For the man who has been the face of the patriotic three-wheeler for many years, Dick Jaspers, today is a special day.
He is celebrating his 60th birthday and that is for Billiard Sport Centraal (BSC) a reason to reflect on it because besides this memorable fact, he also has his 200th billiards title in sight.
The score now stands at 192, of which more than 90 were achieved nationally.
The Sint Willebrord-born top player is so far the best Dutch billiard player of all time and has been bavaking in the top of the world rankings of the World Billiard Association for decades.
After having successes in the classic games, he switched to the three-band in 1983 and seen his imposing palmares with great success.
He is a five-time individual tri-band world champion and also has five individual European titles as tri-band champion to his name and in addition to that he has won more world and European titles.
In the French St. Etienne in 2000, for the first time in 2000 he became the three-band world champion individually by pushing aside the Dane Tony Carlsen in the finals.
He achieved his fifth title in 2021 at the Egyptian swimming pool of Sharm el Sheikh when he beat Murat Naci Coklu in the final.
He has so far played 64 times in the finals of a World Cup tournament and managed to go home with the gold medal 32 times. He was 9 times the strongest player in an entire World Cup season.
In mid 1988 he joined the Billiards Worldcup Association of the German dr. Werner Bayer, which in addition to a considerable financial reward, eventually got him a suspension.
The year 1990 was a memorable one for him. In that year he was able to win the BWA grand prix tournament In De Bussel in Oosterhout and also for the first time he achieved the national title in the three-band in Groningen after winning in the final against Rini van Bracht and that year he also won in Dongen his first Masters title by defeating Frans van Kuyk in the finals.
Dick Jaspers now has 23 national three-band titles to his name (22 of which are master’s titles) with which he leads the rankings widely.
The KNBB is now saving up for a statue for him when he will hang his cue by the willows in the meantime.
In the current season he has won the 2nd world cup – in Vietnamese Ho Chi Minh – and is leading the world cup ranking just ahead of the Belgian Eddy Merckx. Earlier this year, he and Jean Paul de Bruijn became the three-band world champion at the national teams in Viersen and achieved his 22nd master’s title in Berlicum.
Next month, he will be a member of the Dutch delegation that he will play at the World Games, which are noted as an alternative to sports not selected for the Olympic Games, which will be held from August 6 to 18 in Chinese Chengdu this year. He already managed to write this tournament to his name twice in 2009 and 2022.
A concise summary of his most appealing victories:
– 5x world champion three tires
– 5x European champion three-bands
– 9x winner world cup overall
– 32x winner world cup tournament
– 2x winner world games
– 23x Dutch champion three-bands
– 11x International (BWA) GP Tournaments Winner
– 36x national winner in international invitational tournaments
