Billiards: Vietnamese player is extremely calm, defeating former Japanese world champion

Vietnamese players had a positive start to the third qualifying round of the Gwangju Billiards World Cup 2025 taking place in South Korea. In which, Thon Viet Hoang Minh defeated the former world champion.

Thon Viet Hoang Minh defeated Ryuuji Umeda

On the morning of November 5, 5 Vietnamese players took to the field at the same time in the first round of the third qualifying round of the Gwangju Billiards World Cup 2025. Among them, Thon Viet Hoang Minh faced Ryuuji Umeda (Japan). This was a challenge for Hoang Minh, as the Japanese player is a world-class player, having won the World Championship in 2007.

Against a strong opponent, Hoang Minh still played confidently and started the game better. The Vietnamese player scored quite evenly in the early stages of the match, while Umeda was stuck. After 10 rounds, Hoang Minh, although not playing well, still created a 10-point gap when leading 10-3. The score was 18-6 in favor of Hoang Minh, when the match had gone through 16 rounds.

Thon Viet Hoang Minh has a good chance of passing the third qualifying round, after winning the opening match.

PHOTO: TB

It was not until the 17th turn that Umeda had a series of 7 points to shorten the gap. This was also the premise for the Japanese player to make a strong breakthrough and shorten the gap with Hoang Minh. After 21 turns, the gap was only 3 points, when Hoang Minh led 23-20.

Facing the pressure from his opponent, Hoang Minh still played calmly and took advantage of his opportunities. In the end, the Vietnamese player defeated Umeda with a score of 35-25, after 28 rounds.

With the victory in the opening match, the door to the fourth qualifying round is wide open for Hoang Minh. In the decisive match, Hoang Minh will face Ahmet Alp (Türkiye) at 3 p.m.

Vietnam national champion Le Thanh Tien also had a positive result against strong opponent from Spain Carlos Anguita. Thanh Tien tied 35-35 with Anguita. In this match, Thanh Tien had a series of 9 points, while Anguita had a series of 11 points. In the decisive match for the ticket to the next round, Thanh Tien will face Arnim Kahofer (Austria, who just won the bronze medal at the World Championship 2025 in Belgium in October) at 12 o'clock.

In the Vietnam internal match, Nguyen Hoan Tat defeated Nguyen Nhu Le 35-27, after 23 rounds. Thus, Nhu Le will meet Pierre Soumagne (France) at 12 o'clock. The final match of group B is the competition between Hoan Tat and Pierre Soumagne (France) at 15 o'clock.

Nguyen Chi Long defeated Tatsuo Arai (Japan) with a score of 35-32 after 30 rounds. Chi Long will play the decisive match at 3:00 p.m. against Jose Miguel Soares (Portugal).

All matches of Vietnamese players at the Gwangju Billiards World Cup 2025 will be broadcast live on the SOOP Live platform (link: https://billiards.sooplive.co.kr/schedule).

The third qualifying round has 48 players participating, divided equally into 16 groups (3 players each). The players play a round robin to calculate points and rank. The top 16 players in each group will qualify for the fourth (final) qualifying round.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/billiards-co-thu-viet-nam-cuc-binh-tinh-danh-bai-cuu-vo-dich-the-gioi-nguoi-nhat-ban-185251105105623291.htm