Billiards: Vietnamese player makes a spectacular comeback, defeating former world champion

Ma Minh Cam had a spectacular comeback against former world champion Choi Sung-won at the Korean Professional Billiards Tournament (PBA) 2025 - 2026 season. At this time, Minh Cam is the only Vietnamese player in the round of 16.

In the match of round 32 of the PBA Tour 2025 - 2026 ending on the night of August 8, Ma Minh Cam faced off against strong Korean player Choi Sung-won. Choi Sung-won is a top player in Korea, where the 3-cushion carom scene is the most developed in the world . The 1977-born player from the land of kimchi was crowned World Champion in 2014. Before that, Choi Sung-won also won a World Cup Billiards stage in 2012. Choi said goodbye to the World Carom Billiards Federation (UMB) to join the PBA at the end of 2023.

In the first game, Ma Minh Cam played confidently and created a tug-of-war with Choi Sung-won. At one point, the score was 13/13, before the Vietnamese player won 15/13.

Ma Minh Cam is the only Vietnamese player to participate in the round of 16 of the PBA tournament taking place in Korea.

PHOTO: NT

Ma Minh Cam "lost everything" in game 3

As if his pride was touched, the 2014 UMB world champion rose up strongly and won the next 2 games. In game 2, Choi Sung-won had a series of 6s that created a turning point and won against Ma Minh Cam with a score difference of 15/6. In game 3, the Korean player played even more explosively, causing the Vietnamese player to lose 0/15.

In game 4, Ma Minh Cam had to win to keep his hopes of advancing. The Vietnamese player regained the initiative on the table, leading 8/0, 10/2. Ma Minh Cam won 15/6 in game 4 and brought the match to a decisive game 5.

In the final game, Ma Ming-Jin continued to maintain his scoring instinct, executing many accurate a-ban situations and winning 11-3. In the end, Ma Ming-Jin came from behind to beat Choi Sung-won 3-2, thereby winning a ticket to the round of 16.

Choi Sung-won (left) is a top Korean player, who won the world championship in 2014.

PHOTO: CMH

In round 32, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen and Nguyen Duc Anh Chien also played but both lost and stopped. Thus, Ma Minh Cam is currently the only hope of Vietnam's 3-cushion carom billiards at the ongoing PBA tournament.

In the round of 16 match, Ma Minh Cam will face Hwnag Hyung-bum. This match will take place at 8:30 p.m. on August 9 (Vietnam time).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/billiards-co-thu-viet-nam-nguoc-dong-ngoan-muc-danh-bai-cuu-vo-dich-the-gioi-18525080910433711.htm