VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnam will send a 16-member squad to compete in the World Carom 3-Cushion Cup in Suwon, South Korea from September 29 to October 4, Viet Nam team coach Nguyen Viet Hoa said on Wednesday.

Duong Anh Vu.

According to the organising committee, the main draw of the championship will see 32 athletes, 12 of whom are ranked at the top of the Union Mondiale de Billiard (UMB).

Among the eight players who get byes from the Union, top player Duong Anh Vu, ranked 22nd in the world, is the only Vietnamese player who got a wild card at the main draw, by invitation of the organising committee.

Other Vietnamese athletes will play in qualifying rounds next Monday through Wednesday to try and make it into the main round.

At the Asian Indoor Games in Macau last year, HCM City-based Vu clinched a gold medal for Vietnam in the men’s one-cushion carom singles.

Vietnam achieved the best results at the World Cup in Suwon last year, with Tran Chi Thanh of HCM City taking home a silver medal.

“It is a hard for Vietnam because competitors are so strong,” said coach Hoa. “But we will try our best to win every cue at the Cup.”

The 1997 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Ly The Vinh will be the most experienced Vietnamese, athlete competing, along with Vu - the son of 2002 Asian Games silver medallist Duong Hoang Anh.

The participation of numerous Vietnamese athletes, who have to pay their own entry fees, shows that the sport is stepping closer to the professional realm.

In Vietnam, only football and volleyball are currently developing on a professional level.

(Source: Viet Nam News)