Identifying 3 strong opponents of Tran Quyet Chien at the 'survival' billiards tournament

Tran Chien Chien faces a strong opponent

The World 3 Cushion Survival 2024 billiards tournament has officially kicked off in Korea with the preliminary round, playing on August 15 and 16. Unfortunately, Vietnamese players participating in the preliminary round such as Dao Van Ly (current 3rd place of the World 3 Cushion Survival 2023 tournament), Nguyen Hoan Tat, Thon Viet Hoang Minh, Nguyen Ngoc Son could not win tickets to the final round. The preliminary round has ended with 4 tickets to the next round all named after Korean players: Son Jun-hyuk, Lee Jung-hee, Heo Jin-woo and Kang Ja-in.

Xác định 3 đối thủ mạnh của Trần Quyết Chiến tại giải billiards 'sinh tồn'- Ảnh 1. — Tran Quyet Chien is expected to face many difficulties at the World 3 Cushion Survival 2024 tournament.

The World 3 Cushion Survival 2024 finals will take place from August 22 to 25 in Seoul, South Korea. Up to now, the finals have determined all 24 players. Vietnam's 3-cushion billiards has 3 players competing in the finals: Tran Quyet Chien, Bao Phuong Vinh and Chiem Hong Thai (all of whom were given special tickets from the beginning).

Accordingly, Tran Quyet Chien is in Group A with Tasdemir Tayfun, Tolgahan Kiraz and Kang Ja-in. In theory, Tran Quyet Chien (ranked 2nd in the world) is the highest rated player in this group. However, Tony Tran is expected to face many difficulties, as the 3 opponents are all experienced faces of world 3-cushion billiards. The two Turkish players (Tasdemir Tayfun and Tolgahan Kiraz) are not too unfamiliar names to Vietnamese 3-cushion billiards fans. Tasdemir Tayfun is a veteran player who has won 3 World Cup championships and 1 World Championship. Tolgahan Kiraz left a good impression when competing in the 3-cushion carom billiards World Cup in Ho Chi Minh City (in May 2024). At Nguyen Du Stadium, Kiraz stopped in the semi-finals, after losing to champion Tran Duc Minh. Meanwhile, Kang Ja-in is also a player with an annoying playing style from Korea.

Why is the tournament called 'survival'?

World 3 Cushion Survival is a tournament with an attractive format. Unlike normal billiards matches, a survival match has up to 4 players competing in 2 rounds, each round lasting 45 minutes. Before the match, each player has 30 points. For each successful shot, the player is awarded 3 points, while the others are deducted 1 point. After 2 rounds, the 2 players with the highest total points will advance to the next round.

Xác định 3 đối thủ mạnh của Trần Quyết Chiến tại giải billiards 'sinh tồn'- Ảnh 2.

Xác định 3 đối thủ mạnh của Trần Quyết Chiến tại giải billiards 'sinh tồn'- Ảnh 3.

Bao Phuong Vinh and Chiem Hong Thai face big challenges at World 3 Cushion Survival 2024

Bao Phuong Vinh and Chiem Hong Thai face big challenges

Bao Phuong Vinh is in Group D with Nikos Polychro. (Greece, world No. 15) and Marco Zanetti (Italy, world No. 11) and Son Jun-hyuk. In the survival format, Nikos Polychro. (World 3 Cushion Survival 2023 champion) is a formidable player, often creating big series of points. Although falling into a rather "tough" group, the Binh Duong player can still play if he plays to his full potential. At the World 3 Cushion Survival 2023, Phuong Vinh could not get past the first round.

Chiem Hong Thai faces an even bigger challenge, being in Group E with "prodigy" Cho Myung-woo (Korea, world No. 3), Eddy Merckx (Belgium, world No. 5) and Berkay Karakurt (Turkey, world No. 16). However, there is still a chance for the 1999-born Vietnamese player, as the tournament is a tournament format that contains many surprises.