Player Tran Thanh Luc won the Asian silver medal
In the final, Thanh Luc could not make a surprise when he lost to Cho Myung-woo 20-50 after 16 innings. Korean players are currently ranked 11th in the world, with an average score of 3.125 per turn. Cho showed the bravery of the 3-band World Cup champion in Egypt in December 2022, to win the Asian championship for the first time.
Vietnam has up to five players to reach the quarterfinals, namely Tran Quyet Chien, Tran Thanh Luc, Bao Phuong Vinh, Nguyen Thanh That and Chiem Hong Thai, while South Korea has two representatives and Japan has one.
In the quarter-finals, Thanh Luc surprised when he eliminated the number one player in Vietnam and the number 10 in the world Quyet Chien 50-42 to enter the semi-finals. Quyet Chien became the former king, he was crowned with a 40-38 victory over Cho himself in the last period of 2019 in Ho Chi Minh City.
In another match taking place within Vietnam in the quarterfinals, Phuong Vinh beat Thanh That 50-29. Hong Thai also beat Sakai Nobuyasu 50-43 to become the third representative of Vietnam to enter the semi-finals. All four players in the semifinals of this period are in the 9x generation. In which, three Vietnamese players are outside the Top 50 in the world.
Thanh Luc beat compatriot Phuong Vinh 50-45 in the semi-finals, to enter the final. In the remaining semi-final, Cho quickly beat Hong Thai 50-20. The 25-year-old Korean player repeated this score in the final with Thanh Luc, to keep the cup at home.
The Asian carom tournament takes place annually, within the system of the World Federation of Billiards (UMB). The 3-band carom champion has an additional 80 points on the UMB ranking table, equal to the World Cup tournament system. Young Vietnamese players will significantly improve their position in UMB by advancing in the tournament.
The 2023 Asian Carom Championship will be held for the first time after a three-year hiatus due to Covid-19. The tournament took place from March 23 to March 26 in Gangwon, with the following contents: 1 tape, 3 bands, U22 3 bands and women 3 bands.
