Vietnam Produce Inspired Performance

VIETNAM caused a massive shock by defeating second seeds Holland to complete the quarter-final line-up at the PartyPoker.com World Cup of Pool.

The Vietnamese side, consisting of Thanh Nam Nguyen and Chi Dung Luong, had looked unimpressive in a narrow 9-8 first round victory against Croatia but appeared to be a completely different team with an inspired performance against Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg, the European No.2 and No.3.

Holland won the lag and should have had the rack wrapped up until they missed a shot at the brown seven to hand a 1-0 lead to Vietnam. Vietnam broke and ran through the balls in the next with Thanh Nam Nguyen unconvincingly wobbling the 9-ball in to gain a surprise 2-0 lead.

Holland immediately pulled one back and when Thanh Nam Nguyen left the green six hanging over the bottom left pocket the Dutch side looked like levelling the score at 2-2.

However, van den Berg missed the 9-ball and Chi Dung Luong gratefully accepted the present to move two racks clear, 3-1 in front.

Holland broke and ran through the next but Vietnam did likewise in the sixth to restore their two-rack advantage. But the Dutch showed why they were considered one of the tournament favourites as they again did not put a foot wrong to make the score 4-3.

Vietnam