The final match was an exciting match between Carlo Biado (Philippines, ranked 4th in the world) and Mario He (Austria, ranked 17th in the world). Previously, in the semi-final match that took place in the afternoon of the same day, Mario He had excellently defeated world number 2 Alex Kazakis with a score of 11-6, including an impressive Golden Break (a shot that put the number 9 ball into the pocket). In the other semi-final match, Carlo Biado won a thrilling 11-10 victory after Sanjin Pehlivanvi missed the number 8 ball in an unbelievable way in the deciding game.
Entering the final match, the two players continuously gave the audience extremely classy ball-clearing and table-clearing performances, making the score continuously balanced. When the score was 7-7, Biado took advantage of his opponent's mistakes to win 2 consecutive games, leading 9-7. From then on, the game became favorable for the Filipino player. The world's 4th-ranked player accelerated to win the final 13-8.
Winning the championship, Carlo Biado received a bonus of up to 35,000 USD (nearly 900 million VND), the highest bonus in the history of Billiards Pool in Vietnam. At the same time, Biado also received a bonus of 5,000 USD from the main sponsor Aplus.
As runner-up, Mario He received 13,000 USD (nearly 330 million VND). The two third-place players, Alex Kazakis and Sanjin Pehlivanvi, received 5,000 USD each (nearly 125 million VND).
Players in the Top 8 receive 3,000 USD/person; top 16 receive 1,600 USD/person... In addition, players in the final round also receive bonus points corresponding to their achievements, thereby improving their position on the WPA world rankings.
After 5 days of exciting competition with many unexpected and dramatic developments, the final round of Ho Chi Minh City Open 2024 has ended successfully. The tournament was organized by the Ho Chi Minh City Billiards & Snooker Federation (HBSF) and was sponsored by the famous Billiards brand Aplus with a total prize value of up to 110,000 USD (about 2.8 billion VND).
With the meticulousness of the organizing committee and the professional quality, the world-class Special Eco competition table, the tournament has left many good impressions on international players. At the same time, Ho Chi Minh City Open 2024 has helped Vietnamese players have a quality playground, practice and accumulate significant competition experience, improve professional skills, thereby developing the Billiards Pool sport of the country.
Sharing after the final, Carlo Biado said: “I feel very happy. In Vietnam I have many fans, they are all very friendly and I have received a lot of support from them. This is a very professional tournament. The table is very good and it is great to play on this table. I hope I can return to Vietnam and defend the championship next year.”
