In the afternoon semifinals, the draw results brought Vietnam and the RoK into confrontation again as two Vietnamese representatives, Tran Quyet Chien and Ngo Dinh Nai, competed against the two RoK stars, Cho Jae-Ho and Cho Chi Yeon, to decide the top two scorers for the final.
Accordingly, Cho Chi Yeon showed top form throughout the match, taking the lead with 108 points and an average of 3.727. Meanwhile, Tran Quyet Chien bounced back from a poor start to settle for second place with 103 points and an average of 3.545, booking the second ticket to the title match.
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The four finalists (from left to right): Tran Quyet Chien, Dick Jaspers, Semih Sayginer and Cho Chi Yeon. (Photo: kozoom.com)
Ngo Dinh Nai and Cho Jae-Ho had to bid farewell with 31 and 2 points, respectively.
The remaining all-European semifinal saw world no. 2 Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) and Semih Sayginer (Turkey) win the two remaining places in the final with 128 and 44 points, respectively, ousting Marco Zanetti (Italy) with 36 points and Murat Naci Coklu (Turkey) with 32 points.
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World no. 2 Dick Jaspers wins the overall trophy. (Photo: kozoom.com)
In the final competition last night, 53-year-old Jaspers showed a subtle technique with stunning shots, becoming the very best in the Survival with a dominant score of 109 and an average of 2.692, taking the overall trophy and US$50,000 in prize money.
Vietnamese star Tran Quyet Chien also performed impressively, beating Sayginer and Cho Chi Yeon by 8 and 22 points, respectively, to finish as the overall runner-up.
2018 could be considered a successful year in Chien’s career, as he was crowned the Ho Chi Minh City World cup and LG U+ Cup champions and took second prize in the Survival 3C Masters in addition to climbing to seventh place in the UMB’s 3-cushion billiards world rankings.
