HO CHI MINH - The last Vietnamese who is still in the race for the finals at the World Cup in Ho Chi Minh has launched himself as one of the major contenders. Loudly cheered by the crowded stands in the billiards arena, Quyet Chien Tran defeated Frédéric Caudron on the penultimate day (40-25 in 15) and advanced with five Europeans and two Koreans to the last eight. The Vietnames, now twentieth on the ranking, has even chances to penetrated the top twelve of the world.
Torbjörn Blomdahl predicted already in the days before the tournament: the Vietnamese players are technically and mentally very strong, but Quyet Chien Tran is the best of all. The new kid on the block realized the expectation, started the tournament against his countryman Vinh Ly The 40-33 in fifteen and granted Caudron in his second match just 15 innings, what means that he has the best average (2.666) of eight finalists.
The follow-up for Saturday brings the main favorites against each other in the arena with only highlight matches: Torbjörn Blomdahl-Marco Zanetti, Quyet Chien Tran-Eddy Merckx, Dani Sánchez-Tayfun Tasdemir and the Korean bump Sung-Won Choi Jae-Ho Cho.
Quyet Chien Tran was the best man of the first day session: only Jae Ho Cho remained pretty close to that level in his match against Xuan Cuong Ma, which he won 40-31 in 19. There was not too many tension in this round, however Dae Kwon Shin, the hero of the day before against Dick Jaspers, finished close to Tayfun Tasdemir at the end (40-37 in 27).
Torbjörn Blomdahl kept his view on a new leading role against Lütfi Cenet (40-35 in 24). Marco Zanetti decided the match against Roland Forthomme, both on the day before good for runs of seventeen, to his advantage: 40-33 in 23. Dani Sánchez had a walk in the park starting the match against Eddy Leppens, leading 20-6 and 28-14. The Belgian champion fought himself back into the match until 31-31 but then could not finish it off: 40-35 in 22.
The Vietnamese crowd cheering Quyet Chien Tran after his victory
Quyet Chien Tran ran away from Caudron in the first ten innings. The Belgian had only one upswing with a run of eleven to 34-23 behind, but was then beaten by Tran's high class finish (40-25 in 15, 2,667/1,667). Eddy Merckx is sneaking, almost invisible, to the top with his typical solid and from time to time very spectacular playing style: he defeated Sameh Sidhom 40-31 in 26. Tayfun Tasdemir needed to much innings after a brilliant start with eleven, but finally dealt with Shin.
Jae Ho Cho had an even better start (run of thirteen in fourth inning), put Xuan Cuong Ma quickly on a big margin and finished 40-31 in 19. And the world champion, Sung-Won Choi, looks to be back on top after some tough mounths in his career. The Korean defeated Duy Trung Nguyen, a sympathetic qualification player, 40-29 in 24 and looks ready for a new showdown: against Jae Ho Cho.
Eddy Merckx
The matches (Vietnamese time):
16.00:
Blomdahl-Zanetti
Tran-Merckx
18.00:
Sánchez-Tasdemir
Choi-Cho.
Dani Sánchez
Sung-Won Choi
Torbjörn Blomdahl
Marco Zanetti
Xuan Cuong Ma