Jeffrey Ignacio
Competition in Day 3 of the Chinese Pool Masters has reached a fever pitch with more tournament favorites being eliminated.
Shane Van Boening (USA) was knocked to the one loss side by Wang Peng, a member of International Dream Team. Wang Peng held a slight advantage at the beginning with leads of 3-2, 4-3 and 6-4. Peng then took control and 6 racks out of the next 7 and cruised to a 13-6 win.
Popular player Zheng Yubo (CHN) met the 17-year-old female champion, Wang Ye (CHN) in a win or go home match. Neither player could build a comfortable lead before the 1st time out. Yubo gradually took the advantage as the match went on though. Leading 8-5, Yubo widened the gap and eliminated Wang Ye by 13-7. Yubo later outplayed tough player Gong Haifeng (CHN) by the score of 13-10.
Wang Yun (CHN) finished a miraculous comeback in the match against Johann Chua (PHI). Wang’s nickname is Miraculous Boy and his performance fulfilled that nickname. Wang Yun got off to a poor start and trailed Chua 0-4. Chua looked to be in complete control at 7-1 but Wang Yun then started showing his true ability running rack after rack. Wang Yun won 12 of the next 14 racks for a surprising 13-9 win.
Another Filipino Jeffrey Ignacio (PHI) was engaged in a fierce battle with Tang Chunxiao (CHN), a strong female player. They were neck and neck the entire way and found themselves tied at 12-12 before Ignacio won the final rack for a 12-11 win.
Zhang Kunpeng (CHN), top of ICEA World Rankings was eliminated by a dark horse, Moh Keen Hoe from Malaysia. Kunpeng could not get anything going in the match and lost 13-6.
Phone Myint Kyaw (MYA) showed great resilience in defeating Abu Lajiang by 13-9. Falling behind 2-8, Phone got himself together and won the next 5 racks with 2 break-and-runs and 3 clearances, leveling the score at 8-8. Phone went on to win that match but then was eliminated by Ignacio 13-7 in the next round.
Yang Fan’s match with Chu Bingjie came down to a shootout, tied at 11-11. Yang Fan won by the narrowest margin, with a 3-2 score in the shootout. That was Chu Bingjie’s first loss though, and he still has hopes to win from the left side of the board.
Wang Yun (CHN) and Yang Fan (CHN) will square off for the hot-seat as international players Shane Van Boening (USA), Johann Chua (PHI), and Jeffrey Ignacio (PHI) keep fighting their way through the one loss side.
