HO CHI MINH CITY - The young Dutch player Sam van Etten has started in a World Cup three cushion in Vietnam for the first time in his career. When finished, the twofold European junior champion in free game leaves for a solo tour in the Asian country. In the coming years, Sam van Etten wants to develop in the most popular discipline in billiards. The start, on the World Cup's opening day in Ho Chi Minh, was just good enough to survive the first round. The 21-year-old Dutchman finished one inning ahead of his Vietnamese competitor Tanh That Nguyen.
The two rivals played a draw in the first match (30-30 in 31), the Dutchman beat the Swede Tran Moc Tai in 37 innings. Nguyen needed just one inning more, which made Van Etten a little better in average. From the European players, only Danish Michael Carlsen went to the next round thanks to a victory over Pierre Soumagne in their mutual match, 30-24 in 24.
Sam van Etten finished last in the ranking of sixteen group winners. He was more than happy about it and will face Korean Jung Wan Lim and Japanese Mai Ishi tomorrow in his next appearance. ,,My first feeling is, that it's nice to play with all those Asians in the same tournament. It's very hot here, especially outside, but also in the venue. The most important thing is that the billiards are good and of course, I am happy to survive the first round.
The student Business Administration, who passed his bachelor last year, has taken an interim year now and starts his Masters in September. He planned to spend five or six weeks in Vietnam to travel around. ,,I'm on my own and after the tournament, I first want to go to Hanoi, and from then, I will see what it brings me. But first, I will try my best to get a little further.''
In the winners field with seven Vietnamese, seven Koreans, one Dane and Sam van Etten, Hyung Mook Lim was the best with 1.538 average ahead of Young Min Lee with 1.428 and Quoc Thuan Pham with 1.333.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, Filipino Kasidokostas, Savas Bulut, In-Won Kang, Yusuke Mori, Allen Schröder, Gregory le Déventec, Gülen Degener, Hiroshi Sasaki, Kevin Vasseur, Apostolos Balogiannis, and Namiko Hayashi enter the tournament.
Frenchman Pierre Soumagne is out after a win and a loss on the starting day in Ho Chi Minh city