Vietnamese players banned from competition and the complexity of the world system

Reality in other sports

Unlike football, where the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has almost all-encompassing influence, there are hardly any other organizations of comparable influence.

In some other sports, it is not uncommon to have several competing and opposing organizations that coordinate tournaments and athletes.

Golfers who recently participated in the 2024 Hanoi Open were banned from competing for 6 months by the WPA (Photo: HT).

For example, in golf, there are three major tournament systems, with almost equal influence, including the PGA Tour (run by Americans), the DP World Tour (formerly known as the European Tour) and LIV Golf (founded and run by Saudi Arabian billionaires).

Among these, if the DP World Tour is almost neutral, the two systems PGA Tour and LIV Golf are openly opposing each other. PGA Tour rules state that golfers who have switched to compete on the LIV Golf system cannot compete in tournaments under the PGA Tour system, and vice versa.

This has forced many golfers to make trade-offs when choosing a system to compete in. For example, former world number one Brooks Koepka (USA), or the record holder as the oldest golfer to ever win a major (equivalent to the nature of Grand Slam tournaments in tennis) Phil Mickelson (USA), could not participate in the PGA Tour, after switching to LIV Golf.

In golf, former world number one Brooks Koepka has been banned from competing on the PGA Tour because he has switched to competing on the LIV Golf system (Photo: Getty).

The same is true of the golfer with the strongest drive in the world, Bryson DeChambeau (USA). He switched to the LIV Golf system and no longer has the opportunity to compete in tournaments on the PGA Tour. At the same time, the PGA Tour also puts pressure on golfers who have switched to LIV Golf and are no longer awarded points on the global rankings.

The operators of these tournament systems do not explain in detail, they just declare that if they compete on another system, they will not be allowed to compete in parallel on their system. Simply put, athletes are not allowed to compete in two places at the same time. Golfers can choose the system that suits them.

Conflict resolution solutions

Back to the story of 87 Vietnamese billiard players who have just been banned from competing for 6 months (from October 2024 to April 2025) by the World Pool Billiards Federation (WPA), due to the Hanoi Open (which ended a few days ago).

This tournament is part of the WNT system (a system of professional billiards pool tournaments around the world), while this is a system that has been in conflict with the WPA. Therefore, when the WPA cannot prevent players from appearing in WNT tournaments, they also ban the above players from tournaments run by the WPA.

The best solution for players is for the WPA and WNT to properly resolve the conflicts between the two organizations (Photo: HT).

Among the tournaments run by the WPA and its member organizations, there are tournaments belonging to sports events familiar to Vietnamese people, including the SEA Games and the Asian Games. Therefore, the disadvantage for Vietnamese athletes in the conflict of interests between the two systems managing these major tournaments is even greater.

Also related to this incident, the tournament organizers, including the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports and the Hanoi Billiards & Snooker Federation, were not wrong, because they organized the tournament according to the law. The WPA also had a reason for its ban, because the ban only took place within tournaments run by the WPA.

Only athletes suffer because they are forced to choose the system they want to compete in. If they choose this system, they cannot participate in competitions in the other system and vice versa.

The best solution will come when the major billiards organizations, WPA and WNT, find a common voice and resolve the conflicts between the two organizations. Then the players will be able to compete in more tournaments and will no longer have to worry about choosing!

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/co-thu-viet-nam-bi-cam-thi-dau-va-su-phuc-tap-cua-he-thong-the-gioi-20241018150911648.htm