Asian Open Pool Championship comes to Hanoi

The tournament, brought to Vietnam by Vietcontent, will be held on October 10-15 at the Indoor Athletics Complex in Hanoi.

It will see the participation of 256 athletes including 128 World Nineball Tour high-ranking competitors such as Joshua Filler, Shane Van Boening, Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Ko Pin Yi, and Fedor Gorst.

A total of US$200,000 is to offered as prize money with the winner walking away with US$30,000.

“It’s brilliant that such an amazing and beautiful tournament will take place in Vietnam. The Vietnamese fans are very welcoming to everyone and I am sure all our people will be looking forward to this event," said national top 9-ball player Duong Quoc Hoang.

"I am so excited the World Nineball Tour is coming to Hanoi. I’m excited for this opportunity and want to thank Vietcontent and Matchroom and everyone else who has made this possible."

It is the first time a world elite event has been held in this country which has seen a booming development of billiards that attracted the attentions of Matchroom Pool.

In May, Matchroom Multi Sport Managing Director Emily Frazer posted photos of Vietnam billiards on her Facebook, which created information about the leading nine-ball tournament system to visit Vietnam soon.

In a clip on Matchroom Pool's fanpage, Frazer officially confirmed Hanoi as the next destination of the tournament.

“The World Nineball Tour is expanding and we’re going to the beautiful Hanoi city in Vietnam," she said.

"We’re really excited. The final two days will be live on Sky Sports. Sky Sports have been instrumental to our push of Nineball following the schedule and putting these events on back to back so they’ve been really pushing Nineball for us with the calendar. We have a great team on the ground with Vietcontent and the Hanoi Department of Culture and Sport.”

In addition to the tournament for the elites, the Vietnam Junior Open will be held for the under-17 athletes vying for a purse of US$10,000 from October 13-14.

It is part of Matchroom’s commitment to growing the grassroots of the game.

“The Vietnam Junior Open will take place during the Asian Open. It’s a great opportunity for Juniors to come onto the main stage and get experience in front of the cameras," Fraser said.

Vietcontent General Director Tran Thuy Chi said: “Vietcontent is excited to be the host partner of this event, a very meaningful event for billiards fans in Vietnam.

"Vietnam currently is one of the countries with the largest number of pool players in Asia and the world. Hanoi  has been considered as a strong city of Nineball pool for many years," said Chi, adding that the date of the Asian Open Championship in October coincides with the Independence Day of Hanoi so it is the best opportunity to bring Hanoi to the world and bring the world to the city.