3-Cushion
SEOUL/HOCHIMINH - In the famous European billiard countries, tournaments, competitions and matches have been cancelled in these gloomy weeks of COVID-19 crisis. On the other side of the world, in South Korea and Vietnam, the sports world has almost returned to normal. Many Korean and Vietnamese billiards players play tournaments with hundreds of participants. Juntae Kim won a tournament in Seoul in the final against Jung-Han Heo. The rather unknown Vietnamese Thanh Luc Tran (30) won the final in a tournament in HoChiminh against Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, who played the OneCarom Challenge on the same day. This week, Thursday, the next round of the PBA team competition will also be launched in Seoul.
Thanh Luc Tran is one of the new stars, as there are hundreds in Vietnam. ''Many unknown Vietnamese players reach a high level, but when they go to major tournaments, they are quickly out,'' said one of the Vietnam billiard watchers. Thanh Luc Tran, 30, surpassed himself in an event with around 200 participants. In the final, he defeated Nguyen Quoc Nguyen 40-33 in 27. Nguyen eliminated Dinh Nai Ngo in the quarter finals, against whom he plays in the Challenge today. In the semi-finals, Nguyen beat a better known opponent, Do Nguyen Trung Hau.
Juntae Kim, who took the podium of the World Junior Championships in 2011, 2012 and 2015 (twice second, once third) won the tournament in Seoul by beating Jung-han Heo 40-32 in 20. In the semi-final, the later winner defeated Choong-Bok Lee 40-29 in 22. Jung-han Heo was in the semi-finals the better against Jung sub Kim.
The final players in the Korean event with Juntae Kim, the 4 million Korean won winner and other final players like Jae-ho Cho, Jung-han Heo, Choong-Bok Lee and InWon Kang.