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: Published: 13 February 2026; Hits: 57

Groot & Piedrabuena Represent USA at World Championship for National Teams

: Published: 13 February 2026; Hits: 96

2026Viersen Raymon Groot and Pedro Piedrabuena will represent the USA in the World Championship for National Teams.

USA Stopped by Sweden in Quarterfinals | Vietnam Wins Over Germany in the Final

The USA's magnificient run at the 38th World Championship 3-Cushion for National Teams came to an end in the Quarterfinals when they faced Sweden. A rejuvenated Torbjön Blomdahl, who had played exceeding well during the Qualification Round, continued his good form winning with 40 points in 16 innings against Raymon Groot. On the second table, Pedro Piedrabuena kept the Team in the hunt winning his match over David Pennor to force a 15 point Scotch Doubles tiebreak. Interestingly, both Blomdahl and Piedrabuena ran a 14 in their matches and they were both doing so at roughly the same time!

Sweden won the tiebreak 15-12 in 9 innings catapulted by a run of 8 in the 6th inning to bring the score to 13-5 in favor of Sweden at that point. The USA fought back scoring 2-4-1 bringing their total to 12 before Sweden scored the final point to close the match.

Overall, another solid performance by the USA at the World Championship 3-Cushion for National Teams!

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f1Viersen Quarterfinal match results.

USA 1st in Group D

Viersen GroupD Group D final results with Team USA in 1st Place.

Team USA finished 1st in their Group with a win over Spain in their final match for the Qualification Round. Raymon Groot faced Ruben Legazpi and at the midway point in the match Legazpi had a 7 point lead, 24-17 in his favor. Groot almost leveled at 25-26 only to see Legazpi leading by 7 again 33-26. Groot played some fine billiards from there with Legazpi unable to score again untill the equalizing inning. Groot won 40-34 then waited to see how his partner would fare in his match. The match between Perdo Piedrabuena and Sergio Jimenez was on balance in the beginning with Jimenez leading 13-12 after 11 innings. Jimenez then went scoreless for 8 innings allowing Piedrabuena to build a lead. At 25-15 Piedrabuena ran a 5 and then another run of 5 to finish with Jimenez scoring 2 in the equalizing inning for a final score of 40-23.

Team USA waits to see who they will face in the Quarterfinals as Groups A and B will play their final Qualification matches tomorrow. The Quarterfinal matches follow later in the day.

USA in 2nd Place in Group D after Day 1 Matches

Viersen 01 Results from Group D after two matches.

Team USA drew both their matches on the opening day of the 38th World Championship 3-Cushion for National Teams. This puts them in 2nd place after two matches with one to play tomorrow. So far, Spain has dominated the Group with 2 wins, first against Egypt and then Korea. USA started the day with a draw against Korea and finished with a draw against Egypt in their evening match. Tomorrow Team USA will face Spain at 18:00 local time.

The Winter Olympics will be ending in just over a weeks time on February 22 and if you are wondering where to get your next boost from watching your favorite US athletes compete as you are winding down from the Milano Cortina 2026 overload then perhaps book your ticket for the UMB 38th World Championship 3-Cushion for National Teams to be held from February 26 to March 1st in Viersen, Germany. Raymon Groot and Pedro Piedrabuena will be representing the USA in Viersen this year, both have earned that right by finishing 1st and 2nd respectively in the last edition of the USBA National Championship.

Sixteen teams will compete in four Groups in the Qualification Round. Groot and Piedrabuena (Team USA) are in Group D along with the teams from Spain (Rubin Legazpi and Sergio Jimenez), Korea (Myung Woo Cho and Wan Young Choi), and Egypt (Sameh Sidhom and Mahmoud Ayman). Matches begin on Thursday, February 26 at 12:00 PM local time. Team USA faces Korea in their first match. Raymon Groot will play Myung Woo Cho and Pedro Piedrabuena will be matched against Wan Young Choi.

Complete information can be found on the UMB website:

UMB Website

Tune in to watch Team USA on SOOP Billiards:

SOOP Billiards

Best of Luck to our Players from the USBA!

