---
title: "Universal Open Brings World Nineball Tour to Ho Chi Minh City"
url: https://sports23.net/universal-open-ho-chi-minh-world-nineball-tour-preview
published: 2026-11-03T01:13:48Z
updated: 2026-11-03T01:13:48Z
summary: "Vietnam hosts a World Nineball Tour ranking event at Sniper Billiards Club, Nov 11-15 — a $63,000, 128-player week that opens an Asian swing ending in Bangkok."
author: "Sports23 Editorial"
categories: ["Billiards"]
tags: ["9-Ball", "Ho Chi Minh City", "Southeast Asia", "Universal Open", "Vietnam", "World Nineball Tour"]
lang: en
---

# Universal Open Brings World Nineball Tour to Ho Chi Minh City

*A 128-player field and $63,000 in prize money land at Sniper Billiards Club, opening a two-week Asian swing that ends in Bangkok.*

Ho Chi Minh City joins the World Nineball Tour map on November 11, when the Universal Open breaks off at Sniper Billiards Club — five days of ranking-event pool and a 128-player international field dropped into one of Southeast Asia's fastest-growing cue-sports cities.

## A home date for Vietnamese nineball

The Silver-tier stop carries a $63,000 prize fund, with $37,400 of it added money according to the tournament's official site, and it puts Vietnam on the WNT calendar alongside the sport's established hosts.

For local fans, the name that matters is Duong Quoc Hoang. The Ho Chi Minh City native sits inside the tour's top 25 and became Vietnam's first Matchroom invitational champion when he won Premier League Pool earlier this year — a breakthrough that followed his 2024 Scottish Open ranking title and back-to-back Reyes Cup wins with Team Asia in 2024 and 2025.

He is not the only home hope. Luong Duc Thien, Nguyen Anh Tuan and Pham Phuong Nam all hold places inside the WNT's top 90, and a 128-man field leaves room for plenty of local entries. Registration remains open through the tournament site, with organizers screening applicants on ranking, eligibility and remaining spots — the confirmed list has not been published yet.

## The region's leaders have points to defend

Southeast Asia already owns the top of the WNT rankings. Aloysius Yapp of Singapore is world No. 1 and Carlo Biado of the Philippines No. 2, with Johann Chua seventh — a standings picture that makes a ranking event on the region's doorstep exactly the kind of week the leaders cannot skip. Silver events may sit a rung below the tour's majors, but the points count the same on the rolling two-year list.

## How the week runs

The tournament plays double elimination through the opening stage — races to 9 on the winners' side and 8 on the losers' side, with qualification deciders at 9 — before the field cuts to 64 for straight knockout. Races stretch to 10 through the last 16, 11 for the quarterfinals and semifinals, and the title is decided over a race to 13.

## First leg of an Asian swing

Ho Chi Minh is the front half of a two-week Southeast Asian run: the tour moves straight on to the Universal Open Bangkok, November 17–21 at S1 Pool Hall & Sport Bar, a $69,400 event. Two ranking titles in ten days, then the circuit heads to Orlando for the Mosconi Cup on November 27–30.

For fans in the region, it is a rare stretch — the professional game runs through Southeast Asia twice before the year ends.

Draw, schedule and tournament data: [Universal Open Ho Chi Minh hub](https://ncuemedia.com/universal-open-ho-chi-minh).

*File photo: a nine-ball rack — Kafziel, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.*