Billiards: Tran Quyet Chien wins a thrilling victory, world number 1 is shockingly eliminated

Tran Quyet Chien makes the audience's heart skip a beat

In the opening match of the 2025 World Games (held in Chengdu, China) on the morning of August 11, Tran Quyet Chien drew 40-40 with Jeremy Bury (France). In the decisive match for the ticket to the next round taking place on the same evening, Vietnam's No. 1 player won a dramatic victory over Luiz Martinez (Colombia). It can be said that the player from Ha Tinh has not yet regained his best form.

After 5 turns, Tran Quyet Chien (holding the gold) was trailing 1-3 by his opponent. It was not until the 7th turn that the Vietnamese player had a series of 5 points, rising to lead 8-4. After 10 turns, Quyet Chien led 11-7. The match entered the break after 15 turns, when the Vietnamese representative led 22-13.

PHOTO: SOOP

In the second half, Tran Quyet Chien still controlled the game well and took the lead 31-19 after 20 shots. In the 22nd shot, the 42-year-old player had a series of 5 to lead Martinez with a score of 37-22. At this point, Vietnamese fans thought that Quyet Chien would have an easy victory with a large margin against his Colombian opponent.

The dramatic turn of events occurred in the final stages of the match. After reaching 37 points, Tran Quyet Chien suddenly slowed down. In the following 9 consecutive turns (from 22 to 31), the Vietnamese player only scored 1 more point. In the 31st turn, Martinez had a big series and leveled the score to 38-38. But in the last 2 turns, the Colombian player was not lucky. Tran Quyet Chien ended the match in the 33rd turn, winning against Martinez with a final score of 40-38.

Thus, Tran Quyet Chien had a record of 1 win and 1 draw in the group stage, equal to Jeremy Bury. However, the Vietnamese player entered the quarter-finals as the winner of Group C, because he had a better secondary index. Quyet Chien achieved a scoring efficiency of 1.379 (scoring 80 points in 58 shots), while Bury had 1.356 (scoring 80 points in 59 shots).

The current world number 1 was eliminated with a losing record.

The biggest surprise in the group stage of the 2025 World Games men's 3-cushion carom billiards was the elimination of the reigning world number 1 Dick Jaspers (Netherlands). Notably, the player who won 32 World Cup billiards titles was eliminated early with a record of all losses.

Accordingly, Dick Jaspers was in the same group as Heo Jung-han (Korea) and Pedro Piedrabuena (USA). In the opening match, Jaspers lost to Heo Jung-han with a score of 21-40, after 15 shots. In the deciding match, the Dutch player continued to be defeated 30-40, after 23 shots.

PHOTO: UMB

After the group stage, 8 players competed in the quarter-finals of the 2025 World Games men's 3-cushion carom billiards, including: Heo Jung-han (Korea), Sameh Sidhom (Egypt), Martin Horn (Germany), Tran Quyet Chien (Vietnam), Jeremy Bury (France), Pedro Piedrabuena (USA), Tayfun Tasdemir (Türkiye) and Cho Myung-woo (France).