Chien sets new Vietnamese milestone in world billiards rankings

Vietnam’s No. 1 cueist, Tran Quyet Chien, set a new milestone for Vietnamese billiards, as he climbed one place to seventh in the latest world rankings announced by the Union Mondiale de Billiard (UMB) on October 29.

Vietnam's No. 1 cueist, Tran Quyet Chien.
Vietnam's No. 1 cueist, Tran Quyet Chien.

* Vietnamese cueists target top honour at La Baule 3-Cushion World Cup

It is the highest world rating to be attained by a Vietnamese player in history.

Alongside Chien’s promotion, several other Vietnamese cueists also saw improvements in their UMB ratings, with Ngo Dinh Nai jumping up one notch to 17th position and Ma Minh Cam rising three places from 25th to 22nd.

Ma Minh Cuong remained at 21st in the world, while Duong Anh Vu crashed out of the world’s top 30, falling to 35th from 27th.

The promotion of the Vietnamese cueists was partly attributed to the fact that the Porto World Cup, which took place last October, was not held this year, causing fluctuations in the world ratings and positions of the players.

Porto World Cup champion, Kim Haeng Jik from the Republic of Korea (RoK), dropped from third to ninth in the UMB rankings after losing 80 points for having no chance to defend his reign that he claimed last year.

Meanwhile, another RoK cueist, Heo Jung Han, who finished third in Porto, lost 38 points, falling four places from sixth to 10th position. This helped Vietnam’s Tran Quyet Chien jump one spot from eighth to seventh despite losing eight points as a result of his Round 16 exit at the recent 2018 Carom 3-Cushion World Cup in La Baule, France.

Ma Minh Cam is the only Vietnamese quarterfinalist at the recent 2018 La Baule Carom 3-Cushion World Cup.

Ma Minh Cam was the brightest Vietnamese performance in La Baule as he advanced to the quarterfinals, where he was defeated 39-40 by world No. 1 Frederic Caudron (Belgium).

After the France trip, the Vietnamese cueists will return to Asia to compete in the Survival 3C Masters Guri and the World Cup Seoul 2018, to be held in the RoK from November 8 to 18.