JAKARTA - The Indonesian International Open (IIO) billiard tournament will be held again this year. A total of 128 billiard players from more than 20 countries, including the world's best players, top national athletes, and international billiard rising stars, will be present to enliven it.
The prestigious event, which was held by the Indonesian Billiard Sports Association (PB POBSI) and in cooperation with Predator and Pro Billiard Center (PBC), is scheduled to take place from June 29 to July 4, 2026 at the Pro Billiard Center (PBC) Floor 4, iNews Tower, Jakarta.
The Minister of Youth and Sports (Menpora), Erick Thohir, said that he highly appreciated the involvement of the private sector in developing Indonesian sports by actively holding tournaments that could boost the flight time of Indonesian athletes.
"The growth of sports achievements, the growth of the sports industry is the same as economic growth, there must be spending from the Government, there must be investment from the private sector, and there must be a balance of people's purchasing power," he said at a press conference in Jakarta.
The 2026 Indonesia International Open will focus entirely on competing in the Men's 10-Ball Open category. This year, the organizers provide a total prize of up to 100 thousand US dollars or equivalent to Rp. 1.7 billion.
The Secretary General of the PB POBSI, Achmad Fadil Nasution, said that the third year of the Indonesia International Open was proof that Indonesia is increasingly trusted as the host of international billiard tournaments.
"The presence of the world's top players provides a valuable opportunity for Indonesian athletes to increase their experience in competing, measure their abilities at the highest level, and obtain international ranking points that are important for the development of their careers," he said.
Indonesia International Open 2026 is confirmed to bring a number of top Indonesian athletes, such as Irsal Nasution, Edward Koyongian, Erwin Azhar, Andri, and Albert Januarta.
The names will compete with international players such as Carlo Biado from the Philippines, who became the 2017 WPA World 9-Ball Championship world champion and one of the most successful players in Asia, as well as Mikhail Chinakhov from Russia - the WPA World Junior Championship world champion known as one of the world's elite players with consistent achievements in various international tournaments.
This tournament will also be attended by Jose Alberto Hernandez from Spain along with a number of other world-class athletes who will be announced before the implementation of the tournament.
The Chairman of the PB POBSI, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, emphasized that the implementation of this tournament is part of their efforts to popularize billiards. He also hopes that this tournament can stimulate the emergence of other billiards events in all corners of Indonesia.
"Billiards was in the past, its connotations were less positive. This is a challenge that we must solve is how the image of billiards is really a good sport, a positive sport, to create national athletes so that Indonesia can also be better known from the billiards sport," he said.
Indonesia International Open 2026 is one of the largest international billiard tournaments held in Indonesia in 2026. This event uses the official standards of the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA) and the Asian Confederation of Billiard Sports (ACBS).
In addition to presenting a world-class tournament, Indonesia International Open 2026 also carries great potential in the development of sports tourism. In the previous event, this event managed to record high public enthusiasm with more than 10 thousand onsite visitors and more than one million plays through various digital platforms.
The 2026 Indonesia International Open series will begin with the qualifying round on June 29-30, 2026, followed by the main event on July 1-4, 2026. All matches will be broadcast via RCTI+ and Vision+, except for the final match which will be broadcast on GTV.
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