HO CHI MINH – The Vietnamese player Phuong Vinh Bao from the new billiards mecca became World champion three cushion out of nowhere in 2023 and was famous within one day. The new Vietnamese star is called Duc Minh Tran, also unknown in World Cup events but suddenly the hero of thousands of Vietnamese billiards fans. He triumphed this Sunday after a sensational week in the Ho Chi Minh World Cup, leaving behind all the big stars on the world stage. Duc Minh Tran's name is written in golden letters in his country from this week. In the final, he beat Korean Jun Tae Kim 50-46 in 23 innings (2,174/2,091). Rarely, if ever, did a World Cup get such a sensational winner. The new hero of many thousands of Vietnamese billiard fans could not believe it himself. Before the final day at the billiard arena, supporters hung a huge banner with an unlikely prediction: ’Tran Duc Minh Champion.’ The madness among the hundreds of fans was almost unreal and rose to a climax after Duc Minh Tran crowned himself the winner. Everything and everyone cheered, the winner himself most of all.
When Duc Minh Tran won his semi-final on Sunday, a crazy fan in the stands even raised a floundering baby into the air to show his joy. After the final, they cheered the new idol for many minutes. The Vietnamese, totally unaccustomed to that kind of success, was already posing after the semi-final as if he had won the World Cup. When that actually happened a few hours later, the miracle was complete.
The final Tran-Kim was for long time a one-man show by the eventual winner. He ran out to 15-2, 21-8 and went into the break 25-16. The Korean, already good for a stunning run of 22 earlier in this World Cup, did not give in yet. Two runs of 7 and 12 in the 19th and 20th innings brought the tension all the way back (46-45), but in a dead silence, interspersed with cries of joy from the stands, Tran finished with 2 and 3: 50-46.
The joy was in stark contrast to Jun Tae Kim's grief. The 31-year-old Vietnamese from Seoul was in a World Cup final for the second time. As in Sharm El Sheikh last year, Kim grabbed next to the gold. For the sixth time in his career, the current Asian champion stood on a World Cup podium: second twice, third four times!!!!
What was known before about Duc Minh Tran, the big winner, before he had beaten Haeng Jik Kim (40-9), Tayfun Tasdemir (40-28) and Quyet Chien Tran (50-33), among others, in this World Cup and was suddenly in the final of a World Cup after his win against Tolgahan Kiraz?
The Vietnamese is 41, lives in Bien Hoa City, some 30 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh, his trainer and coach is Dat Lam, a regional coach. Duc Minh is a father of two children and a billiards equipment seller in a small billiards club. He became his country's champion in 2020 and then left for the PBA in Korea. There he was not very successful and returned to Vietnam and the UMB after a year.
At international level, Tran only played in the World Cups in Ho Chi Minh. There, he defeated Murat Naci Coklu in 2019, lost to Marco Zanetti that year, played a draw against Myung Woo Cho in 2018 and lost by one carom to Korea's only world champion Sung-Won Choi. The current UMB world number 250 had never achieved more than that.
The almost unknown billiard player's life is bound to change in his country. He is making a huge jump in the rankings and will no doubt appear in other World Cups from now on. Vietnamese billiards continues to amaze and produce great champions. Today's world champion is from Vietnam, the world nation team champion is from Vietnam and now also Vietnam's World Cup winner. The country is already looking forward to this year's World three cushion Championships, to be held in Binh Thuan from 25-29 September.
Semi-finals:
Jun Tae Kim-Burak Hashas 50-32 in 19 (2,500/1,684
The Korean of the super run in the quarter-finals (22) ended Burak Hashas' adventure. The victories against Dick Jaspers and Eddy Merckx had apparently physically demolished the 18-year-old, as Jun Tae Kim faced a remarkably tame Turk in the semi-finals. The Korean himself started with 4, 6 and 3 (14-4), Hashas could only do something back in the 9th inning with a run of 8 (21-14 for the Korean). But instead of a fresh, new start, young Burak fell back in a phase with small runs, while Jun Tae Kim found his rhythm and hit the decisive gap with 11 in the 15th inning (40-22). He didn’t give up that lead again. With another 3 and 5 (Harak in 8 innings four times 3), the way to the finish was open. Jun Tae Kim will play his second final in a World Cup later today.
Duc Minh Tran-Tolgahan Kiraz 50-42 in 49 (1,020/0,857)
The second semi-final between two players with no World Cup history ends in a marathon match. The two players, Duc Minh Tran and Tolgahan Kiraz, are tormented by nerves, because for one of the two, this World Cup will end with a glorious performance in the final match. The start is already very tough at 6-5 in 10 innings. Kiraz, who after some misses raises his hands and looks up desperately, records 13 zeros in his first 20 innings. Things seem to be slightly better with two 4 runs for both players, until Tran is the first to break the spell. The Vietnamese makes a 9-run out of the blue, which turns out to be the decisive attack afterwards. Still the score comes up to 41-40 for Kiraz, but then Tran has the better final sprint with 4 and 3 in the last innings. The crowd is already going crazy with joy, what should that be like in the final game?
