Billiards: Tran Quyet Chien's world position shaken after early exit from World Cup Porto

Tran Quyet Chien may drop in the rankings of the World Billiards Federation (UMB), after being eliminated early at the Porto Billiards World Cup 2025, taking place in Portugal.

Tran Quyet Chien was given a special place in the 32nd round of the 2025 Porto Billiards World Cup (playing from the afternoon of July 3 to the early morning of July 4). Tran Quyet Chien lost 29-40 to Bao Phuong Vinh in the opening match, then won 40-38 against Peter Ceulemans (Belgium). But in the decisive match, the number 1 Vietnamese player lost to Nikos Polychro (Greece) with a score of 27-40. This result made the Ha Tinh -born player only third in group D, having to say goodbye to the tournament.

Having been eliminated early in the round of 32 at the 2025 Porto Billiards World Cup, Tran Quyet Chien faces the risk of falling down the UMB rankings. Before the round in the Portuguese city, Quyet Chien ranked 2nd with 392 points, while Dick Jaspers was number 1 in the world with 444 points.

Tran Quyet Chien may fall in the world rankings after being eliminated early at the 2025 Porto Billiards World Cup.

PHOTO: TB

The remaining names in the top 10 on the UMB rankings are: Eddy Merckx 3rd (310 points), Cho Myung-woo 4th (286 points), Tran Thanh Luc 5th (281 points), Tasdemir Tayfun 6th (278 points), Sameh Sidhom 7th (270 points), Heo Jung-han 8th (268 points), Marco Zanetti 9th (250 points), Tolgahan Kiraz 10th (214 points).

Who can surpass Tran Quyet Chien on the billiards rankings?

Accordingly, world number 1 Jaspers and many players in the top 10 have all stopped. The two names that pose a threat to Tran Quyet Chien's number 2 position are now only Eddy Merckx (Belgium) and Cho Myung-woo (Korea).

According to UMB's scoring method, at the 2025 World Cup billiards Porto, players must defend the scores they achieved at the World Cup billiards Bogota taking place in March 2024. The 2024 World Cup billiards Bogota is the tournament in which Tran Quyet Chien was crowned, so the Ha Tinh native must defend the highest score, 80 points. With an early stop in the 32nd round of the 2025 World Cup billiards Porto, Quyet Chien only has 10 bonus points. Thus, the Vietnamese player was deducted 70 points. At this time, Quyet Chien has 322 points left.

Case 1: Eddy Merckx is now in the round of 16. If he makes it to the semi-finals (or further) of the Porto 2025 Billiards World Cup, the Belgian player will surpass Tran Quyet Chien on the UMB rankings.

Case 2: Similarly, Cho Myung-woo also competes in the round of 16. Cho Myung-woo needs to reach the finals to be able to surpass Tran Quyet Chien on the UMB rankings.

Eddy Merckx can surpass Tran Quyet Chien in the world rankings in this stage.

PHOTO: SOOP

Tran Quyet Chien still has hope to defend his second place if the above two scenarios do not happen. However, the Vietnamese player will drop at least two places on the rankings if both of the above scenarios happen.

In addition, Marco Zanetti can also level the score gap with Tran Quyet Chien on the rankings. If he wins the 2025 Porto Billiards World Cup, Zanetti will be awarded 72 points, bringing the total to 322 points.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/billiards-vi-tri-the-gioi-cua-tran-quyet-chien-lung-lay-khi-som-dung-buoc-o-world-cup-porto-185250704125904041.htm