The Asian Confederation of Billiards Sports (ACBS) has issued a ban on Vietnamese cue sports players from participating in international pool competitions. This decision has had repercussions not only for pool players but also for those in the carom discipline.
On June 8, 2024, ACBS sent a notice to its member federations, including the Vietnam Billiards & Snooker Federation (VBSF), outlining the penalties for players or federations participating in events not sanctioned by the ACBS. According to the notice, VBSF members are prohibited from participating in ACBS, World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA), and International Billiards & Snooker Federation (IBSF) events for six months, from July 13, 2024, to January 12, 2025. The VBSF must pay a fine of $5,000 to have the ban lifted.
The penalty was imposed because Vietnam hosted the Hanoi Open Pool Championship in October 2023, which was not approved by the ACBS. The event was authorized by the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sports and was part of the World Nineball Tour (WNT) organized by Matchroom Pool, an organization not affiliated with the WPA. Following the Hanoi Open, participants, including top Asian and Vietnamese players except for Duong Quoc Hoang, were barred from ACBS events.
The ACBS, WPA, IBSF, and Union Mondiale de Billard (UMB) are all under the umbrella of the World Confederation of Billiard Sports (WCBS). However, the WNT and the Professional Billiard Association (PBA) are independent of the WCBS. The UMB focuses on organizing carom events, while the ACBS covers both carom and pool.
The WNT and PBA offer tournaments with higher prize money than those organized by the WPA and UMB, attracting players who switch affiliations. However, players transferring from UMB to PBA face a two-year ban from UMB events.
Vietnamese carom players, such as Tran Quyet Chien and Bao Phuong Vinh, who are under the VBSF, are also affected by the ACBS’s decision. As ACBS is supported by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Vietnamese pool and carom players are now barred from participating in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Thailand in November 2024, organized by the OCA.
There is also a risk that Vietnamese carom players may be excluded from UMB events like the World Cup and World Championship. The 2024 World Three-Cushion Carom Championship, scheduled to be held in Vietnam from September 25 to 29, is now uncertain.
Doan Tuan Anh, head of the Vietnamese Billiards Division, stated that the UMB has not yet issued any official notice regarding a ban on Vietnamese players in their events. However, if the UMB follows ACBS’s lead, players like Quyet Chien and Phuong Vinh may miss the World Cup and World Championship over the next six months.
As of now, the UMB’s official website still lists the World Three-Cushion Carom Championship in Binh Thuan as scheduled. This situation presents a significant challenge for Vietnamese cue sports, especially since Vietnamese pool players are ranked outside the Top 30 globally, while Quyet Chien is the current world number one in carom, and Phuong Vinh is the reigning world champion in three-cushion carom.
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