Hoang Sao 'sprints' for the chance to defend Reyes Cup championship

From now until Reyes Cup 2025, player Duong Quoc Hoang (Hoang Sao) will enter a series of important tournaments and the Vietnamese player must make a breakthrough to have hope of being included in the Asian team to defend the Reyes Cup title.

Which year did Hoang Sao win the Asian championship with the team?

Hoang Sao is facing the opportunity to compete for the second consecutive time in the Reyes Cup 2025 - taking place from October 16 to 19 in Manila (Philippines). Reyes Cup - the prestigious world team billiards pool tournament, was first held in 2024 to pay tribute to the Filipino billiards legend Efren Reyes. This year's tournament is a competition between the Asian team and the team of non-Asian players. In 2024, Hoang Sao and the Asian team won convincingly.

Hoang Sao races for tickets to Reyes Cup 2025

PHOTO: US OPEN

From now until the opening day of the Reyes Cup, Hoang Sao will participate in 3 major tournaments. The first is the 2025 10-ball World Championship (taking place from September 20 to 28 in Ho Chi Minh City). This tournament does not count points on the World Nineball Tour (WNT) rankings, but if he has an impressive performance at the biggest tournament on the planet, it will help him create an effect in the eyes of fans. Next, Peri 9 Ball Open (from October 2 to 5 in Da Nang ) and Hanoi Open Pool (October 7 to 12) are 2 key tournaments, when the results are calculated directly into the WNT rankings. With only a few weeks left before the 2025 Reyes Cup, each win and each advance of Hoang Sao is of great significance, contributing to turning the situation around to enter the group of Asian players with the possibility of being selected.

Recently, Matchroom (the organizer of the Reyes Cup) unexpectedly announced a major change in the way the team is selected. Accordingly, the Asian team has only 2 official positions: Asia's number 1 player and the Philippines' number 1 player; the remaining 3 spots are special tickets, including 2 spots chosen by the team captain and 1 spot awarded by WNT.

Compared to the first year of organization, this new mechanism opens up more opportunities for faces that are not sure of a place. Players Aloysius Yapp (Singapore, 2nd place) and Carlo Biado (Philippines, 3rd place) are likely to win 2 official spots thanks to their outstanding scores. The competition now revolves around 3 wildcard tickets. Meanwhile, the force of teams of players outside Asia is also selected in a similar form and will definitely have the participation of the top 1 European and top 1 American (current world number 1 on the WNT rankings, Fedor Gorst of the US, is sure to have a place).

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/hoang-sao-chay-nuoc-rut-cho-co-hoi-bao-ve-chuc-vo-dich-reyes-cup-185250908195907455.htm