Vietnamese star cueist tops qualifiers for 3-Cushion World Cup in Las Vegas

Nguyen is the only Vietnamese cueist that made it through the qualifiers. Three other cueists Nguyen Duc Anh Chien, Do Nguyen Trung Hau and Dang Dinh Tien were eliminated on Wednesday night.

In the first match, Nguyen defeated Austrian Arnim Kahofer 40-27 after 24 turns. In the second match, it only took him 18 turns to beat Turkey’s Muammer Rahmet and win 40-30. With two wins, he topped group F. His average points per turn were 1.904, the highest in the qualifiers.

In the main event, there will be 32 strong cueists divided into eight groups. Nguyen is in group B with Marco Zanetti (Italy), Pedro Piedrabuena (U.S.) and Dion Nelin (Denmark). Nguyen will face Piedrabuena in the first match Friday.

The other Vietnamese cueist in the main event is Tran Quyet Chien. As the world number three, Chien didn’t have to play the qualifiers and got a direct spot in the group stage. Chien is in group D with Semih Sayginer of Turkey, Cha Myeong-jong and Kang Ja-in of South Korea. He will play Sayginer in the first match, at the same time as Nguyen.

The top two winners of each group will qualify for the round of 16.

Chien is the current world runner-up after finishing second in 3-Cushion World Cup in Turkey last month. He has reached the semifinals five times and won the title in 2018. Nguyen also reached the semifinals four times, finishing as runner-up in 2017.