3-Cushion
SEOUL - The Vietnamese players dominated the Asian championship 3-cushion and impressed the competition this week. Quoc Nguyen Nguyen won the final beating his fellow countryman Anh Vu Duong 40-31 in 24 innings. The only Korean in the top eight at the championship, which was played in Seoul, was Sung-Won Choi. The other seven were Vietnamese.
Sung-Won Choi, who became world champion national teams with Jae-Guen Kim two weeks ago, was the best of 32 players in average with 1.750, followed by the veteran Anh Vu Duong, 1.711. The highest run with 13, was made by three players: Sung-Won Choi, Dinh Ngo Nai and Hyun Min Seo.
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, one of the most eccentric players in the circuit, entered the top fourteen by the victory in Asia. He's twelfth now. As a result, his compatriot Quyet Chien Tran, who finished fifth in Seoul, dropped out of the top fourteen. Nguyen Nguyen was rewarded with 80 ranking points for his victory.
The Vietnamese qualified for the final by a win over Dinh Nai Ngo: 40-38 in 32. The other semi-final also was a close finish: Anh Vu Duong defeated Korean Sung-Won Choi 40-38 in 23 innings. The dethroned Asian champion Haeng-Jik Kim finished sixteenth.
The best results Quoc Nguyen Nguyen recorded were two third places in a World Cup and a second place at the Asian Games in 2013 behind the Japanese Ryuuji Umeda.
The top twelve at the Asian championship:
1 Quoc Nguyen Nguyen 1.436-11 (Vietnam)
2 Anh Vu Duong 1.711-12 (Vietnam)
3 Sung-Won Choi 1.750-13 (South-Korea)
4 Dinh Nai Ngo 1.360-13 (Vietnam)
5 Quyet Chien Tran 1.492-8 (Vietnam)
6 Minh Cam Ma 1.319-10 (Vietnam)
7 Xuan Cuong Ma 1.237-12 (Vietnam)
8 Duy Trung Nguyen 1.000-7 (Vietnam)
9 Hyun Min Seo 1.529-13 (South-Korea)
10 Kouji Funaki 1.623-7 (Japan)
11 Jae-Ho Cho 1.641-11 (South-Korea)
12 Seung Jin Lee 1.254-8 (South Korea).
Anh Vu Duong, beaten by his fellow countryman Nguyen Nguyen