In the 4th (final) qualifying round of the Seoul Billiards World Cup 2024 taking place today (November 7), Vietnam has 5 players competing: Nguyen Hoan Tat, Thon Viet Hoang Minh, Dao Van Ly, Tran Thanh Luc and Chiem Hong Thai. Of which, Hoan Tat, Hoang Minh and Van Ly are the players who passed the 3rd qualifying round. Thanh Luc and Hong Thai are the 2 players with high positions on the rankings so they are given special permission to compete from the 4th qualifying round.

Completed the final round, after 2 spectacular escapes

Before that, Nguyen Hoan Tat had two consecutive spectacular "escapes" to be present in the third qualifying round. In the first and second qualifying rounds, Hoan Tat could not win the first place in the group (not even the second player with the best results) and it seemed that he had stopped in Korea. The surprise came at the last minute when more players withdrew, so the Vietnamese player was promoted to replace him.

In the third qualifying round, Nguyen Hoan Tat did not let his fate fall into the hands of others. Hoan Tat won 2 matches, thereby taking the top spot in the group and advancing to the fourth (final) qualifying round. This player continued to win all 2 matches in the fourth qualifying round, thereby winning a ticket to the main round of the Seoul Billiards World Cup 2024 with the top spot in the group.

In the 4th qualifying round, Nguyen Hoan Tat was in Group D with fellow countryman Chiem Hong Thai and Alessio Dagata (Italy). In the opening match, Hoan Tat defeated Chiem Hong Thai 40-31, after 26 innings. In the decisive match for Group D's ticket to the next round, Hoan Tat continued to defeat Dagata with a score of 40-34, after 22 innings.

World runner-up stopped early at Seoul Billiards World Cup 2024

The player with the highest expectations among the players competing in the 4th qualifying round of the Seoul Billiards World Cup 2024 is Tran Thanh Luc, who finished as runner-up at the prestigious World Championship 2024 tournament held in Binh Thuan in September. Since then, the player born in 1990 has always maintained a stable performance. At the most recent World Cup stage in Veghel (Netherlands, at the end of October), Thanh Luc only lost to his senior Tran Quyet Chien and stopped in the quarterfinals.

However, Thanh Luc did not reach his best form in Korea. The current world runner-up suffered two defeats and had to stop at the fourth qualifying round of the Seoul Billiards World Cup 2024. The player born in 1990 was in Group F, losing 30-40 to Turgay Orak (Türkiye) and 24-40 to Jeong Ye-sung (Korea).

Dao Van Ly was in Group J of the 4th qualifying round. He drew 40-40 with Sam Van Etten (Netherlands) and beat Son Jun-hyuk (Korea) 40-25. Van Ly won the ticket to the final round as group winner.

Thon Viet Hoang Minh was in Group I and received 2 defeats, respectively against Roland Forthomme (36-40) and Glenn Hofman (28-40) so he could not enter the next round.

4 Vietnamese players compete in the final round

Thus, the final round of the Seoul Billiards World Cup 2024 has 4 Vietnamese players including Tran Quyet Chien, Bao Phuong Vinh, Nguyen Hoan Tat and Dao Van Ly. Of which, Quyet Chien and Phuong Vinh are the 2 players who are given special permission to compete from the round of 32 because of their high rankings.

In the main round, 32 players are divided into 8 groups (4 players each), competing in a round-robin format to calculate points and rank (with a draw). The top two players in each group will advance to the round of 16 (knockout).