WITH a stroke of luck and sustained shot-making magnificence by James Aranas and Johann Chua, the World Cup of Pool title could be back in the Philippines after a decade-long wait.
Pouncing on a critical late miscue by their foes, the unheralded Filipino wonder duo of Mr. Aranas and Mr. Chua survived Taiwanese brothers Ko Pin Yi and Ko Ping Chung in a nerve-racking hill-hill duel, 9-8, Saturday night that catapulted them straight to the semifinals of the 16th edition of this annual event in Lugo, Spain.
There, the unranked pair was battling the fourth-seeded tandem of Albin Ouschan and Mario He, a former winner here who humbled fifth pick Jayson Shaw and Elliott Sanderson of Great Britain, 9-4, at press time and eyeing nothing less than another win.
It was one of the two victories Messrs. Aranas and Chua needed to carve out to reclaim the crown the country last won exactly a decade ago when Dennis Orcollo and Lee Van Corteza turned back the Netherlands’ Niels Feijen and Nick van den Berg, 10-8, in London, England.
That triumph was the last of the three the country — considered as the epicenter of the billiards’ universe after producing herds of champions headed by the legendary Efren “Bata” Reyes — had won, which tied it with China with the most titles.
Carlo Biado and Jeff de Luna had a shot at delivering the country a record fourth title four years ago in Leicester, England but they succumbed to the eventual winners Messrs. Ouschan and He, 11-3.
That means Messrs. Aranas and Chua could kill two birds with one stone if they avenge that ugly setback that still rankled until today by pulling the rug from under Messrs. Ouschan and He as they would inch closer to a dream championship.
The other semis bracket consisted of Germany’s Joshua Filler and Mortiz Neuhausen, winners over Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski and Konrad Juszczyszyn, 9-7, and China’s Wu Jiaqing and Wang Can, who trampled Japan’s Naoyuki Oi and Masato Yoshioka, 9-5.
It appeared early the Filipinos were in for a walk in the park after racing to a commanding 8-2 lead.
Little did they know that they would fall in a sinkhole in the next six racks where the Taiwanese went on a juggernaut with their shot wizardry to catch up, knot the count at eight apiece and seize a crack at stealing the win.
But nerves got into Ping Chung after he heartbreakingly over-cut the two-ball that slithered around the corner pocket before caroming out that gave Messrs. Atanas and Chua a chance that they took advantage of by completing a squeaky clean run out. — Joey Villar