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In the opening game of group E in Las Vegas, Blomdahl defeated Van Ly 40-21 after just 11 turns. On average, the Swedish veteran scored about 3,636 points per turn in this game.
A few minutes after the game, he wrote on Facebook: "I would like to express my sincerest to my opponent and all my friends and colleagues from Vietnam. As I was preparing the next shot I realized that it was only two cushions. In that moment I should have stepped away from the table but I chose to continue my run instead. This was a very bad decision and I am deeply ashamed of my behavior."
Blomdahl said that he will do everything to make sure this never happens again.
"Sportsmanship is very important and necessary," he wrote.
The 60-year-old did not go into detail about the play. The referee and Van Ly did not seem to notice it as well. The play that Blomdahl is referring to is when he scored his 20th point. He hit two cushions before hitting the target ball and the third cushion simultaneously.
The play that Torbjorn Blomdahl refers to in the game with Dao Van Ly on March 2, 2023.
In three-cushion billiards, the main ball must hit three cushions before the target ball to score. If a player only hits two cushions, the point will not be counted and the turn will be given to the opponent.
Blomdahl is currently sixth in the world rankings. He has the second-most world championships with seven, behind Belgian legend Raymond Ceulemans, who has 21.
The Three-Cushion World Cup, taking place Feb. 26 to March 4 in Las Vegas, is the first billiards world competition in 2023. It contains four qualifiers, one group stage and one knockout phase. The group stage has 32 players divided into eight groups. Vietnam has four cueists in the group stage, Van Ly, Tran Quyet Chien, Bao Phuong Vinh and Nguyen Duc Anh Chien.
Ly is currently 247th in the world rankings. He defeated Blomdahl 40-33 after 27 turns at the World Cup last year in HCMC. In this World Cup, Ly is in group E with Blomdahl, South Korea's Cho Myung-woo and Denmark's Dion Nelin.
