PORTO - The Vietnamese flag hung proudly in top after the World Cup in Porto, where Quyet Chien Tran was honored the winner. The breakthrough of young Vietnamese players marked this third World Cup of the year and confirmed Tran's growing reputation as the king of Vietnamese three-cushion billiards and this country's impressive rise on the global circuit. Quyet Chien Tran won his second World Cup in Porto after his first in 2016 in Ho Chi Minh with two other Vietnamese in top three. In the final match, Tran beat the only top African player, Egyptian Sameh Sidhom 40-30 in 27 innings. The country of rice fields and tropical jungles, which saw some six top players leave for the Korean professional federation PBA, shone in Porto with four players in the top 20. That is one less than top Asian country South Korea. The World Cup in Porto broke the traditional hegemony of Europeans and went into the final day without the top six players in the world rankings. In fact, it is highly rare that Dick Jaspers, Marco Zanetti and Torbjörn Blomdahl were missing from the top of the rankings.
Vietnam, with a population 99 million, eight times bigger than the Netherlands, for example, does not yet fulfil a glorious role in the World Cup history. Quyet Chien Tran was the only winner so far. In Porto, the 40-year-old player showed himself as the big example of players like Hong Chiem Thai, Phuong Vinh Bao and Thanh Luc Tran, who have the class to climb the global rankings. Quyet Chien Tran's routine took him to the top throne. He defeated Hong Chiem Thai (1.597 on average, run 14) in the semi-finals. Two other Vietnamese revelations, Phuong Vinh Bao (1.804, run 11) and Thanh Luc Tran (1.698, run 16) went out of the tournament in sight of the quarter-finals against Marco Zanetti and Hong Chiem Thai.
Quyet Chien Tran dominated the final against Sameh Sidhom (50-30 in 27 innings), as he also did against Hong Chiem Thai in the semi final with 50-26 in 20/19. Sameh Sidhom's dominance in the other semi final was even more impressive against Jérémy Bury. The Frenchman, exceptionally strong in the run-up to that match, was played to a big margin by Sidhom with an early 19 run in the 3rd inning and did not recover that blow. Sidhom finally won 50-20 in 31/30.
Quyet Chien Tran is 40, married to Pham Thi Kim Thoa and two daughters (Pham Thien Kim and Pham Thien Y. He has been a professional billiards player since 2012 and has two billiards clubs in Ho Chi Minh City. ''I am very happy with this World Cup win, as it was five years ago,'' he said after the ceremony in Porto. Tran signaled: ’’My team has performed very well in this World Cup. Bao, Thai and Luc are potential players for the future.'' Quyet Chien Tran assures: ’’I love Vietnamese billiards and don't want to go to PBA. Especially because I love my billiard father, Nguyen Viet Hoa, who is the coach of the Vietnamese team, very much. I want to keep on playing in UMB for the rest of my life.'' Tran opened the ball on Saturday night for all the Vietnamese fans and people who supported him.
Dick Jaspers remains the No 1 ranked player despite his elimination against Sameh Sidhom in the round with the best 16. The Dutchman was counted out after he missed a match ball by a final run of eight from Sidhom. Jaspers lost part of his lead in the world rankings and only has an 8-point margin left on Marco Zanetti. Torbjörn Blomdahl is number 3, Sameh Sidhom moves up to 4th place.
The final ranking of the Porto World Cup:
- Quyet Chien Tran 12-1,775-11
- Sameh Sidhom 10-1,510-19
- Jérémy Bury 9-1,578-18
- Hong Chiem Thai 8-1,597-14
- Jun Tae Kim 8-1,642-10
- Haeng Jik Kim 6-1,745-11
- Marco Zanetti 6-1,558-9
- Martin Horn 6-1,489-11
- Tayfun Tasdemir 6-1,698-9
- Chang Hoon Seo 6-1.457-9
- Dick Jaspers 4-2,000-12
- Peter Ceulemans 4-1,883-12
- Phuong Vinh Bao 4-1,804-11
- Nikos Polychronopoulos 4-1,767-11
- Thanh Luc Tran 4-1,698-16
- Myung Woo Cho 3-1,661-8
The world ranking after the World Cup in Porto:
- Dick Jaspers 381
- Marco Zanetti 373
- Torbjörn Blomdahl 354
- Sameh Sidhom 340
- Dani Sánchez 332 (PBA)
- Myung Woo Cho 325
- Tayfun Tasdemir 322
- Eddy Merckx 309
- Haeng Jik Kim 283
- Quyet Chien Tran 260
- Jérémy Bury 249
- Nikos Polychronopoulos 195
- Jun Tae Kim 206
- Jung Han Heo 188
- Martin Horn 172
- Semih Sayginer 162 (PBA)
- Ruben Legazpi 145
- Choong Bok Lee 139 (PBA)
- Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 133 (PBA)
- Myeong Jong Cha 132
The Europeans in the top 30:
Dion Nelin 121
Berkay Karakurt 113
Roland Forthomme 113
Murat Naci Coklu 110 (PBA)
Peter Ceulemans 94.
Quyet Chien Tran with his Vietnamese brothers Thai, Bao and Luc
The winner Tran kissing his cue
Tran won his second World Cup in his career