Tran Thanh Luc suffers a regretful defeat against the world's number one player in the World Cup final.

Trailing by 12 points in the final match, world number one Cho Myung-woo created a miracle by scoring a consecutive 17-point streak (high run) to reverse the situation against Tran Thanh Luc, thereby becoming the first Asian cueist to achieve the milestone of 4 World Cup championships.

On April 13 (Vietnam time), in the final match of the Bogota 3-Cushion World Cup 2026 held in Colombia, Cho Myung-woo defeated opponent Tran Thanh Luc (Vietnam) with a score of 50:35. With this victory, he secured his fourth World Cup title in his career, setting a record as the Korean cueist with the most championships and equaling the record for the most Asian championships.

At the Asian level, the record of 4 championships belongs to the Vietnamese "master," Tran Quyet Chien. With this achievement, Cho Myung-woo officially stands shoulder-to-shoulder with his senior Quyet Chien on the record board.

In the early stage of the final match, the situation completely favored the Vietnamese cueist, Tran Thanh Luc. Cho Myung-woo faced psychological crisis when experiencing a consecutive 6-turn streak without scoring. At one point, he trailed his opponent by 12 points, and the prospect of defeat was clearly visible.

However, the turning point occurred in the 11th turn. After breaking the silence with a precise bank shot, Cho Myung-woo demonstrated an incredible level of concentration. He unleashed a series of 17 consecutive points (high-run), turning the score from 10-22 into 27-22 within just one turn, sweeping away all his opponent's advantages and reversing the match situation in an instant.

After widening the gap to 40-26, even though Tran Thanh Luc struggled to chase down to 43-35, Cho Myung-woo concluded the match with a neat 7-point series, sealing the victory 50-35 after 22 turns, officially ascending to the throne.

The city of Bogota, located at a high altitude above sea level, has been a "tough ground" for Cho Myung-woo. He tasted bitterness when being eliminated from the group stage here consecutively in 2024 and 2025. But this time was different. To overcome the difficulties of the high-altitude terrain, Cho Myung-woo arrived in Colombia 10 days early to adapt to the environment and climate. This thorough preparation transformed weakness into strength, helping him maintain physical stamina and the best cue feeling.

Experts commented: "Cho Myung-woo's ability to maintain focus and reverse the situation under adversity has reached maturity. This is not only a personal achievement but also affirms the position of Korean 3-cushion billiards on the international stage."

This victory also holds significance in quenching the thirst for Korean billiards. Historically, Korean cueists have performed poorly in the South American region. While Japan (with Ryuji Umeda in 2007) and Vietnam (with Tran Thanh Luc's championship in Bogota last year) have both achieved glory here, Korea has always come away empty-handed. Cho Myung-woo officially broke this "curse" to become the first Korean cueist to lift the championship cup on the South American continent.

For Tran Thanh Luc, the regretful defeat against Cho Myung-woo in the Bogota 2026 World Cup final cannot overshadow his brilliant performance in the tournament. Notably, his unbelievable comeback against the renowned superstar Dick Jaspers in the quarter-finals and his overwhelming victory against World Cup champion Marton Horn in the semi-finals.

With the World Cup runner-up position, Tran Thanh Luc made a spectacular leap on the UMB ranking list, ranking 9th in the world, officially surpassing Tran Quyet Chien to become Vietnam's current number one cueist.