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!
Quarterfinal match results.
USA 1st in Group D
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
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:
Tune in to watch Team USA on SOOP Billiards:
Best of Luck to our Players from the USBA!