The tournament, which also serves as a qualification tournament for the2015 Three-Cushion World Cup slated to take place in Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam, later this year, attracted 32 athletes from Japan, the RoK andVietnam.
The draw saw six Vietnamese playersfacing each other in three matches in the first round, thus ensuringthree of them will go on to the next stage.
In other first-round matches, the remaining five Vietnamese players are pitted against Japanese and Korean rivals.
Last year, when the competition was held in HCM City, the host country managed to win only two bronzes.-VNA