Billiards: Vietnam's 'dark horse' cannot continue its surprising journey

Before the tournament, Nguyen Van Tai was not rated as highly as many other players, because he did not have much experience competing in international 3-cushion carom billiards tournaments. But after his impressive performances in the group stage and the first knockout round (round of 32), Van Tai received great expectations from fans. In the group stage, the player from Binh Thuan won a convincing victory over two strong players in the world's top 16, Berkay Karakurt (Turkey, ranked 16th in the world) and Nikos Polychro (Greece, ranked 15th in the world). In the round of 32, Van Tai continued to defeat Takao Miyashita (Japanese) to advance.

Nguyen Van Tai is the first Vietnamese player to take the field in the round of 16 of the 2024 World Championship, taking place at noon on September 28. In the round of 16, Nguyen Van Tai will face Colombian player Jose Juan Garcia. The Colombian player is in extremely good form. In the round of 32, Garcia defeated strong opponent from Korea Kim Haeng-jik (ranked 13th in the world) with a score difference of 50-31.

Nguyen Van Tai cannot create more surprises in the round of 16 of the 2024 World Championship, when his opponent is in such high form.

Against Nguyen Van Tai, Garcia continued to show convincing form. After the first 3 rounds, the Colombian player had a series of 4 points and a series of 9 points, leading Van Tai 13-4. In the first stage, Nguyen Van Tai played hard to keep up with his opponent. In the 6th round, the Vietnamese player had a series of 8 points, narrowing the gap to 16-17. But immediately after that, Garcia returned a series of 8 points in the 7th round to bring the match into the break.

In the 8th turn, Van Tai had another series of 6 points. However, Van Tai's resistance was not enough to stop Garcia's dizzying scoring speed. The Colombian player played fast and very firmly. After 13 turns, Garcia had put Van Tai ahead by 19 points, leading 42-23. In the end, Garcia won 50-28 against Nguyen Van Tai, after 20 turns.

The Vietnamese player, considered the "dark horse" of the tournament, could not continue his surprising journey at the 2024 World Championship. However, this was still a successful tournament for Nguyen Van Tai, in his first time participating in the 3-cushion carom billiards world championship.

Thanhnien.vn

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/billiards-ngua-o-cua-viet-nam-khong-the-viet-tiep-hanh-trinh-day-bat-ngo-185240928124018068.htm