Vietnamese young billiards talent Chiem Hong Thai, 24, enjoyed an impressive debut, defeating the world's No.1 player, Marco Zanetti from Italy with a score of 40-25.

However, he faced a setback in his second match after losing to Dutch player Van Etten with a score of 40-32. Thai then showed great determination to win the next match and triumphed over Jeong Ye Sung of the Republic of Korea with a score of 40-33, officially earning the second spot in the group to progress to the knock-out stage.

Moving forward, Thai will face off against Berkay Karakurt of Turkey, who is ranked at 20th place in the world.

Meanwhile, Tran Quyet Chien swiftly won a place in the knock-out stage of Group H after just two matches. He defeated his fellow countryman Nguyen Tran Thanh Tu with a score of 40-36 before enjoying a win over Peter Ceulemans from Belgium with a score of 40-22. Despite a loss in his final match against Kim Haeng Jik of the Republic of Korea with a score of 40-25, the top-ranked Vietnamese billiards player retained his top position in the group.

Chien is scheduled to next play Nikos Polychronopoulos of Greece, who is at 20th position in the world rankings.