HO CHI MINH CITY - He is one of hundreds of Vietnamese billiard players with the talent to break through: the 33-year-old Duc Anh Chien Nguyen from Ho Chi Minh City (May 24, 1983), number 278 of the world ranking, from the city where the World Cup is played these days. You can ask the top players from Vietnam and the answer is short: a very good player. He got married four years ago, is the father of a two-year-old son, but otherwise he was not so well known so far, until he played his world class match this Tuesday afternoon.
His second match of the day against his countryman Dinh Phuoc Huynh, went out in only eight innings, 30-3, averaging 3.750 !!! With the 21 innings in his first match, against Thanh Loc Phan, he finished the day with 2.068 average.
That was by far the best performance of the first two days for the Vietnamese player, who only gathered some points in the national championship (top sixteen) and two World Cups last year, in Ho Chi Minh and Guri. And with his two victories, this Nguyen eclipsed the other stars of the second day. Hyun Gyu Park dashed off a match in 11 innings, Sung Ha Yoon and Sang Dae Lee in 13 and Wan Young Choi in 15 and 18, to mention some top performances in the second qualifying round.
The top sixteen consisted of ten Koreans, five Vietnamese and the Dutchman Volkan Cetin. The top five, led by Duc Anh Chien Nguyen, finished over 1.500 average. The level at the Hollywood billiards rises significantly and promise a lot for the next days.
The young Korean Jung Ju Shin, who was at the stage of last year's World Junior championships, could qualify as last man, with one win and 1.000 average. The top five of the reserve list had better averages, Than Tien Le and Dong-Ryong Kim even 1.472 and 1.461, but it must be feared that they will not return at the tables. Namiko Hayashi, one of the women's top players, didn't succeed in qualifying with one victory and 0.784.
The leader of the ranking, Duc Anh Nguyen Chien is drawn into an interesting group for tomorrow with the Turkish players Birol Uymaz and Hakan Incekara. The young Korean Myung Woo Cho meets a tough opponent with Ngo Dinh Nai. Therese Klompenhouweer will show up against the Korean Kwang Yeol Park and the Vietnamese Ngoc Tri Nguyen and two other young talents, the Korean Jung Ju Shi and Japanese Yusuke Mori will face each other in their group.
The top sixteen of the second day:
1 Duc Anh Chien Nguyen 4-2.068-8
2 Wan Young Choi 4-1.818-12
3 Oh Bok Cho 4-1.621-10
4 Hyun-Suk Kim 4-1.538-8
5 Tae Soo Lim 4-1.500-8
6 Chi Minh Truong 4-1.428-11
7 Hyun Gyu Park 4-1.428-10
8 Sung Ha Yoon 4-1.304-6
9 Byeong Ho Kim 4-1.111-9
10 Ngoc Tri Nguyen 4-1.071-7
11 Tran Tanh Tu Nguyen 4-0.937-6
12 Trong Qui Truong 4-0.909-8
13 Volkan Cetin 4-0.895-4
14 Tae Jun Oh 3-1.463-8
15 Sang Dae Lee 2-1.516-7
16 Jung Ju Shin 2-1.000-4.
Hyun Gyu Park, the number 7 of the day ranking
The Dutchman Volkan Cetin qualified among ten Koreans and five Vietnamese players
Beautiful, shining faces behind the organisation desk in Ho Chi Minh
One of the referees in the Ho Chi Minh arena