In the final qualifying round held on May 22, 36 players were divided into 12 groups (each group had 3 athletes), competing in a round-robin with 1 round of 40 points, selecting 12 players at the top of each group and 3 second-placed players with the highest achievements in the 12 groups to enter the main round, competing with the world's top superstars.
After an exciting day of competition, 3 Vietnamese players won a ticket to continue. In Group B, Nguyen Dinh Quoc opened with a win over Goren Mehmet (Türkiye) with a score of 40-28 after 27 turns.
Next in the decisive match taking place on the same evening, Dinh Quoc beat Arnim Kahofer (Türkiye) with a score of 40-31 after 26 turns. With these results, Dinh Quoc entered the main round of the Ho Chi Minh City World Cup 2025 with the top spot. This is a commendable achievement for Dinh Quoc, especially when he had previously won a ticket to the next round with a stack.
In Group H, Nguyen Nhu Le started with a 40-22 victory over Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu after 17 turns. In the decisive match, despite many difficulties caused by veteran Greek player Polychronopoulos Nikos, Nhu Le still bravely won 40-34 after 27 turns, thereby winning the top spot in the group.
The remaining ticket of Vietnam in this round belongs to Dao Van Ly. In the opening match of Group J, Dao Van Ly had a dramatic match with Gokhan Salman (Türkiye). While being behind 26-28, Dao Van Ly launched a series of 14 points, winning 40-33 after 28 turns. After that, Van Ly drew with Cha Myeong Jong (Korea) with a score of 40-40 after 25 turns, thereby also taking the top spot to continue.
Unfortunately, in this round, Billiards Vietnam had to say goodbye to other talented representatives such as Tran Duc Minh, Chiem Hong Thai, Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu, Doan Minh Kiet and young player Nguyen Hoai Phong.
Among them, Tran Duc Minh is the current champion of the tournament. Tran Duc Minh is in Group I with Choi Wan Young (Korea) and Omer Karakurt ( Turkey). The Vietnamese player lost to Karakurt 21-40, then won against Choi Wan Young 40-26. All 3 players had one win and one loss, but Choi Wan Young continued thanks to a better advantage than Duc Minh in the secondary index.
On the competition day of May 23, the Ho Chi Minh City 3-cushion Billiards World Cup 2025 took place on the 5th day of competition with matches in the official round. In this round, 32 players will be divided into 8 groups, each group has 4 athletes, competing in a round-robin with 1 round affecting 40 points, selecting the top and second-placed players in each group to go to the knockout round for the top 16.
In addition to the 3 representatives who passed the qualifying round, Nguyen Nhu Le, Nguyen Dinh Quoc and Dao Van Ly, Vietnam also had 5 representatives present in the main round, namely Tran Quyet Chien, Tran Thanh Luc, Bao Phuong Vinh (seed), Le Thanh Tien and Nguyen Van Tri (excellent representatives of the organizing unit).
This will definitely be the most exciting and exciting competition day of the Ho Chi Minh City World Cup 2025 when all the best players in the world such as Dick Jaspers, Cho Myung Woo, Marco Zanetti, Eddy Merckx, Frederic Caudron... will compete together.
