LookAtVietnam – The Asian champion Dang Dinh Tien insisted that he would grab a gold medal at the third Asian Indoor Games in Viet Nam later this month.

“I beat Tadashi thanks to good tactics and strong winning mentality. It was the first time I played against him, but I’d studied his playing style before,” said the 49-year-old athlete.

“The victory has encouraged me in the run-up to the AIG and SEA Games. Now I’ve experienced playing at international competitions and know more about the strengths and weaknesses of some of my strongest rivals,” Tien said.

“I’m very confident and I believed that I will take the gold.”

Hard work

After school, people would see the 11-year-old Tien hanging around billiard halls. Here he served his apprenticeship and learned about the newly-arrived game of billiards. Little did he know that he was destined to be a future Asian champion.

Fourteen years, and several careers later, he realised he could not live without billiards.

The HCM City-born player claims his victories are based on hard work, not natural talent.

Tien practiced throughout the city, and adopted a unique playing style that saw him join the city’s billiard team.

He took his first silver medal at the HCM City Open which helped secure him a berth in the national team to compete at the 19th SEA Games in 1997 in Indonesia where he won a bronze in the three-cushion carom event.

“Despite only winning bronze, I was moved to tears when standing on the podium. It was the first medal for Viet Nam at an international competition,” Tien said.

Tien said he determined bag gold in the next SEA Games, but the two consecutive games did not feature billiards. Instead he had to wait until the 22nd SEA Games held in Viet Nam when he met with teammate Le Phuoc Loi in the final.

Tien came second after a split-second mistake that haunted him.

Although he earned several international medals, his first national title only came in 2008 and he easily defended the crown this year.

To the senior player, billiards is not only a sport, it is also an art.

“Billiards is an artistic sport. It contains interesting secrets that only players who really indulge it can discover,” he said.

“To a cueist, the happiest moment is when he finds a solution to deal with a difficult position as well as developing an original style.”

With his victory in the Asian event, Tien grabbed an official berth to compete at the world championship next year.

Vietnamese at AIG

Tien and his teammates will take part in all eight billiard events at the AIG.

Apart from the Asian champion, the host team will include the world No 16 Duong Anh Vu, the 2009 Asian bronze medallist Cao Thanh Truc and the former SEA Games winner Ly The Vinh.

“We will try to defend our gold medal of one-cushion carom that Anh Vu pocketed at the second AIG and look for more success in three-cushion carom event,” said coach Nguyen Viet Hoa.

The billiard sport is organised at the HCM City’s Phan Dinh Phung Gymnasium from October 31 to November 7.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News