In the opening match in Group C of the 2022 world team billiards tournament taking place on March 10 (Vietnam Time), Tran Quyet Chien excellently defeated the world number 1 carom billiards player Dick Jaspers and helped the Vietnamese team win a 2-0 victory against the mighty Dutch team.

This was an important match in the 2022 tournament since the Dutch team has always been the strong candidate in the tournament, and the World's no. 1 carom billiards player Dick Jaspers was in a higher position as he had just beat Tran Quyet Chien to win the 2022 Ankara World Cup a week ago.

Vietnamese player Tran Quyet Chien showed firmer tactics compared than in his defeated match in the Ankara World Cup, but still struggled with 17/20 points at the end of the first half.

Tran Quyet Chien managed to defeat No.1 player on March 10. Photo: Thanh Nien

However, after the break, Tran Quyet Chien had an "acceleration" phase with a series of 13 points to take the lead 30/20. Although Jaspers tried very hard to create a "back upstream," the Vietnamese player did not give his opponent another victory and reached 40 points first and left Jaspers with only 35 points.

Quyet Chien and Anh Chien have a great start at the 2022 Team Tournament. Photo: 24h

Meanwhile, at the next table, his Vietnamese teammate Nguyen Duc Anh Chien also played very well to beat Raimond Burgman with a score of 40/31. With this result, the Vietnamese 3-band Billiards team defeated the Netherlands with a score of 2-0 and are likely to enter the next round.

In the remaining match of Group C, Colombia also won 2-0 against France. Looking at Colombia and France, it will be difficult for them to stop the highly-rated Vietnam duo of Tran Quyet Chien and Nguyen Duc Anh Chien.

Nguyen Duc Anh Chien was as good as his teammate in the match against the Dutch in the 2022 tournament. Photo: Thanh Nien

Dick Jaspers views Vietnamese billiards as "one of the strongest countries in terms of 3-band carom. Vietnam and Korea are and will be important to the world billiards."

He also expressed his regret on how World Cup was unable to visit Ho Chi Minh City in the past two years due to the pandemic.

The World's No.1 player recalled the great impression he had seeing Duong Anh Vu attending the World Championships (World Championships) in Germany in 2006 and 2008.

"That was the first time I saw a Vietnamese player play," he said.

The victory will help take Tran Quyet Chien to another level, providing a dream start for Vietnamese billiards.

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