Billiards: Tran Quyet Chien regained the world number 1 position at the Porto World Cup?

After finishing as runner-up at the Ankara 2025 Billiards World Cup in mid-June, Tran Quyet Chien has come very close to reaching the world No. 1 position on the rankings of the World Carom Billiards Federation (UMB).

Before the 2025 Ankara (Turkey) Billiards World Cup, Tran Quyet Chien was ranked No. 2 in the world with 346 points, while No. 1 Dick Jaspers (Netherlands) was in the lead with 498 points. At the tournament held in Turkey, the Vietnamese player reached the final (losing to Eddy Merckx) and significantly shortened the gap with Jaspers. At present, Quyet Chien is still No. 2, but the gap is only 52 points (392 compared to 444 points of the Dutch player). This is the premise for Tran Quyet Chien to soon regain the No. 1 world ranking from Dick Jaspers.

Tran Quyet Chien defends the highest score

According to UMB's scoring method, at the 2025 World Cup billiards Porto, players must defend the scores they achieved at the World Cup billiards Bogota taking place in March 2024. The 2024 World Cup billiards Bogota is the tournament in which Tran Quyet Chien was crowned, so the Ha Tinh native must defend the highest score, 80 points. In other words, Quyet Chien needs to win in Porto this time to maintain his current score of 392 points. On the contrary, Vietnamese players will have their points deducted (depending on their performance in which round).

Tran Quyet Chien was ranked No. 1 in the world in 2024.

PHOTO: UMB

Thus, in case of stepping up to the highest podium at the 2025 Porto Billiards World Cup, Tran Quyet Chien still cannot return to the world No. 1 position. However, if he continues to advance in this stage, Quyet Chien will have a great opportunity to surpass Dick Jaspers in the next tournaments of 2025.

Tran Thanh Luc can squeeze into the top 3

At present, Tran Thanh Luc is in 5th place with 281 points. Above Thanh Luc are Cho Myung-woo (4th place, 286 points) and Eddy Merckx (3rd place, 310 points). The gap in points between the Vietnamese player and the two positions above is not large.

In this round, Tran Thanh Luc has the task of protecting 18 points. That means if he only passes round 32 to be in the round of 16, Thanh Luc will maintain his current score of 281 points. In case he can advance further, the player born in 1990 has a chance to enter the top 3 on the world rankings.

Tran Thanh Luc is the champion of the first World Cup billiards tournament of 2025, in Bogota - Colombia

PHOTO: TB

The fateful match between two Vietnamese players

At the 2025 Porto Billiards World Cup, Vietnam has 4 players who have been specially invited to appear from the main round (round of 32), namely Tran Quyet Chien, Bao Phuong Vinh, Tran Thanh Luc and Chiem Hong Thai. Round 32 of the 2025 Porto Billiards World Cup will take place from the afternoon of July 3.

Fate once again put Tran Quyet Chien and Bao Phuong Vinh in the same group in the round of 32. Accordingly, the two top players of Vietnam's 3-cushion carom fell into group D. The remaining two names of group D will be determined after the qualifying rounds end.

Chiem Hong Thai is in group C with Eddy Merckx (Belgian, 14-time World Cup billiards champion) and Jose Miguel Soares (Portugal). Tran Thanh Luc is in group E with Berkay Karakurt (Turkey).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/billiards-tran-quyet-chien-gianh-lai-ngoi-so-1-the-gioi-o-world-cup-porto-185250702120358067.htm