HO CHI MINH CITY - The Korean billiard player Jae-Ho Cho has won the Asian three cushion championship in a brilliant final match. The new champion, who turned 38 this Saturday, defeated Jung-Han Heo in the battle for gold 40-28 in 10 innings, an average of 4.000 for the winner. The finish of the Korean was amazing: in the last three innings, Cho scored 8-7-11. Jae-Ho Cho and Jung-Han Heo climb to the positions 7 and 8 in the world ranking. The Vietnamese Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, who lost his Asian title, drops out of the top 14 of the world ranking.
The tournament in the Vietnamese capital was played with 32 players, divided into eight groups of four, in which the best two qualified for the quarter-finals. Four Koreans (Jae-Ho Cho, Jung-Han Heo, Sung-Won Choi and Haeng-Jik Kim) played in the last eight against four Vietnamese (Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, Quyet Chien Tran, Nguyen Trung Hau and Quang Ho). They outcome was a complete Korean coup in these quarter-finals with four Korean winners.
Jae-Ho Cho qualified for the final by a victory over Sung-Won Choi 40-37 in 27 innings. Jung-Han Heo and Haeng-Jik Kim finished 40-40 after 19 innings, Heo won the shootout.
Jung-Han Heo had the best start in the final against Jae-Ho Cho with a 9 in the first inning. The first part already showed an excellent level. Cho looked up against a 23-14 deficit when he launched his attack and finished 8, 7 and 11.
Jae-Ho Cho was the best in Korea last year and won the Verhoeven Open in New York in the final against Eddy Leppens. The 38-year-old Korean took one World Cup in his career so far, in 2014 in Istanbul.
Jae-Ho Cho, after his Asian victory in the world's top ten
Jung-Han Heo, Haeng-Jik Kim, Sung-Won Choi and Jae-Ho Cho