PH’s Johann Chua, James Aranas recover in time to make World Cup of Pool semis

July 2, 2023 Times Europe

The Philippines’ Johann Chua reacts during a quarterfinal match against Chinese-Taipei at the World Cup of Pool. Photo from Matchroom pool

MANILA, Philippines-Johann Chua and James Aranas survived the huge comeback of Chinese-Taipei’s Ko Pin-Yi and Ko Ping-Chung, 9-8, on Saturday to send the Philippines into the semifinals of the World Cup of Pool in Lugo, Spain.

An overcut attempt by the Taiwanese in the deciding rack allowed Chua and Aranas to carefully close out the match and move two wins shy of giving the country a record fourth World Cup title.

Chua and Aranas will try to do that on Sunday at Pazo de Feiras e Congresos, first with a semfinal faceoff against Austria’s Albin Ouschan and Mario He. The Austrian pair beat Great Britain’s Jayson Shaw and Elliott Sanderson, 9-4, in the quarterfinals.

Match of the tournament. 🫳 🎤

🇵🇭⭐️ #WorldCupofPool 🌎 pic.twitter.com/F2pGu0Zuh1

— Matchroom Pool (@MatchroomPool) July 1, 2023

The final will also be held on Sunday.

The win came nearly after almost wasting an insurmountable lead that saw Chua and Aranas win the first six racks and reach the hill with an 8-2 advantage.

But Chinese-Taipei refused to surrender and slowly mounted a comeback with six straight rack wins to turn the contest into a hill-hill affair.

Chinese-Taipei had the break for the decider but Ko Ping-Chung missed a tough attempt to put the two-ball to the corner pocket, opening the door Chua and Aranas to complete a run out.

At one point, Aranas felt somewhat relieved of sinking the seven from the middle of the table to the side pocket that he shouted, “Bukas ka na manigas!”