The first two days of the 2024 Ho Chi Minh City Open 9-Ball Billiards Pool saw impressive performances from Vietnamese players. On the evening of September 26, player Luong Duc Thien showed excellent form when he defeated qualifying champion Yu Li Si with a score of 9-6.
Duc Thien then defeated Luong Chi Dung 9-3 to advance to the knockout round. More notably, Yu Li Si then lost 6-9 to Do Van Khai in the play-off match for a wild card and was officially eliminated, while Van Khai advanced.
Tran Minh Khai beat Mohd Reza Hassan (9-5) but then lost to Chen Chen Wei (6-9). In the play-off match, Minh Khai won 9-6 against Chau Chieu Minh. After losing to Aleksa Pecelj (Serbia, world No. 76), Ho So Phat had two consecutive victories against Nguyen Minh Son and Cuna Ruben Ampone (Philippines) to enter the knockout round.
Nguyen Phuc Long also lost his opening match against Raymund Faraon, but won a dramatic 9-8 against Ngo Hong Thang in the play-off. Le Van Ngo lost his first match against Ralf Souquet (ranked 41st in the world), but also regained his form with 2 wins against Kostas Koukiadakis and Vu Quang Huy.
The other three top Vietnamese players, Hoang Thai Duy, Tat Duy Kien, Ta Van Linh and famous player Ko Pin Han also had important victories in the play-off round to advance.
At the same time, strong players such as Sean Malayan, Hijikata Hayato, Ralf Souquet, Darren Appleton, Anthony Gara, Albert Delgado and Mario He (ranked 17th in the world) all showed their class with 2 wins in a row.
On September 27, the Ho Chi Minh City Open 2024 will take place in the 1/32 knockout round. The highlight match will be the competition between former national champion Nguyen Hoang Minh Tai and the famous world No. 8 player Wu Kun Lin.
Some other notable matches: Le Van Ngo meets Albert Delgado (Spain, ranked 50th in the world); Hoang Thai Duy competes with Fu Che Wei (ranked 107th in the world); Ho So Phat meets Michael Baoanan (Philippines, ranked 139); Do Van Khai meets Ralf Souquet (Germany, ranked 41)...
