'New Efren Reyes' impressively wins championship, receives nearly 1 billion VND in prize money

The surprise happened on the final day (September 29) of the Ho Chi Minh City Open 9-ball pool billiards tournament 2024, held at Ho Xuan Huong Stadium (District 3, Ho Chi Minh City). In the semi-final match taking place in the afternoon, the world's 2nd-ranked Greek player - Alexander Kazakis was in extremely good form, but was defeated 6-11 by Mario He (Austrian, world's 17th). In this match, the Austrian player had an impressive "golden break" (a shot that put the 9 ball into the hole).

Carlo Biado "escaped" in the semi-finals, before winning the Ho Chi Minh City Open 2024 championship in Ho Chi Minh City.

In the other semi-final, Carlo Biado (world No. 4) had a tough time against Sanjin Pehlivanvi (Bosnia & Herzegovina, world No. 47). However, the player considered the "new Efren Reyes" of Philippine billiards showed his class at the right time and won a thrilling 11-10 victory, after Sanjin Pehlivanvi incredibly missed the 8th ball in the deciding game.

The final match took place on the evening of September 29th, and was a match between Carlo Biado and Mario He. The two players continuously gave the audience classy shots, while the score was constantly balanced. Once again, the Filipino player's class was shown at the right time. When the score was 7-7, Biado took advantage of his opponent's mistakes to win 2 consecutive games, taking the lead 9-7. From then on, the game became favorable for Biado. The world's 4th ranked player took advantage of the opportunity to accelerate and won 13-8 against Mario He.

Carlo Biado (middle, top row) received nearly 1 billion in prize money after winning the Ho Chi Minh City Open 2024

Winning the Ho Chi Minh City Open 2024 9-ball billiards pool championship, Carlo Biado received a bonus of up to 35,000 USD. In addition, the Filipino player also received a bonus of 5,000 USD from the main sponsor Aplus. In total, Carlo Biado received up to 40,000 USD (equivalent to 984 million VND). Sharing after winning the championship, Carlo Biado said: "I feel very happy. I hope I can return to Vietnam and defend the championship next year."

Finishing as runner-up, Mario He received $13,000 (nearly VND320 million). The two third-place players, Alexander Kazakis and Sanjin Pehlivanvi, received $5,000 (VND123 million). In addition, the players in the top 8 received $3,000, the top 16 received $1,600, the top 32 received $800, and the top 64 received $450. Players competing in the final round also received bonus points corresponding to their achievements, thereby improving their position on the World Pool Federation (WPA) rankings.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/billiards-efren-reyes-moi-vo-dich-day-an-tuong-nhan-gan-1-ti-dong-tien-thuong-185240929234205355.htm