Why are dozens of Vietnamese billiard players banned from competing by the world federation?

WPA has just announced a list of 245 players who will be banned from competing for 6 months, starting from October 14, 2024. 87 Vietnamese players are on the list receiving WPA's penalties, including famous pool billiards athletes such as Duong Quoc Hoang, Luong Duc Thien, Dang Thanh Kien, Do The Kien...

Accordingly, banned players will not be allowed to participate in tournaments organized by continental federations, countries (where there is a federation affiliated with WPA) and WPA. However, regional sports events (such as SEA Games of Southeast Asia) and continental (ASIAD of Asia) are also among the tournaments that players on the above list cannot participate in. After 6 months, players who want to return to compete in tournaments licensed by WPA will have to pay a fine of 500 USD.

Duong Quoc Hoang is among the players banned by ACBS and now WPA. He has spoken out against the unfair punishment from ACBS.

The reason for the ban is that the 245 players mentioned above competed in the recently concluded Hanoi Open Pool Championship 2024. This tournament is part of the World Nineball Tour system, owned by the British company Matchroom (an organization that opposes the WPA).

Previously, Vietnamese players were also banned from the Asian Billiards Sport Federation (ACBS, a member of WPA) for participating in the Hanoi Pool Open Championship 2023. The players receiving the ban from WPA was not surprising, as the federation had previously warned. This is another unreasonable decision from WPA, following the ACBS's controversial unfair punishment of Vietnamese players.

Hoang Sao (center) is currently competing at the Reyes Cup 2024 in the Philippines. This is a Matchroom tournament.

Not only Vietnamese players, many of the world's top stars who participated in the Hanoi Open Pool Championship 2024 were also banned by the WPA, such as: Carlo Biado (Philippines), Ko Pin Yi (Taiwan), Shane van Boening (USA), Fedor Gorst (Russian origin), Francisco Sanchez Ruiz (Spain), David Alcaide (Spain) or Eklent Kaci (Albania).

However, this ban on the above foreign players seems to be worthless. Because before that, famous billiards pool players such as Shane van Boening, Fedor Gorst... all declared to boycott and not participate in WPA tournaments, until the unreasonable ban of ACBS on Asian players is lifted.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/billiards-tai-sao-hang-chuc-co-thu-viet-nam-bi-lien-doan-the-gioi-cam-thi-dau-185241017190548417.htm