TheCrystal Kelly CuporCrystal Kelly Tournament(sometimes:Chrystal Kelly) was a prestigious, generously fundedcarom billiardsinvitational tournament in the discipline ofthree-cushion,which has been held at different venues from 1994 to 2011, a total of 18 times, mostly inMonte CarloandNice.

History

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The tournament was launched in 1994 by the businessman and software-founder ofVolmac(since 1992 it belongs to theCap Gemini Group[2]),Joop van Oosterom,who is also a billiards and chess enthusiast. The tournament was named after his daughter Crystal Kelly van Oosterom, as well as for the DutchEredivisieclub of "Crystal Kelly," which was also very successful. In 1992 Joop already dedicatedMelody Amber,a blindfold andcorrespondence chesstournament, to his other daughter.

In 2010, Joop announced that he will give up the sponsorship the following year. Thus, the 2011-tournament was the last.Raymond Ceulemans,the three-cushion-legend form Belgium, was part of the tournament from the beginning on, from 1994 to 2006 as a player, in the early years he finished he still finished as a front runner, though he never could win the tournament. After his retirement from active billiards sports (2006) he was the tournament director.Torbjörn BlomdahlandDick Jaspersparticipated in all 18 tournaments, in which the latter is eight times record winner of the tournament and Blomdahl was second with 5 wins.

It was carrying out 13 times in Monte Carlo, 3 times in Nice and one time inScheveningenandAntwerpas of the end of the season in early June. The only exception was in 2005 when the tournament was held in late August.

The tournament was one of the best-paid - the prizes were ever tournament always around U.S. $70,000, there were extra bonuses for services paid and the winner took home about $20,000 - its kind, similar to theAGIPI Billiard MastersinSchiltigheim,Franceand it was considered as "The little World Championship". Among the players who called the tournament also "The Monaco", it had a high reputation and everyone gladly followed the invitation of van Oosterom. They were all, including their wives/partners, flown in and have been guests of the family van Oosterom for a week. There was just one game each day for everyone on the time table, and so there was a lot of time for trips and excursions.

Only participant from America wasSang Chun Leefrom the USA.

Tournament structure

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The number of participants ranged between eight and ten players. A total of 17 different players in the tournament. Many players have been invited over the years, such as:Semih Saygıner(16 ×),Frédéric Caudron(15 ×), Frans van Kuijk (13 ×),Marco Zanetti(11 ×) andDaniel Sánchez(8 ×). In the last tournament in 2011 the ten participants were divided into two groups of five players each.

These were:

The first stage was played in theround-robinmode with equal innings. The final round was played in aknock-outmode as first to 50 points without equal innings. The places 3-10 were played out.

