Visa fiasco leads Vietnamese cueists to miss world tournament

In a shocking development, Vietnamese cueists, including a world champion, will not be able to compete at the upcoming Three-Cushion Carom Billiards World Cup in Porto because they could not get visas from the Portugal embassy in Thailand.

Nguyen Viet Hoa, the Vietnamese coach, said in a short note to the World Billiards Union that "We are very sorry we can't come to Porto. The Portuguese embassy in Thailand did not issue us a visa," billiards magazine Kozoom reported.

There is currently no Portugal Embassy in Vietnam. Portugal visa is granted at the Germany embassy or Portugal missions in other Southeast Asian countries.

The fiasco has been blamed on a lack of time.

“We returned from the World Cup in Blankenberge, and there was not enough time to apply for visa to Portugal. We could not do this any sooner," Hoa said. "If we apply for visa, we must submit our passports. And we needed those in order to play in Belgium.''

Tran Quyet Chien, who was crowned champion of the 2018 Three-Cushion Carom Billiards World Cup in Ho Chi Minh City in May and one of the Vietnamese cueists planned for the Porto game, said that the Europe visa of his and other team members expired jut after the tournament at Belgium, and they couldn’t go to Portugal afterwards. "In previous years, the embassies usually helped us,” Chien said.

With their absence in Porto for the game between July 2-8, the Vietnamese cueists will not just slip in world rankings, their qualification for subsequent tournaments will also be affected.

“I know our ranks will drop, but we have to accept it and try our best at the next tournaments to make up for this one,” Chien said.

At the game in HCMC, Chien made it to the final to compete with his countryman Ngo Dinh Nai after beating the current world No.1, Belgian professional Frederic Caudron.

The performance of Chien and Nai has won global acclaims.

"They were on the rise in spectacular fashion, the Vietnamese," Kozoom said.