Cho Myung-woo, 28, of Seoul City Hall, the world's top-ranked three-cushion billiards player, has reached the final of the Ankara Three-Cushion Billiards World Cup, moving one step closer to his fifth career title.
Cho defeated Bao Phuong Vinh of Vietnam 50-41 in the semifinal held in Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday (Korea time).
Bao, the 2023 world championship winner, advanced as a strong contender after beating Heo Jung-han of the Gyeongnam Billiards Federation 50-26 in the round of 16 and Tran Thanh Luc of Vietnam 50-42 in the quarterfinals. Bao led early in the match, but Cho's touch soon came alive. Trailing 11-19, Cho rattled off a high run of 13 points in the eighth inning to turn the score around to 24-19. Seizing the momentum, Cho added seven consecutive points in the 12th inning to extend his lead to 35-22, then closed out the match in 21 innings without any notable crisis.
Earlier in the day, Cho crushed Torbjorn Blomdahl of Sweden, one of billiards' "Big Four," 50-32 in 26 innings in the quarterfinals.
Cho will face the winner of the match between Marco Zanetti of Italy and Dick Jaspers of the Netherlands in the final.
In this tournament, Cho is aiming for his second World Cup title of the year and his fifth career title, the first by an Asian player.
