Vietnamese billiard players banned from international tournaments

ACBS sent a document on June 8 to its member federations, including Vietnam, regarding penalties for players or federations that participated in events not licensed by ACBS.

Members of the Vietnam Billiards & Snooker Federation (VBSF) are banned from participating in tournaments of ACBS, the World Pool Association (WPA) and the International Billiards and Snooker Federation (IBSF) for six months, from July 13, 2024 to Jan. 12, 2025, according to the decision received by Hanoi’ Department of Physical Education and Sports on July 13.

To lift the ban, the federation will have to pay $5,000 to ACBS.

Vietnam was punished for having organized a tournament not licensed by ACBS, the Hanoi Open, in October 2023. This pool tournament was allowed by the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports to take place, under the World Nineball Tour (WNT) system of Matchroom Pool, an organization opposed to the WPA.

Players participating in the Hanoi Open were later banned from participating in tournaments under ACBS, including the top players in the continent and Vietnam, except for the 2024 Scottish Open champion Duong Quoc Hoang.

Dang Ha Viet, director of Hanoi’s Department of Physical Education and Sports, transferred the case to the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports, before going with the Vietnam sports delegation to Paris to attend the 2024 Olympics.

ACBS, WPA, IBSF or the World Billiards Federation (UMB) are all under the World Confederation of Billiards Sports (WCBS). Meanwhile, the WNT or Professional Billiards Association (PBA) is not part of the WCBS. The UMB mainly organizes carom tournaments, while the ACBS organizes both carom and pool tournaments.

The WNT and PBA organize pool and carom tournaments with higher prize money than the WPA and UMB, attracting players who change federations. Players who switch from the UMB to the PBA will be banned from competing in UMB tournaments for two years.

Since Vietnamese carom players, such as Tran Quyet Chien and Bao Phuong Vinh, are both under the VBSF, they are also affected by the ACBS ban. The ACBS is sponsored by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), so Vietnamese pool and carom players will not be allowed to participate in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Thailand in November 2024, organized by the OCA.

Vietnamese carom players are also at risk of not being allowed to participate in UMB world tournaments, such as the World Cup and World Championship. The 2024 World Championship, scheduled take place in Vietnam for the first time from Sept. 25 to 29, now becomes uncertain.

Doan Tuan Anh, head of Vietnamese billiard, said that UMB has not yet sent any documents regarding whether to ban Vietnamese players from participating in tournaments under their system. If UMB follows ACBS, Quyet Chien or Phuong Vinh will not be allowed to participate in the World Cup or World Championship in the next six months.

Currently, the UMB website still displays the schedule for the World Championship to take place in Binh Thuan Province as planned.

All Vietnamese pool players are outside the world’s top 30, while Chien is the world’s number one carom player and Phuong Vinh is the reigning World Championship winner.