by Ben Hudd • July 5, 2023
The inaugural staging of the Asian Open Pool Championship will take place in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi City from October 10-15, becoming the first World Nineball Tour major to be held in Asia.
The Asian Open becomes the fifth signature Matchroom multi-table tournament as 256 players compete for $200,000 in prize money. It will follow the formats used for the famous US Open, the UK Open, the European Open and the Spanish Open.
Three of those aforementioned events have been launched in the last 18 months and proved to be roaring successes, with the flagship Asian tournament promising to emulate those and provide an unbelievable standard.
Further WNT ranking events will be held either side of the tournament in the Southeast Asian region, allowing Asian players to earn points towards the world rankings closer to home.
In addition, Matchroom revealed that a 64-player junior competition will also be held alongside the Asian Open, boasting a $10,000 prize fund and providing young players with invaluable experience.
Matchroom’s Emily Frazer said: “The World Nineball Tour is expanding and we’re going to the beautiful Hanoi City in Vietnam. The Asian Open Pool Championship, 256 players, and $200,000 in prize money on offer, led by the top 128 on the WNT rankings heading to Vietnam.
“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’re heading to these locations to push the World Nineball Tour. 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.
“We should be traveling the world and getting more global players on the World Nineball Tour rankings. The Asian Open Pool Championship will also be the final stop for the race to Mosconi Cup standings.”
The tournament will be broadcast live via Matchroom’s YouTube channels across the opening four days before Sky Sports show the final two days. DAZN will provide coverage throughout the duration in the USA.
