World Nineball Tour heads to Ho Chi Minh City for Universal Open
A 128-player field, a $63,000 purse and a home crowd for Vietnam's nineball stars — the WNT's Southeast Asian swing starts here.
HO CHI MINH CITY — The Universal Open Ho Chi Minh brings the World Nineball Tour to Vietnam on Wednesday, with a 128-player international field breaking off at Sniper Billiards Club for five days of Silver-tier ranking action through Sunday 15 November.
The event carries a $63,000 prize fund — $37,400 of it added money — paying $15,000 to the champion, $8,000 to the runner-up and $250 all the way down to the last 64. The draw opens with double elimination, races to 9 on the winners' side and 8 on the losers' side, before cutting to a 64-man straight knockout that builds to a race-to-13 final.
World No. 1 Aloysius Yapp heads an eleven-name featured entry list that also includes Carlo Biado, Johann Chua, Robbie Capito and Bernie Regalario. The loudest cheers, though, will be for home favourite Dương Quốc Hoàng should he take his place in the field — the Ho Chi Minh City native became Vietnam's first Matchroom champion when he won Premier League Pool in February, with Lương Đức Thiên, Nguyễn Anh Tuấn and Phạm Phương Nam also ranked inside the tour's top 90. The final entry list has not yet been published.
Why it matters: Ho Chi Minh City opens a back-to-back Southeast Asian swing — the Universal Bangkok Open follows on 17 November — and the $63,000 Silver event is the biggest ranking tournament yet staged on Vietnamese soil, a showcase for one of the sport's fastest-growing markets.
Sources: World Nineball Tour event listing and the official tournament site, cross-checked against the ncuemedia event hub.
