Defending world champion Bao Phuong Vinh and Asian runner-up Tran Thanh Luc both entered the 1/8 round of the 3-band Carom World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh city, Egypt.
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| Match schedule of Bao Phuong Vinh and Tran Thanh Luc in round 1/8 of World Cup billiards 2023. (Source: Billiard Vietnam) |
Taking place from December 3-9, Sharm El Sheikh World Cup carom 12 tape 3 has a total of 2023 Vietnamese representatives: Tran Quyet Chien, Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu, Bao Phuong Vinh, Tran Thanh Luc, Doan Minh Kiet, Chiem Hong Thai and Dao Van Ly.
In the qualifying round, the players are divided into groups of 3, playing up to 30 points at the same time. In the final qualifying round on December 6, the players played up to 12 points at the same time.
After the qualifying round on December 6, 12 Vietnamese players won the right to continue to round 4 on December 32: Tran Thanh Luc, Tran Quyet Chien, Bao Phuong Vinh and Chiem Hong Thai. At this time, the players are divided into groups of 7 people, playing up to 12 points at the same time.
However, only two Vietnamese representatives continued to the 1/8 round, including defending world champion Bao Phuong Vinh and Asian runner-up Tran Thanh Luc.
Bao Phuong Vinh had his debut in Group G with a 40-36 victory over Sam van Etten. The Dutch player is nicknamed "billard giant" when he is up to 2m02 tall and is the reigning European champion of billiards carde 47/2 (a variation of Libre).
At the same time, Sam Van Etten also participates in 3-band carom competition and has won 18 international titles, including two European championships at the youth level (2013 and 2015). However, Bao Phuong Vinh still showed his bravery when winning with a relatively narrow score.
In the second game of the group stage, Bao Phuong Vinh lost to former world number 2 Eddy Merckx 1-30. The Belgian player was crowned for the second time at the Billiards World Cup taking place in the city. Ho Chi Minh after a breathtaking victory over the player Marco Zanetti (Italy, ranked 40nd in the world) with a score of 2-2.
Forced to win in the final game, Bao Phuong Vinh excellently completed the task by defeating Peter Ceulemans with a score difference of 40-29, to finish second in the table. Phuong Vinh with an average of 1,549 points per round, continues with Merckx.
Meanwhile, the most impressive Vietnamese player in the group stage was Thanh Luc, when he won all 3 games in Group D, against Dick Jaspers 40-31, Berkay Karakurt 40-37 and Heo Jung-han 40-34. . He topped the table with an average score of 1,379 points, moving forward with Jaspers.
In the 1/8 round, Phuong Vinh will meet Daniel Morales (Colombia) at 16:8 p.m. today (December 12), Hanoi time. Thanh Luc met Burak Hashas at 18:30 p.m. on the same day.