Semi-finals:
Jun Tae Kim-Burak Hashas 50-32 in 19 (2,500/1,684
The Korean producer of the super run in the quarter-finals (22) made an end to Burak Hashas' adventure. The victories over Dick Jaspers and Eddy Merckx had apparently physically demolished the 18-year-old, because Jun Tae Kim faced a remarkably tame Turk in the semi-finals. The Korean himself started with 4, 6 and 3 (14-4), Hashas could only hit back in the 9th inning with an 8-run (21-14 for the Korean). But instead of a fresh, new start, young Burak fell back in a part of the match with only small runs, while Jun Tae Kim found his rhythm and hit the decisive gap with 11 in the 15th (40-22). He didn’t give that lead away anymore. Making another 3 and 5 (Hashas in 8 innings four times 3), the way to the finish was open. Jun Tae Kim will play his second final in a World Cup later today.
Duc Minh Tran-Tolgahan Kiraz 50-42 in 49 (1.020/0.857)
The second semi-final between two players with no World Cup history ends in a marathon match. The two players, Duc Minh Tran and Tolgahan Kiraz, are tormented by nerves, because for one of the two, this World Cup will end with a glorious performance in the final match. The start is already very tough at 6-5 in 10 innings. Kiraz, who after some misses raises his hands and looks up desperately, records 13 zeros in his first 20 innings. Things seem to be slightly better with two 4 runs for both players, until Tran is the first to break the spell. The Vietnamese makes a 9-run out of the blue, which turns out to be the decisive attack afterwards. Still the score comes up to 41-40 for Kiraz, but then Tran has the better final sprint with 4 and 3 in the last innings. The crowd is already going crazy with joy, what should that be like in the final game?
World Cup overview:
The second World Cup in 2024 was looking forward to Frédéric Caudron's come-back well in advance and was rewarded by the Belgian maestro with a starring role in the early preliminaries. He was still preceded in the first session by Vietnamese Van Anh Huy Pham, but became runner-up with Birol uymaz, also back from the PBA, in his shadow. The first Korean with day's win was Su Yeong Park, Caudron finished in the top five on that second day. Even then, in those early days, a new Vietnamese star emerged. Duc Minh Tran shone on the third day as the leader with 2.692 on average ahead of Hyeong Kon Kim and Frédéric Caudron. The notable players who went out on that day were Ryuuji Umeda, the former world champion, and Birol Uymaz.
The final qualification showed the familiar face of Glenn Hofman, the Dutchman who was on the podium twice in previous World Cups. He beat Caudron in his group and finished 2,500. There was a consolation prize for Caudron: he could go into the main draw as best runner-up with 2 match points and 2.033, the same as Burak Hashas as number 3.
With Dick Jaspers as sovereign leader, the first day of the main tournament ended. The Dutchman, like Berkay Karakurt, secured six match points from the three group matches. Ruben Legazpi, with five match points, was the best group winner in average with 2.142. Eddy Merckx, as number two in his group, the all-time best with 2.804.
The tournament ended on that first day for Phuong Vinh Bao, the world champion, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Haeng Jik Kim, Tayfun Tasdemir, Sameh Sidhom, Jérémy Bury, Martin Horn and Glenn Hofman.
In the best 16, the battlefield continued: Dick Jaspers was beaten by Burak Hashas (50-30 in 24), Myung Woo Cho by Frédéric Caudron with 50-41 in 25, Quyet Chien Tran by Duc Minh Tran with 50-33 in 23 and Marco Zanetti by Tolgahan Kiraz with 50-40 in 23.
That led to the quarter-finals where Burak Hashas pulled another stunt against Eddy Merckx, Jun Tae Kim vaulted over Frédéric Caudron with that brilliant run of 22 and Duc Minh Tran further extended his adventure with a win over Berkay Karakurt.
That way it was off to the semi-finals on Sunday with Jun Tae Kim-Burak Hashas and Tolgahan Kiraz-Duc Minh Tran. And for sure, one of the four finalists would win a World Cup for the first time in his career.
Dick Jaspers remains the leader of the world rankings: the so-called Players Ranking. The Dutchman has 356 points and is number one ahead of Quyet Chien Tran with 346, Myung Woo Cho with 330, Eddy Merckx with 294 and Jun Tae Kim with 293. The UMB has also been using an Event Ranking since this year. There, Jun Tae Kim is the ranking leader with 364 points ahead of Quyet Chien Tran with 363, Dick Jaspers with 323, Myung Woo Cho with 319 and Torbjörn Blomdahl with 312.