Chinese-Taipei’s Ko Pin Chung emerged as the champion of the first-ever international billiards tournament held in the Maldives, the "Maldives Open 2023 10-Ball Championship".
This is the first tournament under the “Asian 10-Ball Tour” series organized by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPBA) with the endorsement of Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports (ACBS).
Chung secured his championship at the finals played Wednesday evening against Philippines’ Yohan Chua with 8-10 frames.
Chung, 27, had previously won the International 10-Ball Championship in 2019 as well.
Vietnam’s Luong Duc Thien secured third place at the tournament after facing defeat against both Chung and Germany’s Joshua Filler who is a World Pool Master and World Billiards champion.
Chua, the tournament’s runner-up secured his knockout win after beating Maldives’ Ahmed Shihad at the group stage, and again during the knockout playoffs.
A total of 64 players including 16 Maldivian athletes competed in the tournament which places worldwide pool rankings.
Maldivian billiard players Hussain Fayaz, Mohamed Shareef (Kuda Sharee), Ahmed Shihad, and Ismail Jeehan secured wins at the group stage of the tournament. Maldivian billiard player Hassan Shaz Mohamed (Aadhu) won two group stage games and advanced to the 32-player knockout stage, becoming the first-ever local player to advance to the knockout stage in an international billiards tournament.
Shaz faced his defeat against Vietnam’s Duong Kuoc Hoang at the 32-player knockout stage who in turn was defeated in the Round of 16.
Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih along with the World Pool-Billiard Association President of South Africa Ishaun Singh attended the tournament’s closing ceremony. President Solih awarded the trophies to the tournament’s champion and runner-up while Singh awarded trophies to all the semi-finalists.
A total of nine Maldivian billiard referees officiated the games in the Maldives Open 2023, which included Ahmed Shujau, Hassan Rishwan Jaleel, Abdulla Afeef, Saalim Adnan, Ahmed Nihad, Mohamed Aguleem, Ahmed Gasim, Ahmed Murufaad, and Ahmed Sofwath.
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