Verhoeven Open

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2016 Tournament logo
at the entrance of the Carom Café in 2016.

The Verhoeven Open is a three-cushion billiards tournament held in Flushing, Queens. The event is sanctioned by the Union Mondiale de Billard and the United States Billiard Association. The event was known as Sang Lee International Open between 2005 and 2008.[1]

History[]

Tournament poster of Sang Lee international Open inside of the Carom Café.
is the co-founder of the Carom Café and friend of Sang Lee.

Sang Lee International Open[]

It was founded in 2005 as the Sang Lee International Open, named after Sang Lee, a Korean American player whose goal was to spread his principles as a player and restore the popularity of carom billiards in the United States. One year after his death in 2004, his friend Ira Lee initiated the tournament in tribute to him. It was organized by the United States Billiard Association (USBA) as a member of the world federation Union Mondiale de Billard. The venue for the tournament is the Carom Café, which was founded by Sang Lee (not Ira Lee who is not related to Sang) and his friend , who was also one of the best players in the United States at that time.

Contrary to most other tournaments it was not played in the set system, but to a predetermined score. The structure of the tournament has been changed several times since 2005.

The inaugural event (2005) was won by Sweden's Torbjörn Blomdahl. The 2006 and 2007 editions were both dominated by Frédéric Caudron of Belgium.[2][3] Roland Forthomme, also from Belgium, won it in 2008.[4] The 2008 edition was the last time the event was named as Sang Lee International Open.

Verhoeven Open[]

After a four-year break, the tournament was relaunched in 2012 under the name Verhoeven Open Tournament (or short Verhoeven Open)[1] by Cindy Lee, CEO of billiards-event organizer .[5][unreliable source?]

In 2012, 20 players participated at the tournament. Winner was the local hero Pedro Piedrabuena, who beat Torbjörn Blomdahl from Sweden with 40:37 in the final. After a long pause of playing tournaments, the 75-year-old Belgian "Mr. 100 " Raymond Ceulemans was honorous player of the tournament and could, after all, still occupy the seventh rank.[6]

Prize money & ranking points[]

Prize Money 2007[7][unreliable source?]
Rank Prize
Money (US$)		 Rank Prize
Money (US$)
01 12,000 11 2,800
02 9,600 12 2,400
03 8,000 13 2,100
04 6,400 14 1,800
05 5,600 15 1,700
06 4,800 16 1,600
07 4,400 17 1,500
08 4,000 18 1,400
09 3,600 19 1,300
10 3,200 20 1,200
Bonuses
HS 300 BG 300
Total amount: 80,000 US$

The following table shows prize money and ranking points (only for USBA-Players).[8]

Prize Money
Rank US$ Rank US$
01 8,000 11 550
02 5,000 12 550
03 4,000 13 500
04 3,500 14 500
05 2,700 15 450
06 2,200 16 450
07 1,700 17 425
08 1,200 18 425
09 1,000 19 400
10 800 20 400
Total amount: 34,750 US$
USBA-Points
Rank Points
1. 80
2. 60
3. 50
4. 40
5. & 6. 30
7. & 8. 25
9.–12. 20
13.–16. 15
17.–24 10
25.–32 05
≥ 33 03

Tournament statistic[]

, winner of 2016.

The GA shows the Ggeneral Aaverage (all points ÷ all innings).

Men[]

Sang Lee International Open
Year Winner GA Runner up GA 3. Place GA Ref.
2005 Sweden Torbjörn Blomdahl 2,006 Turkey Semih Saygıner 1,998 Netherlands Dick Jaspers 1,907
2006 Belgium Frédéric Caudron 1,881 Sweden Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,851 Turkey Semih Saygıner 1,741
2007 Belgium Frédéric Caudron 1,774 Spain Dani Sánchez 1,889 Turkey Semih Saygıner 1,615
2008 Belgium 1,829 Belgium Frédéric Caudron 1,958 Sweden Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,707
Verhoeven Open Tournament
Year Winner GA Runner up GA 3. Place GA Ref.
2012 United States Pedro Piedrabuena 1,592 Sweden Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,708 Belgium 1,658 [9]
2013 Belgium Frédéric Caudron 2,066 Belgium Eddy Merckx 1,886 Sweden Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,838 [10]
2014 Sweden Torbjörn Blomdahl 2,058 Belgium Eddy Merckx 1,941 Belgium Frédéric Caudron 1,927 [11]
2015 Netherlands Dick Jaspers 2,097 Turkey Tayfun Taşdemir 1,715 Belgium Frédéric Caudron 1,931 [12]
2016 France 1,542 Netherlands Dick Jaspers 1,975 Belgium Eddy Merckx 1,775 [13]
2017 South Korea 1,650 Belgium Eddy Leppens 1,897 Spain Dani Sánchez 1,847 [14]
2018 Belgium Eddy Merckx 1,872 Spain Dani Sánchez 1,937 Germany 1,908
Belgium Eddy Leppens 1,597
2019 Belgium Eddy Merckx 1,798 Sweden Torbjörn Blomdahl 1,777 Spain Dani Sánchez 1,773

