The convincing journey of Tran Thanh Luc
On the morning of March 3, Tran Thanh Luc made Vietnamese 3-cushion carom billiards fans happy when he won a dramatic victory with a narrow score of 50-47 in the final match of the 2025 Bogota World Cup held in Colombia. It is worth mentioning that Thanh Luc's opponent in the final match was Tasdemir Tayfun, a very strong player who has long been among the top players in the world. Over the years of competition, the Turkish player has won all the most prestigious titles in the competition system of the World Carom Billiards Federation (UMB). Tasdemir Tayfun was the world team champion, 3 times crowned in the World Cup stages and the individual world champion (World Championship).
To make it to the World Cup final for the first time in his career, Tran Thanh Luc had to overcome a memorable qualifying journey. In the main round (round of 32) of the 2025 Bogota World Cup, the Vietnamese player was in a tough group with formidable players such as Marco Zanetti (Italy), Berkay Karakurt (Turkey) and Kang Ja-in (Korea). In particular, Marco Zanetti is an experienced player, having won the most recent World Cup stage held in Sharm el Sheikh (Egypt) in December 2024.
Tran Thanh Luc's joy when winning the final of the Bogota 2025 Billiards World Cup
Thanh Luc had a great performance and advanced to the round of 16 with an unbeaten record (2 wins, 1 draw), including a defeat of Zanetti. And when it came to the knockout matches, the player born in 1990 played even more impressively, continuously winning against the "veterans" of 3-cushion carom billiards in the world. Thanh Luc defeated Eddy Merckx (Belgian, 13-time World Cup champion), especially he defeated the current world number 1 Dick Jaspers (Dutch, 31-time World Cup champion). Against the experienced player, Thanh Luc played with great confidence and created a spectacular comeback in the semi-final.
Enter your name in the "golden list" of Vietnamese 3-cushion carom
Tran Thanh Luc was born in 1990, from Binh Duong. He started to approach and pursue 3-cushion carom billiards in 2011. In 2019, the 35-year-old player joined the Ho Chi Minh City billiards team and started competing professionally. In 2023, he won the Asian silver medal.
Thanh Luc has been considered a top player in the Vietnamese 3-cushion carom billiards community for many years. He has won many domestic tournaments, including many times defeating Vietnam's number 1 player Tran Quyet Chien. However, before 2024, Thanh Luc had not made any significant mark at the world-class playgrounds of UMB, when his best achievement at the World Cup stages was only reaching the quarter-finals.
Tran Thanh Luc entered the World Cup final for the first time and won the championship.
However, the 2024 World Championship held in Binh Thuan in September 2024 is considered a turning point in Tran Thanh Luc's career. The Binh Duong player created a series of surprises to reach the finals, but lost to Korean "prodigy" Cho Myung-woo and had to accept the world runner-up title.
At that time, Thanh Luc once talked to Thanh Nien and said that his goal was to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup. And up to this point, the 35-year-old player has fulfilled his wish, even doing more than that. In Bogota - Colombia in 2025, Thanh Luc entered the semi-finals for the first time, the final for the first time and also won the championship of a World Cup stage for the first time.
The “golden list” of Vietnam’s 3-cushion carom billiards champions now includes Tran Thanh Luc. After Tran Quyet Chien (4 times World Cup champion: 2018, 2023, 2 times in 2024) and Tran Duc Minh (World Cup Ho Chi Minh City 2024), Thanh Luc is the 3rd player from Vietnam to hold the World Cup championship. Meanwhile, Bao Phuong Vinh was crowned the individual world champion (World Championship). In addition, the duo Tran Quyet Chien and Bao Phuong Vinh also helped the Vietnamese team win the world team championship in 2024.
Source: https://thanhnien.vn/noi-got-tran-quyet-chien-vo-dich-world-cup-colombia-tran-thanh-luc-la-ai-185250303172149696.htm
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