Vietnamese cueist Ma Minh Cam.
The fourth qualification stage brought together 36 players who competed in a round robin tournament in 12 groups to determine the 12 group winners and the three best second-place finishers for the main tournament, which already features 17 wild-card holders, including three from Vietnam.
Ma Minh Cam claimed Group F’s top spot in style by stunning reigning Blankenberge World Cup champion, Javier Palazon, and Jerome Barbeillon, both from France, with respective scores of 40-28 and 40-33. Meanwhile, Do Nguyen Trung Hau won Group E with two convincing victories over David Pennor of Sweden (40-25) and German Martin Horn (40-34).
In the main draw, Tran Quyet Chien has been placed in Group C, together with Sanchez Daniel of Spain and two players from the Republic of Korea (RoK), Heo Jung Han and Choi Sung Won. Ngo Dinh Nai is joined by Sayginer Semih and Cenet Lutfi (Turkey), and Kim Haeng Jik (RoK) in Group D, while Ma Minh Cam belongs to Group H, alongside Coklu Murat Naci (Turkey), Zanetti Marco (Italy) and Philipoom Jozef (Belgium). Do Nguyen Trung Hau has been drawn in Group G with Cho Jae Ho (RoK), Bury Jeremy (France), and Morales Robinson (Colombia).
The 32 players will compete in a round robin tournament, with the top two performers from each group qualifying for the knockout round.
At the 2019 Porto World Cup, the participants will defend their results achieved at the 2018 Blankenberge World Cup.
The overall champion will receive EUR16,000 in prize money and 80 UMB rating points, while a stake of EUR10,000 and 54 rating points will be awarded to the runner-up, in addition to EUR6,000 and 38 points for the two third-placed players, EUR3,500 and 26 points for quarterfinalists, EUR2,500 and 16 points for the last-16 players, and EUR1,500 and 8 rating points for the last-32 competitors.
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