Defending champion Tran Duc Minh failed to qualify for the Ho Chi Minh City Billiards World Cup.

Defending champion Tran Duc Minh could not pass the World Cup qualifying round in Ho Chi Minh City - Photo: DUC PHONG

The reigning champion becomes the former champion.

Last year, Tran Duc Minh participated in the Ho Chi Minh City Billiards World Cup from the qualifying round. From a place that few people knew, he caused a series of shocks to win the unexpected championship.

After his first international title, the 1981-born player maintained stable performance in the following tournaments. This time, when returning to the tournament he once won, Tran Duc Minh had to continue participating from the 4th qualifying round.

On May 22, he started his debut at the Ho Chi Minh City World Cup. Tran Duc Minh was in Group I with Choi Wan Young (Korea) and Omer Karakurt (Türkiye). In the first match, the Vietnamese player lost to Karakurt 21-40.

He then defeated Choi Wan Young 40-26.

All three players in Group I had a record of 1 win and 1 loss. But Choi was the one who topped the group, winning the only ticket to the next round with the best performance of 1,571 points/round. Duc Minh could only finish second (performance of 1,386 points/round), becoming the former champion of the Ho Chi Minh City Billiards World Cup.

In addition to the defending champion, Vietnamese billiards also had to say goodbye to Chiem Hong Thai, Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu, Doan Minh Kiet and young player Nguyen Hoai Phong.

Dinh Quoc and Nhu Le continue.

Dinh Quoc participated in the main round of the Ho Chi Minh City World Cup despite previously advancing with a wild card ticket - Photo: DUC PHONG

After a day of exciting competition, three Vietnamese players advanced. In Group B, Nguyen Dinh Quoc opened the match by defeating Goren Mehmet (Türkiye) with a score of 40-28.

Next, in the decisive match that took place in the evening, Dinh Quoc defeated Arnim Kahofer (Türkiye) with a score of 40-31 after 26 rounds. With these results, Dinh Quoc entered the main round as the top player in the group. This is a commendable achievement for Dinh Quoc, even though he had previously won a place in the next round with a wild card ticket.

In Group H, Nguyen Nhu Le started with a 40-22 victory over Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu. In the decisive match, despite being troubled by veteran Greek player Polychronopoulos Nikos, Nhu Le still confidently won 40-34, taking first place in the group.

The remaining ticket for Vietnam in this round belongs to Dao Van Ly. In the opening match of Group J, Dao Van Ly had a dramatic match with Gokhan Salman (Türkiye). When trailing 26-28, Dao Van Ly launched a series of 14 points, winning 40-33. After that, Van Ly tied with Cha Myeong Jong (Korea) with a score of 40-40, taking the top spot in the group to continue.

From May 23, the Ho Chi Minh City Billiards World Cup will take place in the official round. In this round, 32 players are divided into 8 groups, each group has 4 players, playing a round-robin of 40 points, selecting the 2 players who come first and second in each group to enter the knockout round.

In addition to the three representatives who passed the qualifying round, Nguyen Nhu Le, Nguyen Dinh Quoc and Dao Van Ly, Vietnam also has five representatives already present in the main round, namely Tran Quyet Chien, Tran Thanh Luc, Bao Phuong Vinh (seeds), Le Thanh Tien and Nguyen Van Tri (wildcards).

This will certainly be an exciting day of competition when all the world's best players such as Dick Jaspers, Cho Myung Woo, Marco Zanetti, Eddy Merckx, Frederic Caudron... take to the field.

DUC KHUE

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/duong-kim-vo-dich-tran-duc-minh-khong-vuot-qua-vong-loai-world-cup-billiards-tp-hcm-20250522223002486.htm