Reigning world champion Bao Phuong Vinh and Asian runner-up Tran Thanh Luc both entered the round of 16 of the 3-cushion carom World Cup in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
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| Competition schedule of Bao Phuong Vinh and Tran Thanh Luc in the round of 16 of the 2023 World Cup billiards. (Source: Billiard Vietnam) |
Taking place from December 3-9, the 2023 Sharm El Sheikh World Cup 3-cushion carom has a total of 7 Vietnamese representatives: Tran Quyet Chien, Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu, Bao Phuong Vinh, Tran Thanh Luc, Doan Minh Kiet, Chiem Hong Thai and Dao Van Ly.
In the qualifying round, players were divided into groups of 3 and played up to 30 points at a time. In the final qualifying round on December 6, players played up to 40 points at a time.
After the qualifying round on December 6, 4 Vietnamese players won the right to continue to the round of 32 taking place on December 7: Tran Thanh Luc, Tran Quyet Chien, Bao Phuong Vinh and Chiem Hong Thai. At this time, the players were divided into groups of 4 people, playing up to 40 points in turns.
However, only two Vietnamese representatives advanced to the round of 16, including reigning world champion Bao Phuong Vinh and Asian runner-up Tran Thanh Luc.
Bao Phuong Vinh had his opening match in Group G with a 40-36 victory over Sam van Etten. The Dutch player is nicknamed "the billiard giant" because he is 2m02 tall and is the current European champion in the carde 47/2 billiards category (a variation of Libre).
In parallel, Sam Van Etten also competed in 3-cushion carom and won 18 international titles, including two European junior championships (2013 and 2015). However, Bao Phuong Vinh still showed his mettle when he won with a relatively close score.
In the second match of the group stage, Bao Phuong Vinh lost to former world number 1 Eddy Merckx 30-40. The Belgian player won the World Cup billiards tournament in Ho Chi Minh City for the second time after a thrilling victory over Marco Zanetti (Italy, world number 2) with a score of 50-42.
Having to win in the final round, Bao Phuong Vinh excellently completed the task when defeating Peter Ceulemans with a score difference of 40-29, to finish second in the group. Phuong Vinh with an average of 1.549 points per round, advanced with Merckx.
Meanwhile, the most impressive Vietnamese player in the group stage was Thanh Luc, when he won all 3 games in Group D, respectively against Dick Jaspers 40-31, Berkay Karakurt 40-37 and Heo Jung-han 40-34. He topped the group with an average score of 1.379 points, and advanced with Jaspers.
In the round of 16, Phuong Vinh will meet Daniel Morales (Colombia) at 4:00 p.m. today (December 8), Hanoi time. Thanh Luc will meet Burak Hashas at 6:30 p.m. the same day.
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