Eddy Merckx, born in 1968, Belgian nationality. He played professionally and reached the peak before Chiem Hong Thai (born in 1999) was born. At the age of 58, he still showed incredible form at this year's World Cup. Before meeting Chiem Hong Thai, Eddy Merckx successively defeated Martin Horn with a score of 50-43 after 25 sets and Kim Do-hyeon 50-23 after 20 sets.
With being ranked 2nd in the world, having won the World Cup 14 times and 2 times crowned at the world tournament, Eddy Merckx is rated much higher than Chiem Hong Thai. The Vietnamese player has only reached the 3rd semi-finals of the World Cup of 3-bar curling billiards after Portugal in 2023 and Egypt 2024.
Entering the semi-final match taking place at noon on May 24 at Nguyen Du Gymnasium (HCMC), Eddy Merckx - who won this tournament in HCMC in 2017 - proved his class by continuously launching consecutive scoring series, to lead Chiem Hong Thai 25-6 after 14 sets.
Stepping into the second half, the Belgian player did not play as explosively as in the first half but still scored very consistently. Chiem Hong Thai missed some opportunities to score points on favorable balls. However, the Vietnamese player also had an impressive 10-point series, gradually narrowing the score, sometimes down to only 26-36.
The drama of the match was pushed to a climax at baseline 21, when Chiem Hong Thai had a series of 14 points, thereby narrowing the score to 40-41. This created great pressure on Eddy Merckx. In the two subsequent sets, the Belgian player only scored 1 point. Taking advantage of that, Chiem Hong Thai took a 43-42 lead after the 23rd set.
Entering the 24th set at a time when he was trailing 43-44, Chiem Hong Thai continued to show his bravery when he launched a 6-point series, to lead Eddy Merckx with a score of 49-44. In the decisive shot, the Vietnamese player failed.
Pushed into a difficult position, Eddy Merckx only scored 2 points in the next set, when this player chose a dangerous shot. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Chiem Hong Thai executed an accurate shot to defeat his opponent with a score of 50-46 after 25 sets.
With an unbelievable victory over Eddy Merckx, Chiem Hong Thai reached the 3-bar carom billiards World Cup final for the first time. His opponent in the final match was the winner in the Zanetti vs Caudron match.
