Tran Duc Minh, the 2024 World Cup billiards champion in Ho Chi Minh City, will compete in the qualifying round in Group J in the tournament in Colombia. In the final qualifying round on the morning of February 28 (Vietnam time), Duc Minh defeated Kim Do-hyun (Korea) with a score of 40-11 after only 16 turns with a scoring efficiency of up to 2.5 points/turn.
In the second match of the same day, the Vietnamese player lost to Rui Manuel Costa with a gap of 31-40 in 33 turns. At the end of the group stage, Rui Costa continued after 2 wins. Meanwhile, Tran Duc Minh ranked second in the group, with an average score of 1.448 points.
According to the organizing committee's regulations, the 12 players with the top spot in the group and the 3 players with the best results will continue. Tran Duc Minh has secured a ticket to the next round when he is 3rd in the list of second-placed players with the best results, behind Jean Paul de Bruijn with 1,800 points and Roland Forthomme with 1,450 points.
With Tran Duc Minh advancing, Vietnam has up to 5 players participating in the main round, along with Tran Quyet Chien, Bao Phuong Vinh, Chiem Hong Thai and Tran Thanh Luc. Of these, only Tran Duc Minh competed in the qualifying round, the rest were entered in the main round thanks to their achievement of being in the Top 14 in the world.
In the next round, Tran Duc Minh will compete in Group A with world No. 1 Dick Jaspers (Netherlands), Cha Myeong-jong (Korea) and Erick Tellek (Costa Rica).
Chiem Hong Thai will compete in Group C with veteran Belgian player Eddy Merckx, Pedro Gonzalez (Colombia) and Jean Paul De Bruijn (Netherlands).
In Group D, Tran Quyet Chien - the current champion of the tournament will compete in Group C with Bao Phuong Vinh, Bury Jeremy (France) and veteran Greek player Nikos Polychronopoulos.
Tran Thanh Luc will compete in Group F with Marco Zanetti (Italy), Kang Ja-in (Korea) and Berkay Karakurt (Türkiye).
The official group stage of the 2025 Bogota World Cup will take place from 10:00 p.m. (Vietnam time) on February 28 to the end of March 1.
