3-Cushion
PORTO - They were with seven, this Thursday morning, at the start of the last day of qualificiation for the Porto World Cup. The invasion of Vietnamese players in the billiards hall next to the FC Porto football stadium was impressive: it is the generation of thirty year olds, coming from the biggest city in Vietnam: the southern Ho Chi Minh City (Than Pho Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon), a stronghold with a thousand billiard clubs.
The champion of the country, Quoc Nguyen Nguyen, owns a billiard room there with six Korean match tables and he’s the only one of the whole group who speaks pretty good English. The Asian country has made hue progress in the three cushion World Cups in recent years. Anh Vu Duong (34) was the first who appeared at the international stage, followed randomly by Vinh Ly The (50), Xuan Cuong Ma (34), Quoc Nguyen Nguyen (32), Quyet Chien Tran (30), Dinh Nai Ngo (33) and Duc Anh Chien Nguyen (31).
Self made players, all of them, as the Vietnamese billiard federation in Ho Chi Minh City has over a thousand players and 15.000 tables, but no official trainer or coach. ,,We learn billiards by videos and from books’’, says Anh Vu Duong, after he has lost his match in the opening round of the last qualification to his countryman Quyet Chien Tran.
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, the champion, started with a victory in the first round against Pierre Soumagne, but will face the Korean giant Choong-Bok Lee later today.
The Vietnamese three cushion is pampering its golden generation, however Quoc Nguyen realizes: ,,Many young players in the clubs are developing and already play on a high level. But they don’t have the money and possibility to make long-distance travels and play the tournaments.
Anh Vu Duong: ,,The federation is paying the trip costs for the top players, the stay is for us.’’
The question, thus is whether all these young talents can make their international breakthrough in the upcoming years.
Besides all those Vietnamese in the arena there were a few nice clashes between countrymen. Murat Tüzül survived in a tough race on the day before, but suddenly showed an excellent form against Savas Bulut 40-16 in 17 innings.
David Martinez is growing out to the revelation of the preliminaries. He defeated his much more laureled countryman Javier Palazón 40-30 in 23 innings. And Peter Ceulemans beat one of the stars of the day before, Francis Forton, 40-20 in 24 with an 11-run.