Raymond Ceulemans

Raymond Ceulemans
Raymond Ceulemans in 2011
Born (1937-07-12) 12 July 1937
Lier, Belgium
Sport country  Belgium
Nickname Mr. 100
Professional 1961–2001
Achievements
Unless otherwise stated, the
data refer to the "3-Cushion" discipline.
Best SA: 5,000 (1997)
Best GA: 2,307 (1997)
High-run (HR) 28 (1998)
World Championships: 33×
Continental Championships: 44×
Other Championships: 61× Belgian Champion
57× other Championships
Raymond Ceulemans
Medal record
Representing  Belgium
Men's Three-cushion billiards
UMB World Three-cushion Championship
Neuss 1963Three-cushion
Oostende 1964Three-cushion
Hilversum 1965Three-cushion
Buenos Aires 1966Three-cushion
Lima 1967Three-cushion
Düren 1968Three-cushion
Tokio 1969Three-cushion
Las Vegas 1970Three-cushion
Groningen 1971Three-cushion
Buenos Aires 1972Three-cushion
Cairo 1973Three-cushion
La Paz 1975Three-cushion
Ostend 1976Three-cushion
Tokio 1977Three-cushion
Las Vegas 1978Three-cushion
Lima 1979Three-cushion
Buenos Aires 1980Three-cushion
Aix-les-Bains 1983Three-cushion
Heeswijk-Dinther 1985Three-cushion
Tokio 1990Three-cushion
Luxembourg 2001Three-cushion
Antwerp 1974Three-cushion
Tokio 1991Three-cushion
Tokio 1992Three-cushion
Krefeld 1984Three-cushion
Las Vegas 1986Three-cushion
Tokio 1988Three-cushion
Tokio 1989Three-cushion
CEB European Three-cushion Championship
Kaatsheuvel 1962Three-cushion
Brussels 1963Three-cushion
Copenhagen 1964Three-cushion
Vienna 1965Three-cushion
Lisbon 1966Three-cushion
Angoulême 1967Three-cushion
Madrid 1968Three-cushion
The Hague 1969Three-cushion
Tournai 1970Three-cushion
Geel 1971Three-cushion
Dortmund 1972Three-cushion
Eeklo 1974Three-cushion
Rotterdam 1975Three-cushion
Valencia 1976Three-cushion
Lausanne 1977Three-cushion
Copenhagen 1978Three-cushion
Düren 1979Three-cushion
Helsingborg 1980Three-cushion
Vienna 1981Three-cushion
Porto 1982Three-cushion
Dunkirk 1983Three-cushion
Waalwijk 1987Three-cushion
Cairo 1992Three-cushion
Vejle 1988Three-cushion
Triest 1961Three-cushion
Amersfoort 1985Three-cushion
Dordrecht 1991Three-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

  1. ↑ Raymond Ceulemans Bio at BCA website Archived 31 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  2. ↑ Official bio, Raymond Ceulemans; accessed 2007-02-03
  3. ↑ Documents of some players (Spanish) Archived 2 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine.

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