UNHERALDED Johann Chua and James Aranas successfully scaled the summit of the World Cup of pool early yesterday morning (late Sunday night in Europe), subduing the crack German tandem of Joshua Filler and Moritz Neuhausen 11-7 in the finals in Lugo, Spain.
Chua and Aranas became the first unseeded squad to rule the prestigious tournament and shared the top prize of $60,0000 (roughly P3.315 million) as the Philippines won its fourth title, the third coming in 2019 when Lee Van Corteza and Dennis Orcollo triumphed.
The legendary tandem of Efren “Bata” Reyes and Francisco “Django” Bustamante first won the crown in 2006 and repeated the trick in 2009.
“I feel great. It feels amazing to win a world title. It is such an honor to win with James.
We have known each other since we were 13 years old, and we even went to school together,” a beaming Chua said of their unforgettable triumphant debut in the competition.
“For me, I have so many memories, it’s so exciting. This week was unforgettable, spending time with Johann too!” exclaimed Aranas, who started the week without his that were lost in transit.
“My (replacement) cues arrived on time; they didn’t arrive for the (earlier) Spanish Open. I want to thank my friends and family and all the Filipinos back home. Without my family, I would not be here,” he added.
After breaking the last deadlock at 2-all, Chua and Aranas surged to an imposing 9-2 lead by taking the next seven racks in a row, the last three on breaking runouts, and seemed to have the title in the bag.
But the third-seeded German pair countered with a mini run of their own, pouncing on a rare error by Aranas in the 12th rack to win the next five frames and close in at 7-9.
The Filipino tandem, however, stood their ground and reached the hill first at 10-9, sparked by Chua sinking the 8-ball in the left corner pocket after hitting the 2-ball from afar from a difficult angle.
This enabled Aranas to sink the troublesome ball on the opposite corner pocket en route to clearing out the rack.
After securing the break in the 20th frame and with victory in sight, Chua and Aranas continued to combine for some brilliant shotmaking on the way to victory.
Serving as the Filipinos’ springboard to the finals hours earlier was a riveting semifinal 9-8 win over the No. 4 seed and the two-time World Cup champion pair of Mario He and Albert Ouschan of Austria.
After the Austrians knotted the count at 8-all in the 16th rack, He scratched on the break in the deciding frame while sinking the 1-ball, enabling their Pinoy rivals to routinely clean up the rack and close out the nail-biting match.
It was a Cinderella run for Chua and Aranas, who began their campaign with a 7-5 upset of the defending champion tandem of Franciso Sanchez Ruiz and David Alcaide of Spain in the opening round last Tuesday.
They also claimed the scalp of the fancied Taiwanese siblings Ko Pin-yi and Ko Ping-chung, both World Cup 10-ball champs, 9-8 in the quarterfinals last Saturday to advance to the semifinals.
