HO CHI MINH CITY - The white shirt hanging over his pants, the eternal smile on his face, mischievous, dark eyes, always that nervous, speedy walk around the billiard table and the wonderful reactions after a carom or after a miss. The World Cup circuit is enriched by a billiard player for whom people come to the arena. Quoc Nguyen Nguyen is the name, Vietnamese, yet slightly capricious, but what a huge talent. He was one of the two crowd heroes on the penultimate day of the World Cup in Ho Chi Minh and overcame the stress with victories against Roland Forthomme and Nikos Polychronopoulos, bringing him to the semi-final, tomorrow, against Dutchman Dick Jaspers.
The other Vietnamese, a virtually unknown player, who came out of the preliminaries, defeated in his first match today HaengJik Kim, but was then knocked out by Dick Jaspers, in a fascinating titanic struggle that was only decided by the Dutch world top player in two shoot-outs after 40-40 (1-1 and 3-1).
The crowd cheered, shouted, clapped and showed that Asians in the stands of a billiard arena can match the boisterous South Americans. That will be continued on Sunday, the final day, when Quoc Nguyen Nguyen, the prodigy from Ho Chi Minh, who certainly is a candidate for the top of the rankings, appears in the arena for his final mission.
There are four players left for Sunday to come to the stage: Frédéric Caudron and Marco Zanetti, who face each other at 11.00. Two hours later Dick Jaspers and Quoc Nguyen Nguyen meet in the other semi-final.
Two of the finalists can make a bid for the top position in the world ranking at the end of this World Cup to dethrone Torbjörn Blomdahl. Caudron therefor must reach the final at least, Dick Jaspers has to win the tournament.
The four finalists in order of appearance:
Frédéric Caudron
Started this World Cup timidly with a win over Christian Rudolph (40-33 in 31), continued against Anh Vu Duong with one of the best matches so far (40-24 in 12) and entered his his second performance against Jae Ho Cho, today, after a 21-19 score at the break, 29-29 in 21 innings and a stronger final shot than his opponent (40-33 in 23). The Belgian star is on the threshold of another international success, but first of all has to defeat his former team mate Marco Zanetti in the legendary Agipi team, to survive the semi-final.
Marco Zanetti
The Italian showed his wonderful temperament and delivered another special performance, when he beat Torbjörn Blomdahl by a margin. The joy was intense and sincere, the walk through the arena a tribute to the audience. The 40-25 in 21 innings was revealing: Zanetti played super focused and strong, Blomdahl was not a shadow of the player he was in his previous two games. Before the quarterfinal match, Zanetti was not threatened at all by Sameh Sidhom, the Egyptian who couldn't find his rhythm and lost 40-9 in 19.
Quoc Nguyen Nguyen
The Vietnamese clown of billiards started this World Cup against the young Korean Shin (40-17 in 16), knocked down the remarkably tame Roland Forthomme (40-23 in 19) and showed his very best against Nikos Polychronopoulos, the star player of Friday (final run 22). The crowd rewarded every attack of its phenomenon with passionate cheering, saw the Vietnamese always leading the match (15-10, 22-17, 30-20) and ran out decisively to 36-23. The Greek, so feared for his killers instinct, missed his touch on the important moments of the match and was punished for that at 40-23. Poly, who returns to the top twelve, finally showed his amazing class with eleven in the equalizer (40-34).
Dick Jaspers
The Dutchman was hardly threatened before his last match today. He started with a walk over against Vinh Ly The (40-16 in 17) and another Vietnamese, Truong Quang Hao (40-18 in 16), bringing him to his last, today, in the quarters, a thrilling match against Ma Minh Cam, his third Vietnamese opponent in a row. The Dutch star fighter seemed on his way to a comfortable win around the break (22-13 in 11), allowed Ma to level the score at 28-28, then ran out to 35-30, but missed the final touch at the end. The miss at 39-36 led to the thrilling finish and a 40-40 on the score board. The shoot-out had to bring the decision. Jaspers scored only once in his first attempt, but Ma also missed, by a kiss, after he scored from the break-off. With three in the second shoot-out, Jaspers was still fragile: the inexperienced Vietnamese could strike, but couldn't make his second point in the deadly silence. He bowed his head and was out, unfortunately for the home crowd.
Marco Zanetti showed his temperament after he defeated Torbjörn Blomdahl
Dick Jaspers, winner after shoot-outs against Vietnamese Minh Cam Ma
Frédéric Caudron, in a blistering form, on his way to another international crown?
Torbjörn Blomdahl, bowing his head after the loss against Zanetti
The semi-finals on Sunday:
11.00: Zanetti Caudron
13.00: Jaspers Nguyen Nguyen.