In September, Tran Thanh Luc surprised Vietnamese billiards fans when he won 2nd place in the 3-cushion carom billiards world championship - World Championship 2024 held in Phan Thiet City (Binh Thuan). Since then, the player born in 1990 has made rapid progress in the world rankings. From 20th place, Thanh Luc rose to 14th place, and was even in the top 10 strongest players in the world. After that, he set a goal of reaching the semi-finals (winning a medal) for the first time at the World Cup, as an affirmation of his ability. But after 2 World Cup rounds (in the Netherlands in October, in Korea in November), Tran Thanh Luc still could not achieve what he wanted.
Tran Thanh Luc aims to win his first medal at the World Cup.
Thanh Luc was very close to the semi-finals of the 2024 Veghel World Cup in the Netherlands. However, he lost to his compatriot Tran Quyet Chien in the quarter-finals. Or in previous encounters at the World Cup, Thanh Luc could not beat Quyet Chien. And in those defeats, Thanh Luc seemed to have psychological problems, leading to not playing at his best despite being in good form. It can be seen that the current world runner-up still needs to improve a lot in terms of competition psychology to achieve his goals and go further in the future.
The 2024 Sharm el Sheikh World Cup (held in Egypt from December 1 to 7) will see Tran Thanh Luc appear in a different position. The 34-year-old player was given a special ticket to the main round (32 players) of a World Cup for the first time, when he was in the top 14 of the rankings. Fate brought Thanh Luc into Group C with Tran Quyet Chien, alongside the host country's player Ayman Mahmoud and another representative who passed the qualifying round. Being in the same group with Quyet Chien makes Thanh Luc's path to the next round more difficult, but at the same time it is also an opportunity for him to prove himself. More than ever, Thanh Luc needs to overcome the "shadow" of his senior, first of all for the goal of reaching the next round at the Sharm el Sheikh World Cup 2024. Besides, winning against Tran Quyet Chien will help Thanh Luc remove the "psychological curse", more confident in the journey to find the first World Cup medal.
Currently, Tran Thanh Luc is ranked 11th in the world rankings. The Sharm el Sheikh World Cup is the last chance for Thanh Luc to close 2024 with a position in the top 10.
Vietnam is expected to have 11 players competing at the 2024 Sharm el Sheikh World Cup in Egypt. Among them, Nguyen Hoan Tat and Nguyen Dinh Luan will compete from the first qualifying round; Le Thanh Tien, Nguyen Chi Long, Thon Viet Hoang Minh from the second qualifying round; Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu from the third qualifying round and Tran Duc Minh, Chiem Hong Thai, Bao Phuong Vinh from the final qualifying round.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/billiards-a-quan-the-gioi-can-vuot-qua-cai-bong-cua-tran-quyet-chien-185241129194305285.htm
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