2026 USBA National Qualifier Results

: Published: 04 February 2026; Hits: 170

2026 USBA National Qualifier Results

Carom Cafe Billiards | February 12, 2026

Harry Pena and Carlos Mario Villegas Qualify for the Nationals

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6 Players competed in a round robin. Matches were played to 25 points. Ranking is based on W/L, Average.

HarryPena Harry Pena went undefeated averaging 1.812.

00 2026 NY Qualifier Chart

Harry Pena scorched his way through the field at the Carom Cafe Billiards National Qualifier scoring his 25 points in 10, 19, 10, 14, and 16 innings over the course of his five matches for an immpressive grand average of 1.812. Going undefeated he secured the top spot to qualify for the Nationals. The battle for 2nd place to earn another qualifing spot was tensly fought between Quoc Tuan Vo, Sang Ho Kim, and Carlos Mario Villegas. Quoc defeated Carlos Mario in the first round then followed that with a victory over Young Gull Lee in his second match before losing to Sang Ho Kim in his third match. Carlos Mario rebounded with a win in his second round match against Sang Ho Kim but then lost to Harry Pena in his next match. Quoc had a chance to finish 2nd but he needed a win over Harry Pena in his final match but Harry closed that door. Quoc, Sang Ho, and Carlos Mario all ended with 3 wins and 2 losses but it was Carlos Mario who posted the best average of 1.440, which meant he earned the second qualifing spot. Carlos Mario also played a 10 inning game in his final match.

CarlosMarioVillegas Carlos Mario Villegas finished 3/2 with a 1.440 grand average.

Bergen Billiards | February 3, 2026

Edward Gomez, Oscar Pardo, Young Ha Choi, and Seung Kwon Hong Qualify for the Nationals

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16 Players competed in 4 Groups, round robin. Matches were played to 25 points. Ranking is based on W/L, Average.

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Group A proved to be a tough battle with all the players about equal. In the first round Eric Kwon easily defeated Ahmed Elmaghrbi while Edward Gomez struggled to win over Alex Koh in 41 innings. Gomez's struggled continued in the second round as he lost to Eric Kwon. Ahmed frustratingly lost his second match to Alex 25-24. In the third round of matches Gomez scrapped by with a win against Ahmed (another match lost by one point for Ahmed!) while it was Eric Kwon's turn to struggle in his match with Alex, who prevailed 25-18. Eric was 2-0 with the best average heading into the final game but he lost ground to Gomez. There was quite a bit of tension and excitement in both matches at the end.

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In Group B, in hindsight, it seems the ranking was decided in the first round match between Oscar Pardo and Sang Jin Lee. Oscar won 25-19 and although he was pushed at times in his other matches Oscar always pulled through. Sang Jin won his next two matches scoring 25 points in 25 innings in both. Sean Kim and Jorge Ruiz both kept trying to press their opponents but kept coming up short.

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Young Ha Choi won handily over Jason Chong in the first round in Group C as did Dae Ro Lee over Edgar Cesbedes. The second round match between Young Ha and Dae Ro was a battle all the way with neither palyer willing to yield until the end. Jason Chong picked up the pace in his second match scoring 25 in 27 innings to defeat Edgar and then exploded in his final match posting the best match of the tournament (1.923) winning 25-3 in 13 and 12 innings over Dae Ro Lee. Young Ha Choi went 3-0 to win the Group. He and Oscar Pardo were the only two players to win all three matches.

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Group D started with a thriller match between Sergio Tapia and Seung Kwon Hong. Sergio managed to hold off S.K. in the closing stages winning 25-22. Dong Wook Oh kept Jung Kwon at bay during their match. S.K. Hong came alive in his next two matches winning both in 15 and 14 innings over Dong Wook and Jung Kwon. This gave him the best overall average for the tournament scoring 72 points in 64 innings for a Grand Average of 1.125. Sergio's winning streak ended after his first match and Jung Kwon finished in 22 innings in his final match for a good showing.

SKHong Seung Kwon Hong qualified in Group D with the best overall average (1.125) after losing his first round match.