Las Vegas, Nevada- Judgement Day at the World Summit as the final 4 players for the ESPN rounds would be determined. First the youngsters John Morra and Austin Murphy were schooled by Filipino Head Masters Alex Pagulayan and Francisco Bustamante (11-1). Kiamco kept the asian roll going with a win over Stevie Moore. Van Boening kept the USA alive on winner's side with 11-4 domination of Dominguez and later entered the hot seat finals with a 11-7 defeat of Kiamco. Pagulayan would destroy Bustamente 11-3 to meet Van Boening.
Deuel was on a roll on the losers side eliminating Robles, Frank, and Moore. Heuwagen was making the most of his rare trip to the majors with wins over Crosby, Lombardo, and Morra. But the big surprise dark horses was the high gear plays of Hong Kong's Lee Chenman and California's road toughie Tony Chohan. Chohan lost his second round match only to go on a T-Rex terror of 6 consecutive wins including a stunner over Marlon Manalo. Chenman, who has been cold since his win at the Weert Open 2 years ago, went crazy and eliminated champion after champion in 7 matches including Hohmann, Immonen, and Deuel. For dessert, he wiped out Saez and Dominguez.
Unfortunately for both new top UPA finishers, they were held one match short of worldwide fame of ESPN as Chenman lost 11-9 to Bustamente and Chohan fell to Kiamco 11-6.
On the hot seat match, Van Boening kept control of the match against young veteran Pagulayan and won an easier than expected 11-4 match. One USA player now stands alone against 3 awesome Filipinos. In a world filled with foreign dominance, America once again shines through one brilliant player. With the win two weeks ago at the World 10-Ball Championships, and now primed for the finals at the World Summit of Pool, 23 year old South Dakotan Van Boening may prove to the Philippines there may be a new sheriff in town.
