Dick Jaspers
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| Dick Jaspers | |
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| Born | 23 July 1965 , Sint Willebrord |
| Nationality |  Dutch |
| Professional | 1986 |
Dick Jaspers (born 23 July 1965 in Sint Willebrord, Netherlands) is a Dutch professional carom billiards player who specialises in the three-cushion event.
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[edit] Early life
Jaspers started playing billiards when he was three years old as his parents run a pub in his home town. Between 1974 and 1980 he participated in the Dutch Youth Championships before making the move to the senior level.
[edit] Professional career
Jaspers turned professional in 1986 after seeing living legend Raymond Ceulemans and Nobuaki Kobayashi live on television during their World Cup final in Valkenburg. Jasper's first achievement was two silver medals in the Dutch Championships 1986. In 1987 and 1989 he won his first National Championship. He participated three times at the European Youth Championship and won the gold medal on all of those occasions.
After these successes Jaspers started playing in the West German division of the Billiards World Cup Association (BWA) which organised professional Grand-Prix tournaments. Jaspers won several of these tournaments and was suspended by the European Billiards Association for a period of five years for participating in these tournaments.[clarify] Together with Jaspers were several other world-class players who received the same suspension. The Union Mondiale de Billard supported this decision and therefor Jaspers and the others weren't able to participate in European and World Championships for five years. Even after these five years the players stayed at the BWA and played all their tournaments with them, which resulted in a long-term suspension. In 1989 and 1992 Jaspers became European Champion at the European Nation Championships, while in 1991 and 1992 he won the Finale Coupe d'Europe events. Only in 1998 the associations and their players came together to solve the problems. From then on the players were able to play at the EC's and WC's again. Jaspers received the Golden KNBB Pin in December 1999. At that time he had won the BWA World Three-cushion Championship (1997 and 1999) and the World Nations Billiard Championships[clarify] twice (1998 and 1999).
In October 2000, Jaspers dominated the UMB World Three-cushion Championship. Earlier that year he was honoured by the BWA.[clarify] He was not able to defend his title the following year, but he won the Silver Medal at the 2001 World Games in Akita, Japan. Also he won the bronze medal in Randers, Denmark, at the 2002 World Championships.[clarify]
In Göynük, Turkey, he won the 2003 European Championships and he became UMB World Champion for the second time in 2004 when he overclassed his Greek opponent Filipos Kasidokostas in the final (15-9, 15-0, 15-5). The event was held in his home country in Rotterdam. In 2005, Jaspers won three Silver Medals (World Games, World Nations Championships and Euro Billiards). On 3 September 2006 Jaspers won his 13th Dutch National Championship event.
Jaspers is known as a calm player and is praised for his sportivity.[weasel words] He belongs to the World Class players[clarify] since 1990. His concentration and his creativity are his main weapons.[neutrality disputed] On 4 February 2001 he was named as an honoured member of the Dutch Billiards Association and on 26 April 2002 he was named to the Order of Orange-Nassau. His shortest match ever he played in Monaco in 2002 against Dion Nelin. Jaspers only needed 10 attempts to get to 50 points.
[edit] Titles and achievements
- World Billiards Championship[clarify] (2001-1, 2003-3, 2004-1)
- World Nations Billiards Championships (1998-1, 1999-1, 2005-2)
- World Games (2001-2, 2005-2)
- European Billiards Championships (2003-1)
- European Nations Billiards Championships (1989-1, 1992-1)
- Euro Billiards (2005-2)
- European Cup Masters (1991-1)
- BWA World Cup (1997-1, 1999-1)
- Finale Coupe d'Europe (1991-1, 1992-1)
- World Cup Tournament wins - 14
- International Grand-Prix Tournament wins - 9
- National Grand-Prix Tournament wins - 41[clarify]
- Intermidget Tournament[disputed] wins - 2
- Invitational Tournament[not specific enough to verify] wins - 14
- Dutch National Championship wins - 13
- Dutch National Championship (team) wins - 8
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- -1 (winner)
- -2 (runner-up)
- -3 (third place)[not specific enough to verify]
[edit] Records
- Three-cushion percentage in a single match: 2.666 (2005 world record)
- Three-cushion percentage in a tournament: 2.536 (2002 world record)
- Most points in a row: 26 (2001 Dutch national record)
[edit] References
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (February 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
[edit] External links
| Preceded by Torbjörn Blomdahl |
BWA World Three-cushion Champion 1997 |
Succeeded by Torbjörn Blomdahl |
| BWA World Three-cushion Champion 1999 |
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| Preceded by Frédéric Caudron |
UMB World Three-cushion Champion 2000 |
Succeeded by Raymond Ceulemans |
| Preceded by Semih Saygıner |
UMB World Three-cushion Champion 2004 |
Succeeded by Daniel Sanchez |
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