Vietnamese female player competes in two contrasting events as hot girls battle at the 'Vietnamese Billiards World Cup'

On September 9 in Ho Chi Minh City, Bùi Xuân Vàng came off the carom 3-cushion table after a 22-21 win over Nguyễn Ngọc Phương Anh to top Group C. Before the chalk was dry on her fingers, she had to move to the pool area for her opening match in another discipline. A national pool champion playing two sports with opposite physical logics in the same tournament is rare, and it raises a tactical question that deserves more attention than the beauty narrative surrounding the women’s field. The event is the 2026 HBSF Tour 2 – Cup MIN Table, organized by the HCMC Billiards & Snooker Federation and featuring nearly 310 players across four events. Locally branded as the “Vietnamese Billiards World Cup”, the tournament is essentially a domestic tour stop, yet its calendar position carries international weight. The women’s carom event ends on September 11, and Vietnamese players Nguyễn Đức Yến Sinh, Nguyễn Thị Liên and Nguyễn Thị Bích Trâm are scheduled to travel to France for the Women’s World Championship. Results in HCMC are therefore more than domestic form; they are the final rhythm before a bigger stage. Carom 3-cushion and pool speak different cue languages. In carom, the cue ball must contact at least three cushions before hitting the second object ball; scoring is based on repeated, controlled journeys across the table. Pool has a smaller table and an obvious target: pocketing balls. A player who internalizes pool angles must rewrite her muscle memory to survive carom, where no pocket forgives a misread angle. The 22-21 margin in Bùi Xuân Vàng’s carom match is revealing. A one-point win is often framed as composure, but under an error-based lens it shows she is still steering with a pool orientation. Nguyễn Đức Yến Sinh’s 25-9 victory over Mỹ Duyên, meanwhile, points to long scoring runs and strong form. Still, conclusions from two group-stage scores are dangerous. A knockout opponent can slow the game, defend harder and disrupt rhythm. Huỳnh Hoa, born in 2026 and playing in her first major tournament, lost narrowly to SEA Games medalist Lê Thị Ngọc Huệ. Outside the “new face” label, the technical signal is meaningful: a young player without titles pushed an experienced champion to the final shots. The greater issue is the absence of star power like Dương Quốc Hoàng and the media risk of reducing women’s billiards to appearances. Value is built through repeated competitive stories, not glamour. Watch whether Bùi Xuân Vàng can defend her pool title after the carom battle; whether Nguyễn Đức Yến Sinh wins the event before heading to France; and whether Huỳnh Hoa returns at the next tour stop. If she does, the real story begins.