Been hearing this for years now, Jay, but the emergence of a large contingent of world class players from Vietnam has yet to happen. Duong will be 40 in May, and nobody has emerged that seems ready to have the torch passed to them.
Fifteen years ago, many precicted that Taiwan would soon produce a lot of world championship level players, and they were right, with JL Chang and the Ko brothers leading the way. On the other hand, I recall how seven or eight years ago, many (including Jeremy Jones) were predicting that Poland, where pool was growing by leaps and bounds, might begin to dominate in 9ball, but to this point, no Polish player has ever won a Matchroom major or qualified for Team Europe at the Mosconi.
The road to the top of our sport is a very difficult one, and while it would make me happy to see a large contingent of world championship level Vietnamese players emerge, I am less confident than you that it will happen. Regardless, the Vietnamese players and fans are a credit to our sport and their limitless enthusiasm for the game of pool has impressed all of us. I wish every one of them well.
