In the first semi-final, Nguyen Tran Thanh Tao faced Ngo Dinh Nai in a match that was considered evenly matched. Thanh Tao "came home" first and scored 2 points, but Dinh Nai quickly took the lead with a series of 5 points. However, the turning point came in the second turn when Thanh Tao suddenly launched an 8-point series, thereby restoring the lead and ending the first half with an advantage of 15-12.
In the second half, while Dinh Nai had difficulty maintaining accuracy and only scored 7 more points, Thanh Tao played stably and confidently. The player born in 1997 ended the match with a series of 8 in the 15th turn, sealing a 30-19 victory and deservingly winning the first ticket to the final round.
The second semi-final match between Mai Tan Huyen and Huynh Anh Tai brought different emotions. After a spectacular comeback in the quarter-finals against Dao Van Ly (scoring 6 points in a row when being behind 24-29), Anh Tai continued to maintain his form, starting dreamily with a lead of 17-6 and then 28-17.
However, the psychological pressure at the decisive moment caused the young player born in 2000 to lose his accuracy. Meanwhile, Mai Tan Huyen calmly shortened the gap through each turn, before ending the thrilling chase with a 30-27 victory after 28 turns.
With this result, the two best representatives of the qualifying round entered the main round with 6 invited players. Group A will be where Tran Quyet Chien, Heo Jung Han, Kim Jun Tae and Mai Tan Huyen will compete. Meanwhile, Group B brings together names such as Tran Thanh Luc, Tayfun Tasdemir, Bao Phuong Vinh and Nguyen Tran Thanh Tao.
In addition to the two tickets to the final round, the qualifying round also determined the winners of two important secondary awards: Nguyen Quoc Nguyen won the title of the most prestigious series with 17 points, while Chi Long won the Best Game award with an impressive average score of 3.333 points/turn.
On May 30, the group stage of the SCTV Cup 2025 will officially kick off, opening the journey to conquer the championship with a total prize value of up to 790 million VND, of which the champion will receive 500 million VND in cash.
