Player Bao Phuong Vinh - from zero to world top after 13 months

At the beginning of 2022, Phuong Vinh was still not on the ranking list of about 3,000 players of the World Billiard Federation (UMB). After 20 months, he climbed into the UMB Top 10 thanks to the 2023 world championship in Ankara, Turkey.

The 28-year-old player's rise is rare even in the sports world, as he went from zero to the top of the world in less than two years.

The World Championship, which Phuong Vinh just won, was rated highest by UMB, with 120 points for the champion. Because the winners of the World Cup or continental tournaments only receive 80 points. However, right at the first tournament, Phuong Vinh helped Vietnam win the championship for the first time. "Glory came to me really quickly," he told MetaSports after winning the championship on the evening of September 10.

Phuong Vinh was born in 1995 in Binh Duong. She loved playing billiard since childhood, but at that time she did not practice it properly. The priority for him and his family at that time was still education. In high school, he studied at a private school in Ho Chi Minh City, then matriculated at K52 Foreign Trade University majoring in Foreign Economics. After receiving her bachelor's degree, Phuong Vinh continued to study abroad in Australia and obtained a Master's degree in Business Administration and Economics.

That is also Phuong Vinh's goal after defending her thesis in Australia. Returning to Vietnam at the end of 2019, he strives to become a professional player. His parents gave him three years to try his hand at the cue, to see if this direction would bring success or not. However, because of Covid-19, it was not until the end of 2021 that Phuong Vinh began studying methodically with teacher Nguyen Thanh Binh, and scientifically researched the 3C number buttons.

In 3-cushion billiards, the study of number buttons has many similarities with mathematics, Phuong Vinh's strong subject. Each ball position can be in a certain set of buttons, and there will be a separate way to play for each set. The 28-year-old player's fighting style is considered scientific and methodical. He himself also said that studying for a master's degree helps his ability to play billiard, as this is a subject with many scientific elements.

The year 2022 is pivotal for Phuong Vinh, when he first attended an international tournament, the World Cup in Ho Chi Minh City, but stopped at the preliminary round. Last August, he first went abroad to compete at the World Cup in Seoul, South Korea, and made a splash when he reached the 1/8 round. At that time, he still did not think he could compete fairly with the world's top players.

"After defeating the world's number one player Dick Jaspers at the World Cup in Las Vegas, USA in March 2023, I am confident that I am qualified to compete at the highest level," he said. "That was the first time Jaspers stopped right in the World Cup group stage."

Participating in the Asian tournament for the first time, Phuong Vinh, Thanh Luc and Hong Thai reached the semi-finals in March 2023. However, the remaining player in the semi-finals, Cho Myung-woo, later won the championship, defeating Hong Thai and Thanh Luc respectively. In the semi-finals of the World Championship on September 10, Phuong Vinh claimed debt for two teammates with a dramatic 50-48 victory over the "Korean prodigy". That match also marked a miracle for the team when for the first time Vietnam had a world champion representative in a billiard genre.

Before coming to Ankara, Turkey, Phuong Vinh only set the goal of going as deep as possible. He did not expect to win the championship after defeating Tran Quyet Chien 50-34 in the all-Vietnam final. Regarding the next goal, Phuong Vinh said: "I want to conquer the World Cup."

Because she is ranked in the Top 10 in the world, Phuong Vinh will go straight to the group stage at the next World Cup in Veghel, Netherlands next month. A big opponent of Phuong Vinh is Quyet Chien, the reigning World Cup champion in Porto, Portugal.

The reigning world champion and World Cup champion in 3-cushion billiards are both Vietnamese - the country with the world's leading number of active players. Therefore, talents like Phuong Vinh may appear in the future.