Vietnamese 3-cushion billiards is gradually asserting its position.

Vietnam's 3-Cushion Carom Billiards continues to demonstrate its strength on the world stage, as player Tran Quyet Chien has just won the Veghel World Cup 2024 in the Netherlands. This is Vietnam's third World Cup title in 2024, more than any other country, after the stages in Bogota (Colombia) in March and Ho Chi Minh City in May.

Vietnam's 3-cushion Carom Billiards is having a very successful year in 2024 and affirming its leading position in Asia and the world (in photo: Quyet Chien - left and Thanh Tu at the award ceremony in Veghel)

The emerging billiards powerhouse of Vietnam is looking forward to a bright future, welcoming another outstanding champion at the World Cup in 2024. In Veghel, the Netherlands, 40-year-old Tran Quyet Chien won the final against 56-year-old Belgian Frédéric Caudron with a score of 50-38 in the 28/27 round, thereby becoming the 4th Asian champion in 5 World Cups this year. For Tran Quyet Chien, this is the 2nd World Cup championship this year and the 4th in his career.

The Veghel 2024 World Cup is a tournament in which the Vietnamese team sends a large contingent of 11 players. This is the first World Cup stage held abroad with the largest number of Vietnamese players ever. This is understandable because Vietnam has continuously achieved impressive international achievements in recent times, the level of players is increasingly improving, helping them have more conditions to participate in the World Cup.

Tran Quyet Chien has ended his journey at the 2024 3-cushion carom billiards World Cup in the quarter-finals - Photo: UMB

In this tournament, Vietnam's number 1 player Tran Quyet Chien and 2023 world champion Bao Phuong Vinh were given special permission to compete in the main round. The remaining nine representatives will compete in the qualifying round, in which 2024 world runner-up Tran Thanh Luc, 2024 Ho Chi Minh City World Cup champion Tran Duc Minh and Chiem Hong Thai will compete from the fourth qualifying round. Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu will start from the third qualifying round, Nguyen Hoan Tat, Nguyen Chi Long, Thon Viet Hoang Minh, Le Thanh Tien will compete in the second qualifying round, and Nguyen Dinh Luan will compete from the first qualifying round.

The above title also helped Quyet Chien gain 80 bonus points to return to number 3 in the world. In the top 10, Vietnam also has Thanh Luc, behind Phuong Vinh ranked 14th, Hong Thai ranked 22nd. The achievement of reaching the semi-finals also helped Thanh Tu rise to 24th place. The victory at Veghel is also the third time in 2024 that Vietnam has a representative winning the World Cup, before that was the Bogota stage (Quyet Chien) and Ho Chi Minh City (Tran Duc Minh). In addition, Vietnam also won the world team championship of Quyet Chien and Phuong Vinh at the end of March in Germany.

In this year's World Cup cycle, Vietnam's 3-cushion carom billiards also had Tran Duc Minh crowned in Ho Chi Minh City. Vietnam has contributed greatly to Asia's current global dominance, with South Korea's Jung Han Heo also writing a successful World Cup in Ankara for the region. The only European to have so far stopped Asia's absolute dominance is world number 1 Dick Jaspers with the World Cup title in Porto. Even Frédéric Caudron - returning from his PBA adventure - could not change that overwhelming Asian trend. The Belgian star tried his best against Dick Jaspers, Myung Woo Cho, Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu and Tayfun Tasdemir, but still stumbled against the warrior Tran Quyet Chien - an invincible technical master in the Netherlands. The mark of Vietnam in the Netherlands did not even stop with Tony Tran's championship. Almost all the most memorable things that remain have the mark of Vietnam. Tran Quyet Chien not only won the championship, but also kept the best match with 40 points over 9 rounds, achieving a terrifying scoring efficiency of 4,444 points in the victory over home player Glenn Hofman. Tayfun Tasdemir had the highest series with 17 points, while Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu also came close with a series of 14. Bao Phuong Vinh was the player who was most shocked to be eliminated with an average scoring efficiency of 2,522 points over 3 group stage matches; a performance that any player would wish for.

Two big names expected to shine at Veghel both fell to Vietnamese players. "Alien" Frédéric Caudron lost to Tran Quyet Chien in the final. Meanwhile, world number 1 Dick Jaspers looked like he wanted to cry in front of his home crowd, when he witnessed Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu's performance in a 50-33 victory after only 14 turns.

The above titles help Vietnam become the country with the most achievements in major tournaments of the World Billiards Federation (UMB) in the 3-cushion Carom category, worthy of being the "locomotive" of Asia. This will continue to create a strong effect on the development of the domestic movement, from which there will be more people practicing this sport , more tournaments will be organized and more players will represent the country to participate in international tournaments./.

Le Quang