BOGÓTA - 35-year-old Vietnamese Thanh Luc Tran is the new star in three cushion with a win at the World Cup in Bogóta and a spectacular rise in the world rankings. On his way to success, his first World Cup win, Tran beat among others Eddy Merckx, Dick Jaspers and in the final match Tayfun Tasdemir 50-47 in 36/35 innings. Dick Jaspers improves his position as number one in the rankings followed by Myung Woo Cho, Quyet Chien Tran and Thanh Luc Tran, rising to fourth ahead of Eddy Merckx. The breakthrough of the Vietnamese from a town near Ho Chi Minh follows his first major triumph: second place at last year's World Championship in Vietnam behind Myung Woo Cho.
Thanh Luc Tran could not believe his luck and cheered exuberantly after his first World Cup win, the third for a Vietnamese in history following Quyet Chien Tran and Duc Minh Tran. It accentuated the supremacy of the Asian country, which is emerging from the shadow of the Koreans. Phuong Vinh Bao's 2023 world title and victory in the World championship for nation teams in Viersen has given the Vietnamese the stature of a world nation in three-cushion. The new star player, Thanh Luc Tran, active in the World Cups since five years, has climbed to the top of the rankings in record time.
He showed himself to be an extremely versatile player in the Bogóta World Cup, combining brilliant runs with strong positional play and a stiff defending tactic against strong opponents. Thus, Tran first subdued Eddy Merckx in the quarter-finals by a generous margin (50-25 in 22/21), kept Dick Jaspers in control on the final day 50-37 in 27 and finally stepped on the podium as the proud winner of the final with Tayfun Tasdemir, the best of three Turks who excelled in the final stage. The start of that final match was probing with 15-11 for Tran after 10 innings, a run of seven for the Vietnamese, who kept Tasdemir from scoring for a while and led 27-13. The end came with a come-back by Tasdemir (7), small attacks by Tran, good for 43-36, 45-38, 49-47 and finally the final sprint to 50-47.
The joy of the Vietnamese winner was shared in the arena by his country's top players like Quyet Chien Tran, Phuong Vinh Bao, Hong Chiem Thai and Duc Minh Tran and the many Colombians in the stands. Finally, the stage with lots of glitz and glamour was formed by Thanh Luc Tran, Tayfun Tasdemir and losing semi-finalists Dick Jaspers and Tolgahan Kiraz.
In that semi-final, Tayfun Tasdemir won the clash with his compatriot Tolgahan Kiraz in an exhilarating final 50-46 in 33/32 innings. The two Turks continued to level off in the match after a 10 start from Tasdemir in the second innings for almost the entire match. Kiraz got close to his opponent with 8 and two times 4 (18-17), the score was 28-28 in 15, Kiraz took a small lead, but at 46-46 it was tied again. The best final shot was for Tademir, who went through the finish with 1 and 3 at 50-46 in 33/32.
Dick Jaspers' triumphant run was halted in the semi-final by Thanh Luc Tran. Jaspers got off to a stunning start, leading by 12 caroms difference, but after 24-10 in 10 after the break was overrun by the Asian, who first had a margin of 9 (37-28) with a run of 7 and went through the finish with 8 in the ultimate phase (50-37). Jaspers squandered his chances of winning in a weak phase, where he lost his way in 14 innings with four times 1 and 10 times xero. He did not recover from that relapse, in which Jaspers got many impossible positions from the Vietnamese.
Among other things, the World Cup in Bogóta was distinguished by the best match Eddy Merckx played against Jean Paul de Bruijn 40 in 10 innings. Merckx also scored the highest run: 16. Mexican Christian Hernandez led the first day rankings by 1,250, Peter Ceulemans was the best in the last qualifying round with 4 match points and 2,352 ahead of Myeong Jong Cha and Jérémy Bury. In the main event, Sameh Sidhom had the best start with 6 match points and 1.904 ahead of Tayfun Tasdemir, Hong Chiem Thai and Dick Jaspers. The South Americans, with Pedro Gonzalez and Huberney Cataño as exponents, disappeared from the World Cup with the 32 in that round, leaving the home crowd with no favorites to cheer for.
The top ranked players who did not make it to the knockout were Myung Woo Cho (2 points, 1.250), Marco Zanetti (1, 1.291), Martin Horn (2, 1.642), Jung Han Heo (2, 1.539), Phuong Vin Bao (0, 0.964).
The averages of the entire final field were slightly lower than in previous World Cups: Bogóta reached 1.409.
The final ranking in Bogóta:
- Thanh Luc Tran 13-1,545-14
- Tayfun Tasdemir 12-1,601-10
- Dick Jaspers 10-1,419-12
- Tolgahan Kiraz 8-1,443-12
- Hong Chiem Thai 8-1,542-11
- Jérémy Bury 8-1,354-14
- Berkay Karakurt 7-1,618-14
- Eddy Merckx 4-1,735-16
- Sameh Sidhom 6-1,692-11
- Jun Tae Kim 5-1,533-11
- Duc Minh Tran 4-1,590-12
- Peter Ceulemans 4-1.327-15
- Roland Forthomme 4-1,228-10
- Quyet Chien Tran 4-1,195-7
- Torbjörn Blomdahl 3-1,784-12
- Haeng Jik Kim 3-1.476-9
- Martin Horn 2-1,642-7
- Jung Han Heo 2-1,539-8
- Pedro Gonzalez 2-1,441-7
- Huberney Cataño 2-1,293-8
Vietnamese new kid Thanh Luc Tran celebrates the win with the crowd and his fans
The best four in Bogóta with big smiles at the podium
Vietnamese players and fans after Tran's victory, among others Quyet Chien Tran, Phuong Vinh Bao and Hong Chiem Thai
The new world ranking standings:
- Dick Jaspers 405
- Myung Woo Cho 342
- Quyet Chien Tran 334
- Thanh Luc Tran 308
- Eddy Merckx 287
- Jun Tae Kim 284
- Sameh Sidhom 282
- Tayfun Tasdemir 272
- Jung Han Heo 255
- Torbjörn Blomdahl 250
- Marco Zanetti 242
- Martin Horn 232
- Tolgahan Kiraz 217
- Phuong Vinh Bao 196
- Berkay Karakurt 193
- Jérémy Bury 182
- Haeng Jik Kim 178
- Hong Chiem Thai 166
- Peter Ceulemans 156
- Nick Polychronopoulos 156
- Glenn Hofman 150
- Frédéric Caudron 146
The next major tournaments are the World Nations Team Championships in Viersen from March 13-16 and the next World Cup in Ho Chi Minh from May 19-25.