▲ Nguyen Quoc Nguyen (left) holding the championship trophy alongside Crown Haitai General Manager Ki Jong-pyo
Vietnam's billiards star Nguyen Quoc Nguyen (Hana Card) defeated Spanish powerhouse David Martinez (Crown Haitai) to lift his second career Professional Billiards (PBA) championship trophy.
On the 12th, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen secured a 4-1 set victory (15-10, 15-14, 15-9, 4-15, 15-7) against Martinez in the PBA final of the 4th Tour of the 2026-2027 season, the Crown Haitai PBA-LPBA Championship, held at the PBA Stadium in KINTEX, Goyang, Gyeonggi Province.
Having claimed his first career victory at the 9th Tour of the 2025-2026 season, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen achieved his second individual title 252 days later.
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen is now the first Vietnamese player to achieve two victories on the PBA stage.
Following the 3rd Tour champion Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu, Vietnamese players have now claimed the top spot in two consecutive tournaments, continuing the strong momentum of competitors from Vietnam.
On the other hand, Martinez, who was aiming for a record-breaking 9th PBA career title, had to settle for runner-up.
The turning point of the match was the second set.
After taking the first set 15-10, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen led the second set 10-3, but allowed Martinez to turn the game around to 10-14 amid a fierce pursuit.
However, after scoring 3 points in the 6th inning and landing a lucky bank shot, he completed a dramatic come-from-behind victory at 15-14, pulling ahead to a 2-0 set lead.
Gaining momentum, Nguyen Quoc Nguyen seized control of the match by taking the third set 15-9.
Although he dropped the fourth set 4-15, he swept 10 points starting from the 6th inning when he was trailing 4-5 in the fifth set to reach a 14-7 match point, and closed out the match in the 9th inning with a one-cushion bank shot.
Nguyen Quoc Nguyen shared his thoughts, saying, "I am so overwhelmed and happy that words fail me," and added, "I fought with the mindset of challenging Martinez, one of the best players in the PBA, as if I were starting from scratch."
The "Welcoming Top Ranking" award (carrying a prize of 4 million won), given to the player who records the highest match average, went to Kang Eui-joo, who recorded an average of 2.813 in the Round of 128.
Having concluded the 4th Tour, the PBA will continue with the 5th Tour of the season, the NH Nonghyup Card PBA-LPBA Championship, at the same venue starting on the 18th.
(Photo courtesy of PBA, Yonhap News)
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