Tran Quyet Chien of Viet Nam earned a berth to compete at the World Championship Individual Three Cushion billiards championship after entering the semi-finals of the Asian Billiards Championships in HCM City on Sunday.

Chien was one of three host players in the quarter-final round of the men's three-cushion carom event.

He defeated teammate Nguyen Quoc Nguyen, the Southeast Asian Games winner, 3-1 for his semi-final berth.

This means he will be the Vietnamese representative at the world tournament in Portugal on September 5-9.

In the semi-finals, Chien was beaten 1-3 by powerful rival Takeshida from Japan – but this does not cost him his berth. Takeshida took the second berth to the world tournament.

Meanwhile Kim Kyung-roul of South Korea defeated Japanese Ryuuji Umeda 3-0 in the other semi-final to enter the final of the Asian Championships.

The World Billiards Union said there were four world championships' positions given to Asian players. Both Kim and Umeda acquired their positions at previous tournaments. Therefore Viet Nam, with two athletes presented in the quarter-final round, still have a chance for another berth at the world championships with two more positions are available to high ranking competitors from the Asian zone.-VNS