Filipino billiards legend Efren Reyes attends the SEA Games 31 in Hanoi on May 18, 2022. Photo by VnExpress/Lam Thoa
Filipino billiards legend Efren Reyes will play an exhibition match at the 2023 Hanoi Open Pool Championship this week.
The tournament will take place from October 10 to 15 at the My Dinh Indoor Athletics Arena in the capital. It is the first Asian tournament to be included in the world-famous World 9-Ball Tour, alongside the US Open, UK Open, European Open and Spanish Open.
The tournament brings together 128 Vietnamese and 128 international players. Vietnamese billiards fans will have the chance to see a group of world-class players such as world number one Francisco Sanchez-Ruiz, number two Shane Van Boening and number five Fedor Gorst.
And for a special event, Reyes will come to Hanoi to play an exhibition match on October 14.
Reyes is nicknamed “the magician” because of his unique style of play. During his 40-year professional career, he won almost everything there was to win, including the US Open, Challenge of Champions and World Billiards Championship. He was also inducted into the Billiards Hall of Fame.
The Filipino player received an enthusiastic response from Vietnamese fans when he came here to participate in the SEA Games 31 in 2022.
The Hanoi Open Pool Championship 2023 is organized by Matchroom in collaboration with Vietcontent, with a prize pool of $200,000. Managing Director of Matchroom, Emily Frazer, explained the reason for choosing Hanoi to host the tournament: “Hanoi is the ideal location to host this tournament. There are many passionate billiards fans here. The level of players of the host is also quite high.”