Winners table

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Legend
Code Explanation
GA General Average= all points ÷ all innings
SpA Special Average= best average in a single game (points ÷ innings)
HR Highest Run= longest series of caroms (within single game)
Statistic
No. Year Venue 1. Place 2. Place 3. Place best GA HR Refs.
01 1994 Monte Carlo Dick Jaspers Torbjörn Blomdahl Ludo Dielis 1,840Dick Jaspers 15Dick Jaspers [3]
02 1995 Monte Carlo Torbjörn Blomdahl[1] Dick Jaspers Raymond Ceulemans 2,324Torbjörn Blomdahl 13Sang Lee [4]
03 1996 Monte Carlo Torbjörn Blomdahl Raymond Ceulemans Dick Jaspers 2,160Torbjörn Blomdahl 15Torbjörn Blomdahl [5]
04 1997 Monte Carlo Torbjörn Blomdahl Dick Jaspers Semih Saygıner 1,977Torbjörn Blomdahl 15Raymond Ceulemans [6]
05 1998 Monte Carlo Frédéric Caudron Dick Jaspers[2] Torbjörn Blomdahl 2,156Torbjörn Blomdahl 21Dick Jaspers [7]
06 1999[3] Monte Carlo Dick Jaspers Torbjörn Blomdahl Frédéric Caudron 2,035Dick Jaspers 15Frans van Kuyk [8]
07 2000 Monte Carlo Torbjörn Blomdahl Frans van Kuyk Frédéric Caudron 1,800Frédéric Caudron 13Torbjörn Blomdahl [9]
08 2001 Monte Carlo Dick Jaspers Semih Saygıner Dion Nelin 1,832Dick Jaspers 18Dion Nelin [10]
09 2002 Monte Carlo Dick Jaspers[4] Frédéric Caudron Semih Saygıner 2,537Dick Jaspers 19Torbjörn Blomdahl [11]
10 2003 Scheveningen Dick Jaspers Frédéric Caudron Torbjörn Blomdahl 2,318Dick Jaspers 18Raymond Ceulemans [12]
11 2004 Monte Carlo Dick Jaspers Daniel Sánchez Frans van Kuyk 2,258Dick Jaspers 15Dick Jaspers [13]
12 2005 Monte Carlo Dick Jaspers Torbjörn Blomdahl Semih Saygıner 2,013Dick Jaspers 13Torbjörn Blomdahl [14]
13 2006 Monte Carlo Torbjörn Blomdahl[5] Dick Jaspers Frédéric Caudron 2,289Dick Jaspers 19Frédéric Caudron [15]
14 2007 Monte Carlo Dick Jaspers Daniel Sánchez Raimond Burgman 2,174Dick Jaspers 13Dick Jaspers [16]
15 2008 Antwerp Frédéric Caudron Torbjörn Blomdahl Dick Jaspers 1,983Eddy Merckx 21Frédéric Caudron [17]
16 2009[6] Nice Frédéric Caudron Torbjörn Blomdahl Eddy Merckx 2,126Frédéric Caudron 13Frédéric Caudron [18]
17 2010 Nice Marco Zanetti Torbjörn Blomdahl Dick Jaspers[7] 2,472Dick Jaspers 15Eddy Merckx [19]
18 2011 Nice Filippos Kasidokostas Marco Zanetti Dick Jaspers 2,623Dick Jaspers[8] 15Dick Jaspers [20]
Notes
  • 1Blomdahl plays the unofficial world record of a GA of 2,324 and a SpA of 3,571 (dito 1996).
  • 2Jaspers plays a SpA of 4,166.
  • 3R. Ceulemans plays a SpA of 3,846.
  • 4Jaspers plays a SpA of 5,000, 50 points in 10 innings.
  • 5Blomdahl plays a SpA of 3,846
  • 6In 2009 the best tournament average of 1,865 has been played.
  • 7Jaspers plays a SpA of 4,545.
  • 8Jaspers plays a record GA of 2,623, which is an unofficial record.
Eternal winner list
Name No. Years
Dick Jaspers 8 1994, 1999, 2001–2005, 2007
Torbjörn Blomdahl 5 1995–1997, 2000, 2006
Frédéric Caudron 3 1998, 2008, 2009
Marco Zanetti 1 2010
Filippos Kasidokostas 1 2011
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References

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  1. ^abFrits Bakker (2011-06-20)."Crystal Kelly cup: farewell to a phenomenon".Kozoom. Archived fromthe originalon 2014-03-20.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  2. ^"Cap Gemini sichert sich auch in Benelux die Vormachtstellung"(in German). Computerwoche.de. 1992-03-06. Archived fromthe originalon 2013-02-11.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  3. ^"Final ranking 1994"(in German). Kozoom. 1994-06-12. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  4. ^"Final ranking 1995"(in German). Kozoom. 1995-06-11. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  5. ^"Final ranking 1996"(in German). Kozoom. 1996-06-09. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  6. ^"Final ranking 1997"(in German). Kozoom. 1997-06-08. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  7. ^"Final ranking 1998"(in German). Kozoom. 1998-06-07. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  8. ^"Final ranking 1999"(in German). Kozoom. 1999-06-06. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  9. ^"Final ranking 2000"(in German). Kozoom. 2000-06-11. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  10. ^"Final ranking 2001"(in German). Kozoom. 2001-06-10. Archived fromthe originalon 2016-03-04.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  11. ^"Final ranking 2002"(in German). Kozoom. 2002-06-09. Archived fromthe originalon 2016-01-14.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  12. ^"Final ranking 2003"(in German). Kozoom. 2003-06-08. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  13. ^"Final ranking 2004"(in German). Kozoom. 2004-06-20. Archived fromthe originalon 2016-01-14.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  14. ^"Final ranking 2005"(in German). Kozoom. 2005-08-31. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  15. ^"Final ranking 2006"(in German). Kozoom. 2006-06-12. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  16. ^"Final ranking 2007"(in German). Kozoom. 2007-06-14. Archived fromthe originalon 2016-01-14.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  17. ^"Final ranking 2008"(in German). Kozoom. 2008-06-17. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  18. ^"Final ranking 2009"(in German). Kozoom. 2009-06-18. Archived fromthe originalon 2015-12-09.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  19. ^"Final ranking 2010"(in German). Kozoom. 2010-07-06. Archived fromthe originalon 2014-12-26.Retrieved2012-10-09.
  20. ^"Final ranking 2011"(in German). Kozoom. 2011-06-29. Archived fromthe originalon 2014-12-26.Retrieved2012-10-09.