Women[]

In 2013 for the first time a competition for women was held. It took place from 14 to 16 July, right before the men's competition. Winner was world number one from the Netherlands. She beat the four-time world champion from Japan 25:16 in 17 innings in the final. However Hida played the best individual average with 1,562. Klompenhouwer succeeded with 9 points in the best high run.[15]

In 2015 the women's tournament was called Jennifer Shim International.[16] The tournament was named in memory of the American elite player Jennifer Shim, who was shot on 6 March 2015 by her ex-boyfriend at the age of 41.[17][unreliable source?][18]

Year Winner GA Runner up GA 3. Place/
Semi Finalists 		GA Ref.
Verhoeven Open Tournament
2013 Netherlands 1,016 Japan 0,850 South Korea Park Su-ah 0,631 [15]
Jennifer Shim International
2015 Netherlands 1,123 Cambodia Pheavy Srong 0,662 Japan 0,970 [19][20]
2017 Netherlands 1,116 Japan 1,035 South Korea Lee Mi-rae 0,648 [21]
2019 South Korea Han Ji-eun 0,863 Netherlands 1,195 Japan 0,780 [22]
Japan Yuko Nishimoto 0,754

References[]

  1. ^ a b "World top faces… Sayginer and Ceulemans". Archived from the original on 16 July 2016. Retrieved 16 July 2016.
  2. ^ "Frederic Caudron is Champion at the 2006 Sang Lee International Open". AzBilliards.com. 22 August 2006. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
  3. ^ "Caudron Comes From Behind To Defend Title". AzBilliards.com. 19 August 2007. Archived from the original on 14 February 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
  4. ^ "Roland Forthomme wins Sang Lee International Open". AzBilliards.com. 1 August 2008. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2008.
  5. ^ "July 29 – Aug 5, 2012: Carom Cafe = Billiards Heaven on Earth". 3-Cushion Carom News. 18 July 2012. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  6. ^ "Dreiband – Verhoeven Open Tournament – New York (USA) – 01.08.12 bis 05.08.12". Kozoom.com. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  7. ^ "Sang Lee International Open – Draw and Format (2007)". AzBilliards.com forum. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  8. ^ "General Infos". Archived from the original on 4 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  9. ^ "Dreiband – Verhoeven Open Tournament – New York (USA) – 01.08.12 bis 05.08.12". Kozoom.com. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  10. ^ "2013 Verhoeven Open (Final Ranking)" (PDF). USBA.net. United States Billiard Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
  11. ^ "Torbjorn Blomdahl wins the 2014 Verhoeven Open". Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  12. ^ "2015 Verhoeven Final Results". Archived from the original on 15 July 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  13. ^ "Jeremy Bury wins Verhoeven Open". Professor Q Ball's National Pool & Billiard News. 3 August 2016. Archived from the original on 20 August 2016.
  14. ^ "2017 Final Ranking" (PDF). United States Billiard Association. 14 August 2017.
  15. ^ a b "USBA Women's Invitational Tournament". Kozoom.com. Archived from the original on 12 November 2013. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  16. ^ "Women's world stars in Jennifer Shim tournament". Kozoom.com. 17 June 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  17. ^ "RIP – Jennifer Shim". AzBilliards.com forum. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  18. ^ "The Three Cushion World Remembers Jennifer Shim with Women's International Championship". poolbuzz.org. Archived from the original on 22 July 2015. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  19. ^ "Therese completes trilogy in New York". kozoom.com. 21 July 2015. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
  20. ^ "3-Cushion – Jennifer Shim International – New York (USA) – 7/18/15 to 7/20/15". kozoom.com. Retrieved 15 July 2015.
  21. ^ "Ranking Ladies 2017". Kozoom. 6 July 2017. Retrieved 14 August 2019.
  22. ^ "Results Ladies 2019". Kozoom. 4 August 2019. Retrieved 14 August 2019.

External links[]

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