Vietnamese player close to taking world billiards throne

Before the Asian Carom Championship at the end of March this year, Chien was 46 points apart from Cho.

Even though Chien was eliminated in the group stage while the South Korean player reached the quarterfinals, Vietnam's number one player still narrowed the gap, according to the world rankings update of World Billiards Union (UMB) on April 2.

The reason is that at the 2023 Asian Carom Championship, Cho won the title and received 80 points while Chien reached the quarterfinals and got 26 points. After Cho was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the 2024 edition, he was deducted 54 points and Chien lost 18 points.

Tran Quyet Chien celebrates his victory after the Three-Cushion World Cup final in Portugal, July 2, 2023. Photo by UMB

The current points of the top two players in the world are 381 and 371, followed by Dutch veteran Dick Jaspers with 341.

After reaching the final of the Asian Championship, South Korea’s Kim Jun-tae and Kim Haeng-jik made their big jumps on the ranking.

Champion Kim Jun-tae climbed from 10th to 5th with 328 points. Meanwhile, runner-up Kim Haeng-jik also ascended four places to 8th. Vietnam's number two player Bao Phuong Vinh dipped to 10th, after losing to Haeng-jik in the semifinals.

The next tournament is the Three-Cushion World Cup in Ho Chi Minh City in May. Cho will have to keep at least 80 points, while Chien only needs to keep 26 points. That means that if Chien passes the group stage, he will catch up with Cho, regardless of his results.

However, players behind Chien like Jaspers or Marco Zanetti also have a chance to climb because they only have to keep 26 and 36 points.

Vietnam is the defending champion of all three UMB world tournaments, the World Cup, World Championship and World Cup for National Teams. If Chien tops the world ranking, Vietnam will dominate three-cushion billiards, a rare occurrence.

The Three-Cushion World Cup in HCMC will take place from May 20 to 26, with Chien and Vinh entering the group stage directly as the top 14 seeds.