PORTO - The World Cup in Porto, Portugal, the third of the year, looks back after two days of spectacle in the main draw with 32 players. That led to four players for the final rounds with two Vietnamese contenders. The final four vying for the World Cup win are very surprising, because rarely has been seen such a battle among the big tenors in global three-cushion, with Jérémy Bury the only European allowed to compete for gold. Dick Jaspers (world number one), Marco Zanetti (2), Torbjörn Blomdahl (3), Tayfun Tasdemir (4), Myung Woo Cho (5) and Eddy Merckx (6) are eliminated for the top prize. In the players in the top ten, only Egyptian Sameh Sidhom, Vietnamese Quyet Chien Tran and Frenchman Jérémy Bury remain, along with the relatively unknown Vietnamese Hong Chiem Thai, the current world number 31.
A real dark horse who played only a few World Cups, 24-year-old Vietnamese Thai Hong Chiem was a semi-finalist at the last Asian Championships following Myung-woo Cho and Tran Thanh Luc, the other revelation at this World Cup in Porto. The young Thai, opponent of his illustrious compatriot Tran on the final day, is at least close to the global top 20 with an average of 1.670 for now. In the run-up to the final day, he first defeated Roland Forthomme and Eddy Merckx and then his also surprising compatriot Phuong Vinh (1.762 over his six matches) by finishing behind 49-42 with 8! And finally, in the quarter-finals, Thai beat German Martin Horn 50-44 in 37/36 innings. In short, Hong Chiem Thai, Phuong Vinh Bao, Thanh Luc Tran, are the absolute names to remember, the comets of the Vietnamese three-cushion field.
The other three semi-finalists are regular top 14 players: Sameh Sidhom (8th in the world), Quyet Chien Tran (10th in the world) and Jérémy Bury (11th in the world). Tran and Bury have each already won a World Cup once, Sidhom has only played one final in his career.
The semi-finals are today, Sunday:
10am (11am in Western Europe): Samh Sidhom-Jérémy Bury
12.00 (13.00 Western Europe): Hong Chiem Thai-Quyet Chien Tran
Frenchman Jérémy Bury (1.788) took a total of five points out of six games in the main draw. He brilliantly eliminated Nikos Polychronopoulos in 20 innings with a run of 18 and Marco Zanetti 50-46 in 30 with a great start of 24 in six innings. That happened in a match that many were looking forward to as the stakes were high between these two players. The Italian was playing with big stakes, because after Dick Jaspers' elimination in the 1/8th round against Sameh Sidhom (the Egyptian with a final run of 8 when Jaspers led 49-42), Zanetti could become the world's unprecedented number one if he won the World Cup in Porto.
Sameh Sidhom (1.553) beat Berkay Karakurt, Huberney Cataño, Dick Jaspers and Jun-Tae Kim over the two days! A win in this World Cup would take Sidhom to the top three in the world. Sidhom seized his chance against Dick Jaspers (2,000 average), staying in touch for a long time and benefiting from a missed match ball from the Dutchman. Dick Jaspers, as is well known, forfeits 80 ranking points in this World Cup, just like in the next World Cup.
Tran Quyet Chien (1,648), beat Huberney Cataño and Sameh Sidhom in the group of the best 32. He then dominated Tayfun Taşdemir in the 1/8 finals in 29 innings and then Kim Haeng-jik in the quarter-finals in 24 innings with three runs of eight in this match.
So, no player from the world's top six will be present this Sunday for the final tournament stage. Torbjörn Blomdahl, who won the last World Cup in Ho Chi Minh, did not even make it past the first round with an average of only 1.144, while Eddy Merckx was also eliminated in that opening round with an average of 1.532.
This Sunday, Jérémy Bury will face Sameh Sidhom in the semi-finals, followed by the Hong Chiem Thai against Tra Quyet Chien Tran. The final is at 4pm local time, 3pm in Western Europe.
Four of the best Vietnamese players at Porto World Cup
The great new star from Vietnam, Hong Chiem Thai
Jérémy Bury outplayed Marco Zanetti in a spectacular match
Sameh Sidhom won his match with Dick Jaspers by a final run of 8