Vietnamese billiards player defeats former world champions

Hoang beat American Shane van Boening 1-4, 4-1 and 4-2 in the quarter-final on Sunday. Boening has won over 100 international titles in 8-ball, 9-ball and 10-ball, and was named as the best pool player of the 2011-2020 decade by the Billiards Digest and AZBilliards.

Just a few hours prior, Hoang also defeated Ko Pin-yi 4-3 and 4-2. Thirty-four-year-old Ko is from Taiwan and was the world champion in 9-ball and 10-ball back in 2015. He has earned over 20 international titles throughout his career.

The international billiard rankings by WPA have Boening ranked 17th, Ko 32th and Quoc Hoang 62th.

Quoc Hoang, born in 1987, is the only Vietnamese player to be ranked among the world's top 100. He first made headlines at the Beijing Open in 2018 when he defeated Scottish star player Jayson Shaw 9-0.

The Las Vegas Open is an annual tournament that takes place a few days before the World 10-ball Championship.