Nguyen Nhu Le Completes Comeback Against 'Bonus Hunter' to Claim First HBSF Tour 2 MIN Table Championship

On the afternoon of September 12, at Rach Mieu Sports Complex, when Nguyen Nhat Hoa's cue ball struck the third cushion in a futile safety attempt, the 70-seat arena fell into a silence so complete it seemed everyone was holding their breath at the same rhythm. The score stood at 34-34 — a symmetrically uncanny number, as if the carom 3-cushion final between Nhat Hoa and Nguyen Nhu Le was composing a poem about balance. But then Le, 27, from Dong Nai province, began a streak of 10 consecutive points. Nobody in the venue managed to capture that moment — it happened too fast, too intensely, like a sudden downpour during a drought. The carom final ended 50-37, with Le claiming his first HBSF Tour 2 MIN Table 2026 championship after 27 innings. It was his inaugural HBSF Tour title, ending three years of chasing the domestic circuit without a complete victory. But the most striking number wasn't the final score — it was the division: 50 divided by 27, yielding 1.85 points per inning. A scoring efficiency that even veteran observers in the back row had to acknowledge as top-tier for the season. Yet 48 hours before the final, Le had displayed a completely different face. Against Nguyen Van Tung Em in the semifinal, he required 47 innings to reach 50 points — an efficiency of just 1.06 per inning, the lowest among the four semifinalists. Meanwhile, Nhat Hoa needed only 33 innings to defeat Chiem Hong Thai with a 1.52 efficiency. A bizarre reversal: the slowest scorer in the semifinal became the fastest scorer in the final. For Nhat Hoa, the nickname "bonus hunter" was no accident. He had appeared in the top eight of five consecutive HBSF Tour events — a consistency record few in the domestic carom scene could match. But precisely because of this, the moment he led 13-5 in the opening innings became a burden. When the score was level at 34-34, one could observe Nhat Hoa hesitating slightly before each shot — a sign of a player accustomed to collecting prizes, but who had never learned how to close out a match when it truly mattered. On the same day at Rach Mieu, the pool final unfolded under an entirely different script. Nguyen Hoang Minh Tai, former national champion and defending three-time HBSF Tour winner, faced Lim Leng in a three-set match. Lim Leng started brilliantly by winning the opening set 4-2, but Minh Tai responded with a 4-1 second set. The decisive set developed with tension bordering on impatience, and Minh Tai, with the composure of a 38-year-old veteran, closed it at 2-0. This was his third title of the season — a modest number in quantity, but given his age and competitive timeframe, it became the clearest testament to endurance. But the detail most overlooked by sports media wasn't who won, but Lim Leng's journey. This was his third consecutive HBSF Tour final — and all three times, he finished runner-up. A man always present at the feast but never invited to dance. The story of helplessness before opportunity — what sports psychologists call the "near-win effect" — was unfolding on Ho Chi Minh City's pool tables with barely anyone noticing. The tournament featured total prize money reaching 70 million VND for the carom champion and 60 million VND for the pool champion. Prize distribution extended to the top 16 in each discipline — an unconventional structure favoring encouragement for players to return, rather than concentrating rewards solely at the top. In the context of Vietnamese billiards gradually recovering from the COVID-19 period with sparse domestic events, this might be the most sensible strategy the Ho Chi Minh City Billiards & Snooker Federation has ever employed. For Le, the September 12 final was more than a victory. It was proof that a player could enter the semifinal with the worst form among four contenders, and leave the arena with a maiden title in hand. Perhaps that is the greatest lesson carom 3-cushion teaches those willing to listen: the fastest scorer isn't always the ultimate winner. Sometimes, you only need to know when to accelerate — and Le chose the perfect moment. The tournament concluded with the organizing committee's promise: HBSF Final Tour 2026 would take place from December 16-20 at Rach Mieu Sports Hall, dubbed as "the most anticipated event of the year." In the 97 days between these two milestones, the Ho Chi Minh City Billiards & Snooker Federation must answer one question: Can they transform moments like Le's 10-point streak into something fans not only read about but remember? The answer, as always, lies in the shots to come.