Nguyen Tran Thanh Thao (29, hereafter T. Nguyen) has emerged as a new Vietnamese powerhouse, claiming her first title in only her second tournament since debuting on the Professional Billiards Association (PBA) Tour.
On the 3rd, at KINTEX PBA Stadium in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, T. Nguyen defeated veteran Semih Sayginer (61, Turkey, Welcome Savings Bank) 4-3 (10-15, 15-5, 6-15, 12-15, 15-9, 15-10, 11-9) in a full-set battle in the final of the SY Championship, the eco-friendly building materials sponsor's event and the third tournament of the PBA Tour's 2026-2027 season.
T. Nguyen, who entered the PBA this season through priority registration, was eliminated in her first match (round of 128) at the preceding High1 Resort Championship in her debut appearance. But she showed her mettle by reaching the top in her second outing. Becoming the 26th member of the "Winners Club" in PBA Tour history, she is the third Vietnamese to make the list of champions, following Ma Minh Cam (NH Nonghyup Card) and Nguyen Quoc Nguyen (Hana Card).
In this tournament, T. Nguyen consecutively defeated top-tier PBA players including Eddie Leppens (Belgium), Lutfi Cenet (Turkey), Shin Jung-joo (Hana Card), Choi Sung-won (Huons) and Sayginer. She received the 100 million won winner's prize, vaulting to third place in the season prize money rankings (100 million won). Once a player ranked around 20th in her home country's amateur league, she took on the professional stage to compete against the world's top players in a professional environment. She is regarded as a player whose strengths are composure and poise.
In the final, T. Nguyen was pushed to the brink at 1-3 in sets but took the third and fourth sets to force the match to a full set. In the deciding seventh set, she also fell behind, conceding a 7-9 lead reversal and facing a crisis. But when Sayginer's one-bank shot aiming for the finish in the sixth inning missed, T. Nguyen scored four points in a row with a bank shot, a masse-style cut and a reverse to complete the dramatic comeback.
"I gave up a stable life in Vietnam and came to the PBA to take on this challenge. I can't believe I actually won," T. Nguyen said. "I was able to win because I believed in myself and focused only on my own play."
Kim Young-won (106.5 million won) and Cho Kun-hwi (106 million won), both of whom failed to reach the semifinals, held onto first and second place in the prize money rankings by narrow margins. Sayginer rose to fourth place (39 million won).
The PBA will hold the second round of the Welcome Savings Bank PBA Team League, the Hwaseong Special City 2026-2027 tournament, at the indoor gymnasium of the Hwaseong Sports Complex in Gyeonggi Province from the 12th to the 20th.
