Raymond Ceulemans

Raymond Ceulemans in 2011
Raymond Ceulemans
Medal record
Representing  Belgium
Men's Three-cushion billiards
UMB World Three-cushion Championship
Neuss 1963 Three-cushion
Oostende 1964 Three-cushion
Hilversum 1965 Three-cushion
Buenos Aires 1966 Three-cushion
Lima 1967 Three-cushion
Düren 1968 Three-cushion
Tokio 1969 Three-cushion
Las Vegas 1970 Three-cushion
Groningen 1971 Three-cushion
Buenos Aires 1972 Three-cushion
Cairo 1973 Three-cushion
La Paz 1975 Three-cushion
Ostend 1976 Three-cushion
Tokio 1977 Three-cushion
Las Vegas 1978 Three-cushion
Lima 1979 Three-cushion
Buenos Aires 1980 Three-cushion
Aix-les-Bains 1983 Three-cushion
Heeswijk-Dinther 1985 Three-cushion
Tokio 1990 Three-cushion
Luxembourg 2001 Three-cushion
Antwerp 1974 Three-cushion
Tokio 1991 Three-cushion
Tokio 1992 Three-cushion
Krefeld 1984 Three-cushion
Las Vegas 1986 Three-cushion
Tokio 1988 Three-cushion
Tokio 1989 Three-cushion
CEB European Three-cushion Championship
Kaatsheuvel 1962 Three-cushion
Brussels 1963 Three-cushion
Copenhagen 1964 Three-cushion
Vienna 1965 Three-cushion
Lisbon 1966 Three-cushion
Angoulême 1967 Three-cushion
Madrid 1968 Three-cushion
The Hague 1969 Three-cushion
Tournai 1970 Three-cushion
Geel 1971 Three-cushion
Dortmund 1972 Three-cushion
Eeklo 1974 Three-cushion
Rotterdam 1975 Three-cushion
Valencia 1976 Three-cushion
Lausanne 1977 Three-cushion
Copenhagen 1978 Three-cushion
Düren 1979 Three-cushion
Helsingborg 1980 Three-cushion
Vienna 1981 Three-cushion
Porto 1982 Three-cushion
Dunkirk 1983 Three-cushion
Waalwijk 1987 Three-cushion
Cairo 1992 Three-cushion
Vejle 1988 Three-cushion
Triest 1961 Three-cushion
Amersfoort 1985 Three-cushion
Dordrecht 1991 Three-cushion

Ridder Raymond Ceulemans (born 12 July 1937) is a Belgian billiards player and possibly the most dominant single figure in any one sport, having won 35 World Championship titles (23 in three-cushion + 12 in other carom disciplines), 48 European titles (23 in three-cushion) and 61 national titles. His nickname is "Mr 100".[1] He was inducted into the Billiard Congress of America's Hall of Fame in 2001, one of the very few non-Americans to receive the honour. In October 2003 King Albert II of Belgium honoured Raymond Ceulemans by awarding him a knighthood (Ridderschap) in recognition of his lifetime achievements.

Early life

Ceulemans at the 1986 1-cushion European Championship in Dülmen, Germany.

He was born in Lier, Belgium. By the age of 7, Ceulemans was playing billiards on the table in his father's café. He also liked to play association football at the local club. Although he was a good midfielder (in 1958 he was discovered by the club K. Beerschot V.A.C. but a transfer was never made) he stopped playing football and began to concentrate on billiards.

Professional career

In 1961 at the age of 23 Ceulemans won his first Belgian three-cushion title. In 1962 he won his first CEB European Three-cushion Championship.

A year later he won his first world title at the UMB World Three-cushion Championship with averages of 1.159 and 1.307 points per inning. He went on to win the title 11 times in row. The winning streak came to end in 1974 when he lost to Nobuaki Kobayashi in finals. He was the first three-cushion player to reach levels of 1.500 and 2.000 average points per inning.[2]

Ceulemans won the first Three-Cushion World Cup in Paris, France in 1986; two more titles followed in 1987 and 1990. In 1998 he tied the world record held by Junichi Komori of Japan during professional match play by scoring 28 points in a single inning.[3] (The record was later broken.)

Ceulemans won the European three-cushion championship 23 times and defended it 19 times.

Ceulemans also won 24 World three-cushion championships (21 from the UMB and 3 from the BWA). Additionally he has prevailed in 16 title defenses.

At the age of 64 Ceulemans won his latest UMB world title in 2001 in Luxembourg where he defeated Marco Zanetti.

Titles

References

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Inaugural champion
Three-Cushion World Cup
1986–1987
Succeeded by
Torbjörn Blomdahl
Preceded by
Torbjörn Blomdahl
Three-Cushion World Cup
1990
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