semih Saygıner	1,868	Filippos Kasidokostas	1,268	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,833
							Marco Zanetti	1,211
57	2004	Rotterdam	Dick Jaspers	1,907	Filippos Kasidokostas	1,399	Nikos Polychronopoulos	1,437
							Jacob Haack-Sørensen	1,442
58	2005	Lugo	Daniel Sánchez	1,838	Jean Paul de Bruijn	1,566	Eddy Leppens	1,551
							Peter de Backer	1,367
59	2006	Sankt Wendel	Eddy Merckx	1,767	Nikos Polychronopoulos	1,456	Peter de Backer	1,577
							Dick Jaspers	1,783
60	2007	Cuenca	Ryuuji Umeda	1,426	Daniel Sánchez	1,805	Dick Jaspers	1,484
							Ramón Rodríguez	1,091
61	2008	Sankt Wendel	Marco Zanetti	1,871	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,631	Peter de Backer	1,481
							Jérémy Bury	1,478
62	2009	Lausanne	Filippos Kasidokostas	1,869	Eddy Merckx	1,703	Eddy Leppens	1,598
							Marco Zanetti	1,612
63	2010	Sluiskil	Daniel Sánchez	1,715	Eddy Leppens	1,678	Choi Sung-won	1,718
							Javier Palazon	1,375
64	2011	Lima	Dick Jaspers	1,917	Marco Zanetti	1,551	Javier Palazón	1,454
							Daniel Sánchez	1,808
65	2012	Porto	Eddy Merckx	1,983	Choi Sung-won	1,365	Frédéric Caudron	1,711
							Marco Zanetti	1,515
66	2013	Antwerp	Frédéric Caudron	1,951	Filippos Kasidokostas	1,923	Alexander Salazar	1,433
							Dick Jaspers	1,822
67	2014	Seoul	Choi Sung-won	2,000	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,850	Seo Hyun-min	1,350
							Jean Paul de Bruijn	1,269
68	2015	Bordeaux	Torbjörn Blomdahl	1,764	Kang Dong-koong	1,621	Eddy Merckx	1,940
							Dani Sánchez	1,817
69	2016	Bordeaux	Daniel Sánchez	1,983	Kim Haeng-jik	2,043	Semih Saygıner	1,618
							Eddy Leppens	1,792
70	2017	Santa Cruz	Frédéric Caudron	2,089	Eddy Merckx	1,828	Mã Minh Cẩm	2,123
							Marco Zanetti	1,673
71	2018	Cairo	Dick Jaspers	2,352	Jérémy Bury	2,022	Nguyễn Quốc Nguyện	1,629
							Semih Saygıner	1,568
72	2019	Randers	Torbjörn Blomdahl	2,121	Nguyễn Đức Anh Chiến	1,606	Sameh Sidhom	1,535
							Semih Saygıner	1,934
	2020: not held (COVID-19-Pandemic)
73	2021	Sharm el-Sheikh	Dick Jaspers	1,864	Murat Naci Çoklu	1,826	Marco Zanetti	2,051
							Martin Horn	1,949
74	2022	Donghae City	Tayfun Taşdemir	2,244	Ruben Legazpi	1,638	Eddy Merckx	1,841
							Dick Jaspers	1,859
75	2023	Ankara	Bao Phương Vinh	1,594	Trần Quyết Chiến	1,635	Tayfun Taşdemir	1,556
							Cho Myung-Woo	1,561

(**) unofficially

Medals (1928-2023)

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Belgium	31	10	16	57
2	Netherlands	10	6	13	29
3	Sweden	7	8	1	16
4	Spain	7	5	5	17
5	Argentina	4	4	6	14
6	Japan	3	14	12	29
7	France	2	3	5	10
8	Egypt	2	3	2	7
9	Italy	2	2	7	11
10	Turkey	2	1	4	7
11	Greece	1	4	1	6
12	Germany	1	3	4	8
13	South Korea	1	3	3	7
14	United States	1	2	2	5
	Vietnam	1	2	2	5
16	Peru	1	1	3	5
17	Austria	0	2	4	6
18	Denmark	0	2	3	5
19	Portugal	0	1	0	1
	Uruguay	0	1	0	1
21	Colombia	0	0	2	2
	Mexico	0	0	2	2
23	Switzerland	0	0	1	1
Totals (23 entries)		76	77	98	251

See also

• CEB European Three-cushion Championship
• UMB World Three-cushion Championship for National Teams
• Three-Cushion World Cup
• UMB Women's World Three-cushion Championship