Vietnamese player causes shock when defeating former world champion

(Dan Tri) - Luong Duc Thien surprised the billiards world in his opening match when he defeated American player Shane Van Boening with a close score of 9-8 in round 1 of the 2025 World 9-ball Pool Championship in Saudi Arabia.

Although he has not yet won a major international title, Duc Thien has played fairly and excellently defeated Shane Van Boening, who was named the best player of the decade 2011-2020, a monument of the world pool billiards village. The American player was the world champion of 9-ball in 2015, 2022 and continued to be crowned the world champion of 8-ball in 2023.

Billiard player Luong Duc Thien (Photo: FBNV).

In the deciding game, when the score was 8-8, the 33-year-old Vietnamese player successfully took advantage of the opportunity to end the match. He hit the 1 ball to the 7 ball, sending the 9 ball into the corner pocket accurately.

This impressive finish helped Duc Thien qualify for the second round of the winners' bracket, where he will face player Denis Grabe from Estonia.

The World 9-Ball Championship is the biggest pool billiards tournament, officially kicking off in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). With a total prize fund of up to 1 million USD, the tournament brings together 128 of the world's top players.

This year’s tournament takes place from July 21 to July 26 in a dramatic double elimination format. Vietnam is honored to have 5 representatives competing, including players: Duong Quoc Hoang, Nguyen Anh Tuan, Luong Duc Thien, Bui Truong An and Pham Phuong Nam.

Also in round 1, player Duong Quoc Hoang had an impressive performance when he easily defeated opponent Jj Faul of South Africa with a score of 9-3.

This victory helps Quoc Hoang advance to the second round and will face Daniel Maciol (Poland). With just one more victory in the second round, both Duc Thien and Quoc Hoang will officially be present in the knockout round of the tournament.

Duong Quoc Hoang has faced Duc Thien in many tournaments (Photo: FBNV).

The knockout round of the tournament will gather the 64 best players, competing to 11 points to find the winner. In particular, the final match taking place on the evening of July 26 will be an exciting competition, when players must play to 15 points to win the title.

The prize for the champion is up to 250,000 USD (more than 6.5 billion VND), while the runner-up will receive 100,000 USD (more than 2.6 billion VND). Notably, any player who makes it to the knockout round is guaranteed a minimum bonus of 3,500 USD (more than 91 million VND).

The remaining three Vietnamese players are Anh Tuan who will face Pijus Labutis, Phuong Nam who will play Aloysius Yapp, while Truong An will face Wiktor Zielinski in the opening match. All three matches will take place at 5pm on July 22.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/co-thu-viet-nam-gay-chan-dong-khi-danh-bai-cuu-vo-dich-the-gioi-20250722080045180.htm