Trần Quyết Chiến (second left) celebrates winning the 2023 Three-Cushion Carom Billiards World Cup in Portugal. Photo UMB

Billiards

HÀ NỘI  — Vietnamese top cueist Trần Quyết Chiến has won the 2023 Three-Cushion Carom Billiards World Cup in Portugal.

Chiến made history on Sunday as he defeated Egyptian star Sameh Sidhom who previously met with the Vietnamese cueist in the group stage.

Chiến is currently ranked 10th in the world, while his opponent is the world No 8.

Earlier in the semi-finals, Chiến beat his teammate Chiêm Hồng Thái 50-26, while Sidhom also easily defeated Jeremy Bury of France, world No 11, 50-20.

Entering the final match, Sidhom took the lead with a score of 7-2. This was considered a great psychological pressure on Chiến in this tactical fight but the Vietnamese veteran proved to be very calm and thoughtful in his performance to gradually control the game.

The remarkable milestone came in the 10th move when Chiến took advantage of the opponent's mistake to earn six points, bringing him back to 13-9.

Although Sidhom tried to shorten the distance to 13-12, Chiến then increased the gap to 10 points (22-12).

After the break, the score was raised to 26-13 in favour of Chiến.

Chiến remained in good form for the next 13 moves and won the game with a final score of 50-30.

This was Chiến’s second championship title at the tournament. In 2018, he defeated countryman Ngô Đình Nại to get the title.

Chiến, who was born in 1984, is also the only person in the history of Vietnamese three-cushion carom billiards to take the throne at the World Cup tournament.

With the victory in Portugal, Chiến will earn 120 bonus points which can help him take his place in the top five in the world.

Chiến also received the prize money of EUR16,000 (US$17,424) for his championship. The runner-up, Sidhom received $10,890. This was also a successful tournament for Sidhom when the Egyptian player overcame many very strong opponents, especially defeating the world's top player Dick Jaspers of the Netherlands.

Vietnamese player Thái and Jeremy Bury shared the third place with $6,535 in prize money. VNS