Vietnam cueists chalk up Carom Billiards Continental Cup top 5 listing

By Dang Khoa, Xuan BinhDecember 23, 2019 | 12:34 am PT
Vietnam cueists chalk up Carom Billiards Continental Cup top 5 listing
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen reacts after winning Turkish Murat Naci Coklu at the 3-cushion Carom Billiards Continental Cup in South Korea, December 22. Photo courtesy of Kozoom Studio.
With three cueists in the top five, Vietnam helped Asia claim the 3-cushion Carom Billiards Continental Cup in South Korea Sunday.

Tran Quyet Chien, world's seventh seed, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen (24th) and Ngo Dinh Nai (29th) joined South Korea's Kim Haeng Jik (5th), Cho Myung Woo (13th), Cho Jae Ho (15th), Choi Sung Won (19th) and Heo Jung Han (22th) to defeat Europe's contenders with a score of 600-451, claiming the first-ever continental championship title for an Asian team.

"Honestly, the Asian team was weaker. But whoever has the better start bears the advantage," Chien noted.

"I usually perform well on new tables and felt. So, I volunteered to start since my team hesitated."

Vietnam's number one cueist kicked of two matches across three-day-tournament, defeating Turkish Semih Sayginer (9th) and Spanish Dani Sanchez (18th).

Chien was the second to play on the final day, beating captain of the European team, Dutchman Dick Jaspers (1st), with a score 25-7 after seven innings. With this victory, Chien widened the distance between the two teams to 128 points (450-322).

Nai scooped another victory for Asia by beating Italian Marco Zanetti (2nd) with a score 25-22 after 17 innings in the third match while Nguyen trumped Turk Murat Naci Coklu (12th) with 25-13 after 15.

All three Vietnamese cueists finished in the top five having the highest average points across 24 matches with Nguyen in second on 2,272 points, Chien third on 2,205 and Nai fifth on 2,083.

Besides, the Asian team pocketed the $160,000 prize money.

 
 
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