Vietnamese Billiards absent from World Cup quarter-finals, genius Caudron makes spectacular comeback

With the defeat of Dao Van Ly and Nguyen Chi Long in the round of 16, the Vietnamese 3-cushion carom team no longer has any representatives in the quarter-finals of the Gwangju 2025 Billiards World Cup taking place in Korea. Meanwhile, Frederic Caudron had a comeback against the Spanish master to advance.

The last two representatives of Vietnamese billiards have been eliminated.

The first knockout round of the Gwangju Billiards World Cup 2025 took place from the morning of November 8, with 16 players competing in 8 matches. Vietnam Billiards has 2 representatives participating, Dao Van Ly and Nguyen Chi Long. This is quite a surprise, because Van Ly and Chi Long did not receive as much expectation from fans as top players such as Tran Quyet Chien, Tran Thanh Luc, Chiem Hong Thai (all of whom stopped early in the round of 32).

Accordingly, Dao Van Ly met Korean "prodigy" Cho Myung-woo, while Nguyen Chi Long faced Dutch master Glenn Hofman. Against formidable opponents, the Vietnamese players lacked explosiveness and could not win tickets to the quarter-finals.

In the match against Dao Van Ly, Cho Myung-woo did not play as well as he usually does. In the opening phase, Dao Van Ly played better, scoring a series of 7 points in the 4th turn and taking the lead, at times holding on to 10 points (15-5). However, when the Korean player had not yet regained his feeling in his shots, Van Ly could not take advantage to deepen the gap. Many easy-to-miss shots combined with bad luck created a lot of pressure on Van Ly's hands, causing the Vietnamese player to fall into a stalemate.

Chi Long could not continue to cause surprises. However, being in the round of 16 is considered quite a success for this player.

PHOTO: TB

It was not until the 20th turn that Cho Myung-woo had his first series when he scored 6 points, leading 23-18. From then on, the Korean prodigy took the initiative and completely controlled the game. With Van Ly almost powerless to resist, Cho Myung-woo slowly rushed to the finish line. He had a series of 6 points on the 32nd turn, then added a series of 8 points on the 33rd turn to end the match, winning the final score 50-25.

Meanwhile, Nguyen Chi Long faced Glenn Hofman, who played very well. In the 8th turn, Hofman had a series of 11 to take a 23-8 lead, before taking the match into halftime in the 13th turn, leading 25-12. In the second half, the Dutch player's scoring speed could no longer be maintained. Chi Long had a series of 6 to narrow the gap to only 5 points, 26-31. The game was now showing signs of being unfavorable for Hofman, but unfortunately Chi Long could not take full advantage of the opportunity to explode and put psychological pressure on his opponent. After a few pauses, Hofman launched a series of 9 to lead 40-26. In the end, the Dutch player beat Chi Long 50-27, after 26 turns.

Caudron defeats Spanish player

Also in round 16, Frederic Caudron started well when facing Sergio Jimenez. Jimenez showed that he is no pushover when he continuously scored 8 and 9 points to take the lead over Caudron in the first half.

In the second half, the Belgian player played with great courage to gradually narrow the gap and accelerate in the final stages of the match. In the 22nd turn, Caudron led 37-33, but Jimenez immediately responded with a series of 7 points to regain the lead: 40-37. In the 26th turn, Caudron led 44-43, before calmly scoring a series of 6 points to win 50-43 against Jimenez.

Caudron played with courage to come back against Jimenez in good form

PHOTO: UMB

The players competing in the quarterfinals of the Gwangju 2025 Billiards World Cup include: Choi Wang-young vs. Cho Myung-woo, Eddy Merckx vs. Frederic Caudron, Glenn Hofman vs. Martin Horn, and Marco Zanetti vs. Tasfemir Tayfun.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/billiards-viet-nam-vang-bong-o-tu-ket-world-cup-thien-tai-caudron-nguoc-dong-ngoan-muc-185251108145316033.htm