In the second qualifying round taking place all day on May 20, 16 players who passed the first qualifying round will join 32 players in the second qualifying round (according to UMB's rankings) divided into 16 groups, competing in a round-robin with 1 touch of 30 points to select the top 16 players to continue.
A lot of attention is paid to Group J, where Vietnam's youngest player in this year's World Cup arena, Nguyen Hoai Phong, will compete. In the opening match, the player born in 2003 won 30-10 after 16 turns against Adrien Tachoire (France).
However, in the remaining match, Hoai Phong lost 26-30 to Takao Miyashita (Japan). It is worth mentioning that Takao Miyashita had previously lost 26-30 to Adrien Tachoire.
Although all 3 players had the same points, Hoai Phong won the top spot in the group and the ticket to the next round thanks to a better scoring efficiency of 1.4 points/turn. Meanwhile, Takao Miyashita is 1.09 points/turn, while Adrien Tachoire is 0.93 points/turn.
In addition to Hoai Phong, 8 other Vietnamese players have also advanced to the next round with convincing results.
In Group C, national runner-up Doan Minh Kiet defeated Lee Beom Yeol (Korea, score 30-14) and Moulos Vangelis (Greece, 30-21).
Similarly in Group E, Nguyen Dinh Luan won 30-26 against Amir Ibraimov (denmark) and won 30-20 against Mahmoud Ayman (Egypt). Nguyen Chi Long topped Group H with a 30-21 victory over Dinh Quang Hai and held David Pennor (Sweden) to a draw.
In Group I, veteran player Truong Quang Hao won all matches against Fabien Camberlin (France) and Kim Dong Ryong (Korea).
Ngo Le Duy also had no difficulty winning Group K when he overcame Ali Ibraimov (Germany) and Kim Hyeong Kon (Korea).
Similarly in Group M, Nguyen Nhu Le won both matches against Baris Sabanci (Türkiye) and Sung II Jeong (Korea).
In Group N, Le Quoc Ho, after winning 30-20 against record holder Hoang Minh, continued to beat Miyashita O (Japan) with a score of 30-15 after only 13 turns, including a series of 10 points to continue.
Finally, Nguyen Dinh Quoc with a convincing victory of 30-9 after 16 turns against Alessio D'Agata (Italy) won the top spot in Group O when it was tied with Nguyen Hoan Tat (3 points) but better than the goal difference.
Most regrettably, in Group A, Tran Quang Hung, after defeating Kim Do Huyn (Korea), lost 29-30 to the reigning Korean national champion Choi Wan Young, thereby having to stop.
On May 21, the Ho Chi Minh City World Cup 2025 3-cushion Billiards Carom tournament will continue with the 3rd qualifying round.
In this penultimate qualifying round, 16 players who passed the 2nd qualifying round will join 32 players in the 3rd qualifying round to divide into 16 groups, competing in a round-robin with 1 touch of 30 points to select the top 16 players to continue.
Notably, this is the day of competition with a series of strong players. In addition to the 9 Vietnamese players who passed the 2nd qualifying round, Dao Van Ly will also compete.
Many other international players in the world's top 40 will be present such as Kang Ja In (Korea), Birol Uymaz (Türkiye), Volkan Cetin (Netherlands), 2m02 tall "giant" Sam Van Etten, Gwendal Marechal (France) or the Dutch player who just won the 2025 World Team Championship with Jean Paul De Bruijn.
