Vietnam cueists to attend US Open Pool Championship

Held for the fourth time at the New Jersey casino, Harrah's Resort, the Open is the sport’s most historic tournament and will see defending champion Ko Ping Chung lead the World Nineball Tour’s (WNT) 128 professional players seeded among a 256-player field aiming to claim the prestigious title.

“We are thrilled to be hosting the US Open Pool Tournament for the fourth consecutive year in Atlantic City, NJ,” said Daniel Gallagher, Director of Sports Sales for the Atlantic City Sports Commission.

"Our seaside destination could not be better positioned to host this unique event in our world-class venues along with ample experiences for athletes and spectators."

Vietnamese athletes are national No 1 Duong Quoc Hoang, Scottish Open 2024 champion; Do The Kien, Vietnam's 9 Pool winner; Pham Phuong Nam, Super Las Vegas Binh Duong Cup 2023 champion; and Luong Duc Thien, Billiards Joy Heyball Senior Vietnam 2024 champion, along with Bui Truong An, Nguyen Hai Dang and Nguyen Manh Duc.

Hoang, Nam, Kien and Thien showed particular brilliance at their remarkable performances at the recent European Open.

First staged in 1976, the US Open has crowned illustrious champions over the years, including five-time winners Earl Strickland and Shane Van Boening, Filipino great Efren ‘Bata’ Reyes and WNT No 1 Francisco Sanchez Ruiz.

A US$300,000 worth of WNT ranking points are on offer across the field, with the winner set to receive US$50,000.

To warm up for the event, five Vietnamese players will take part in the Raxx MVP Open 2024 on August 15-18 in New York.

The competitions also feature high-ranking players including Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Aloysius Yapp, Carlo Biado and Bernie Regalario.