Trần Quyết Chiến of Việt Nam on top podium of UMB Veghel World Cup 3-Cushion 2024 on October 26 in Veghel, the Netherlands. Photo The Billiards

HÀ NỘI — Vietnamese player Trần Quyết Chiến secured the UMB Veghel World Cup Three-Cushion 2024 trophy after a decisive 50-38 win over Belgian legend Frederic Caudron on October 26 in the Netherlands.

It was the 40-year-old's second title this year and fourth podium placement overall. Out of five world billiards tournaments so far this year, Chiến is the fourth Asian winner, marking a very successful year for Asian billiards players.

Việt Nam's Trần Đức Minh won at the HCM City World Cup event, and South Korea's Jung Han Heo took the title in Ankara. The only European winner so far is Dutchman Dick Jaspers, who won in Porto.

Not even Caudron, who has collected 21 World Cup titles, could change that. The Belgian star was doing well at the start, beating Jaspers, South Korea's Myung Woo Cho, Vietnamese player Nguyễn Trần Thanh Tự and Turkish cueist Tayfun Tasdemir in the preliminary stage. But he stumbled against the indestructible tactician Chiến.

It didn’t look like the Belgian legend would lose at the start of the final.

Caudron did not start off very well -- but Chiến not only missed the starting shot, he also missed four more times before opening his counterattack with seven.

Trần Quyết Chiến of Việt Nam seen during the UMB Veghel World Cup 3-Cushion 2024 final against Belgian Frederic Caudron. Chiến beat Caudron 50-38 to take his second World Cup trophy of the year. Photo kozoom.com

The Vietnamese player took the lead at 20-17, but Caudron levelled it up to 35-34. After that, Chiến had the better final rush when Caudron made seven misses in nine innings in the final phase. The final score came to 50-38 in 28 innings.

Tự and Ceulemans shared the third position.

Along with the World Cup championship title, Chiến pocketed 16,000 euros (US$17,300) and leads the 2024 World Cup rankings.

The current world ranking is still led by Jaspers, who holds 426 points, ahead of Chiến with 380 points and Myung with 342.

The Veghel World Cup had many moments of glory, with Vietnamese and Belgian players leading the way. Chiến played the best match with 40 in nine (a 4.444 average), Tasdemir had the highest series with 17, and Vietnamese player Bao Phương Vinh, who was unfortunately eliminated from an early round, took the best average with 2.522 over three games.

Vietnamese billiards players are heading for a great future following the Veghel World Cup win.

Chiến's success, spearheading the current generation of Vietnamese players, has helped Việt Nam become a major billiards power.

The Vietnamese national team became world champions in Germany earlier this year. Meanwhile Chiến had previously won his first 2024 World Cup in Bogota, Colombia earlier this year. VNS