Eddy Merckx (billiards player)


Eddy Merckx is a Belgian professional three-cushion billiards player.

Private life

Merckx was born in 1968, the year cyclist Eddy Merckx won his first Giro d'Italia, and he was named after the cyclist. In daily life, he often adopts his wife's maiden name to avoid confusion with his somewhat more famous namesake.

Career

Season 2006/07

In the year 2006, he beat Nikos Polychronopoulos 3–1 to win the world title in three cushions billiards. In 2007, he added the European title in Salon de Provence in France, by beating the reigning champion Frédéric Caudron.

Season 2011/12

On 8 October 2011, while playing in the German Bundesliga in Duisburg, Merckx defeated Won Kang 50–6 in six innings, a world record. The inning breakdown was 4-9-26-7-0-4. The previous record for a 50-point game was nine innings, shared by Torbjorn Blomdahl, Frederic Caudron and Marco Zanetti.

Season 2012/13

From 27 August to 1 September he played on the invitation tournament Cuvino Superprestige, which was held in the city of Lommel, Belgium. The Belgians where looking for the fifth time for their king of 3-cushion and in 2012 it was Merckx by beating world number one Frédéric Caudron in the final. Just a week later on 9 September 2012, he won his second UMB world title in Porto by defeating again Frédéric Caudron in the semis and Choi Sung-Won in the finals. Another week later he was playing in Suwon on the 3-Cushion World Cup and got on the third place together with Dick Jaspers from the Netherlands. He was climbing up to third place of the world ranking due to his latest wins.

Achievements