HO CHI MINH - Who is that number five in the world among all those famous world top ranked players? He is Vietnamese, 35 years young and has shot up like a comet. Thanh Luc Tran is his name, married, father of a 10-year-old daughter and on his way to a great future. There are only famous names and multiple winners who precede him in the current rankings: Dick Jaspers, Myung Woo Cho, Eddy Merckx and Quyet Chien Tran. His name in Vietnamese: Trần Thanh Lực. He will play alongside Quyet Chien Tran and Phuong Vinh Bao next week (Monday 19 to Sunday 25 May) in front of their own audience in the Ho Chi Minh World Cup. Why this new Vietnamese is so high up the rankings and has ousted players like Martin Horn, Torbjörn Blomdahl, Jérémy Bury, Haeng Jik Kim and Nick Polychronopoulos from the top ten? Well, this new Tran finished second at last year's World Championship following Myung Woo Cho and won this year's first 2025 World Cup in the final against Tayfun Tasdemir. So, Trần Thanh Lực is a name we surely will have to get used to.
The World Cup cycle continues this Monday with the second 2025 tournament. In the Vietnamese stronghold, Torbjörn Blomdahl is missing due to a serious Achilles tendon injury and Jun Tae Kim, one of the holders of the world record run, albeit not yet confirmed by himself, is expected to play his last World Cup before leaving for the PBA. Haeng Jik Kim should make an attempt to get back into the elite top 14 players. Dick Jaspers is defending a 9-point lead as leader of the Players Ranking and 106 ranking points on the Events Ranking. And in that top 14, the best players in the world in ranking points, are three Koreans, 3 Vietnamese, 3 Turks, 1 Dutchman, 1 Belgian, 1 Egyptian, 1 Italian and 1 German.
Two Vietnamese, i.e. from their own country, and 1 Egyptian received a wildcard. The best-known players not automatically qualified for the main draw are Haeng Jik Kim, Frédéric Caudron, Duc Minh Tran, Jérémy Bury and Nick Polychronopoulos. Those players must survive the final qualification to advance to the best 32. That also goes for Glenn Hofman, Hong Chiem Thai, Peter Ceulemans, Myeong Jong Cha, Ruben Legazpi, Peter Ceulemans and Jeffrey Jorissen.
Jean Paul de Bruijn, together with Dick Jaspers with Netherlands the world champion in the national teams, even has to start one day earlier and survive two days of qualifications together with Sam van Etten, Gwendal Maréchal and Van Ly Dao, among others.
The World Cup will be played at the Nguyen Du Stadium, all matches will be broadcast by Soop (billiards.sooplive.co.kr/)
The seeded players:
Dick Jaspers, Myung Woo Cho, Eddy Merckx, Quyet Chien Tran, Thanh Luc Tran, Jun Tae Kim, Tayfun Tasdemir, Marco Zanetti, Sameh Sidhom, Tolgahan Kiraz, Jung Han Heo, Martin Horn, Berkay Karakurt, Phuong Vinh Bao.
Wildcards were handed out to Mohamed Abdin (Egypt), Van Tri Nguyen and Thanh Tien Le (Vietnam).
The standings in the Events Ranking:
1 Dick Jaspers 436
2 Myung Woo Cho 330
3 Eddy Merckx 326
4 Quyet Chien Tran 318
5 Thanh Luc Tran 273
6 Jun Tae Kim 262
7 Tayfun Tasdemir 260
8 Marco Zanetti 252
9 Sameh Sidhom 236
10 Tolgahan Kiraz 234
11 Jung Han Heo 214
12 Martin Horn 198
13 Berkay Karakurt 178
14 Phuong Vinh Bao 178
15 Hong Chiem Thai 173
16 Torbjörn Blomdahl 166
17 Peter Ceulemans 164
18 Jérémy Bury 159
19 Haeng Jik Kim 154
20 Glenn Hofman 148
21 Frédéric Caudron 146
22 Nick Polychronopoulos 128
