Vietnam Billiards Team Scrapes Through In Unconvincing Fashion

Vietnam Billiards Team Scrapes Through In Unconvincing FashionIn the most amazing of matches, for all the wrong reasons, the Vietnamese billiard duo of Thanh Nam Nguyen and Chi Dung Luong made their way into the last 16 with a come-from-behind 9-8 win over Croatia.The match became a comedy of errors in the closing stages as it became a team who could not win against a team that did not want to win.Who do you think will win? Discuss World Cup of Pool here. The Croatian duo of Philipp Stovanovic and Ivan Kralj were beset by nerves and could barely make a clean connection with the cue ball, while every time the Vietnamese were gifted an opportunity they did not seem to want to take it.
A dry break in the opener from the Vietnamese gave the table to the Croats but Stovanovic failed to make contact with the 1 ball, leaving their opponents ball-in-hand and they ran out to take the early lead. The Croatian break shot in the second saw the cue ball incredibly roll around the interior of the pocket and then fly out onto the table. Stovanovic and Kralj took full advantage as they made an excellent job of a tough run out to level at 1-1. Vietnam threw away the chance to restore their lead as Nguyen missed a dolly 7 ball into the middle pocket and the Croatians accepted the opportunity to go 2-1 ahead. Stovanovic missed when under no real pressure in the next and the Vietnamese put themselves back in position as they took the rack. They nearly made a golden break in the next but had to settle for the run out to restore their lead at 3-2. Nguyen though, missed a long cut on the 2 ball in the next and compounded matters by scratching into the middle pocket. Croatia cleared to level things up. The next rack was a scrappy affair as neither team played at their best but Vietnam took it but Croatia levelled the match by winning the following one. They shared the next two in what was turning into a dour war of attrition before Croatia got their noses in front to put the pressure back on Vietnam and Croatia further increased their lead in the next to go to 7-5. The Far Easterners were not finished as they took the next with the break to reduce arrears to one rack but the Croatians fired home a top quality break in the next create a great opportunity but a missed 2 ball put paid to that. The Vietnamese could make nothing of the opportunity and Croatia went to the hill. The Eastern Europeans had a great chance to take the match in the next but Kralj had a total rush of blood to the head as he inexplicably scratched on the break to hand the cue ball to Vietnam and they took the rack to trail 8-7. Kralj then blundered on the break as he powered the cue ball off the table in what was developing into a nerve-induced comedy of errors. The Vietnamese twitched to miss the 2 ball before Stovanovic hit the knuckle of the centre pocket with what would have been the match winning 9 ball. Both sides had goes at tough pots on the 9 ball before Stovanovic totally miscued and missed the 9-ball completely and with ball in hand the Vietnamese leveled it at 8-8. There was more disaster for the doubles pair from Hanoi as Nguyen scratched on the break. However, the Croatians, showing more and more nerves totally lost the plot as they ran out of position and gave the final rack to the Vietnamese who now meet either Holland or Scotland.

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