Vietnam billiard ace enters World Cup knock-out round

Chien bested Danish player Dion Nelin, Egypt’s Sameh Sidhom and Colombia’s Robinson Morales in the group stage on Friday to top group F.

He will face South Korean player Heo Jung-han, who is second in group E. In this round, which will take place at 5 p.m. Saturday (Hanoi time), whoever reaches 50 points wins.

In the first game of group F, Chien defeated Nelin 40-37 after 29 moves. He repeated the same score against Sidhom, who was on fine form. The two went back and forth on the scoreboard before Chien won after 30 shots. In the last match, Quyet beat Morales 40-32 in only 22 shots.

Chien is the only representative of Vietnam in the knock out round. Four other Vietnamese cueists were eliminated in the qualifiers.

Three-Cushion World Cup takes place from Feb. 20 to 25 in Ankara, Turkey. Chien won the World Cup in 2018 when the tournament was hosted in Ho Chi Minh City.