Nguyen Phuc Long has booked a berth in the knock-out stage of the World 8-Ball Championship 2011 in Fujairah, U.A.E, after winning his first two matches.

Long’s victories came against Mario He (7-4) from Austria in the first game of Group A and Takhti Zarekani (7-3) of Iran in the next.

In Group H, another Vietnamese contestant Do Hoang Quan defeated Iranian Khedri Moein 7-1 in the first match but lost 4-8 to French rival Vincent Facquet in the next.

In the next match, Quan will clash with Spanish contestant Francisco Diaz Pizarro for a spot in the next round of the February 19-26 competition. It is expected to be a hard match for Quan because Pizarro, Spain’s 1998-1999 national champion, is a skilled, experienced athlete.