Vietnamese players won the world championship in their first tournament
In the final match on the evening of September 10 in Ankara, Phuong Vinh led his seniors for most of the time, with the turning point being a series of 8 points to lead 29-22. While Quyet Chien lost his sense of chance and has continuously missed points since then, Phuong Vinh played more stably and accumulated points. In the last 12 rounds, Vietnam's number one player only earned four points, while his juniors won 11 points. In the end, Phuong Vinh won Quyet Chien 50-34 after 33 rounds.
Phuong Vinh made history when he became the first Vietnamese player to win the world 3-band carom tournament, but did not appear as happy as when he beat Cho Myung-woo in the semi-finals a few hours earlier. He expressed simple emotions, shook Quyet Chien's hand and smiled brightly. In the 95-year history of the 3-cushion carom world billiard championship, there have only been three times that the final took place within two players of one country, that is Argentina in 1938, Belgium 2017 and this time in Vietnam.
Phuong Vinh is currently ranked 21st in the world, with a previous outstanding achievement of reaching the Asian semi-finals in March 2023 in Korea. At that time, he lost to compatriot Tran Thanh Luc, but Thanh Luc lost to Cho Myung-woo in the final. This time, Phuong Vinh eliminated the Korean "prodigy" with a score of 50-48, to meet Quyet Chien in the final.
Quyet Chien is the number 10 player in the world and also entered the final after defeating defending champion Tayfun Tasdemir 50-47 in the semi-final this afternoon. Today, the number one player in Vietnam usually starts well, but at the end of the match he cools down. The home player could not take advantage of Quyet Chien's mistakes, but Phuong Vinh could do this.
Phuong Vinh was born in 1995, studied abroad in Australia to get a degree in economics, before returning to Vietnam at the end of 2019. Since then, he has started to play professionally. Over the past year or so, the 28-year-old player often participated in major tournaments like the World Cup, then suddenly won the world championship.
In the 3-cushion carom tournament system of the World Billiard Federation (UMB), the World Cup and World Championship (world championship) always gather top players. The World Cup takes place about six or seven times a year, and amateur players can also attend as long as they pay a fee. The world championship only invites the top players on the planet and continents, taking place once a year. Previously, Vietnam only had one player reach the final of the tournament, Nguyen Duc Anh Chien in 2019.
