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The 2015 MP Cup World 10-Ball Championship
SM Mall
General Santos City
Philippines
www.wpa-pool.com - Twitter - Facebook - Brackets - Live Video

15 - 21 February 2015

Photograph courtesy of �D. Secuya www.philboxing.com used here with permission.
EIGHT GUNNING FOR THE BIG PRIZE

It's a wide open race for glory as the final 8 sharpshooters do battle Saturday for the 2015 MP Cup World 10-ball Championship.

After a long and tense day of duels at the highest levels of the professional game, the field at the 2015 MP Cup World 10-ball Championship in the southern Philippine city of General Santos has been whittled down to eight superb talents, all of whom have a solid shot at emerging with the title on the final day on Saturday.

It�s nearly an all Asian-field, with three Filipinos, three Taiwanese, one Chinese and a Spaniard in the mix. It�s a heady cocktail of long time veterans and some of the great young players of the day. Interestingly, not a single one of the final eight players has ever one won a world title above the junior level. That, of course, will change for one deserving player come early evening on Saturday.

Do you like your pool served up with a bit of intrigue and storyline? Well check out this lineup that lags off at 10:30am local time(GMT+). In one quarterfinal, Taiwan�s Ko Pin Yi, a former two time world junior champion, and one of the world�s best young players over the last 6 years, will take on the veteran fellow Taiwanese Yang Ching Shun, who is making a comeback to the higher echelons of the sport after seven years. In another quarterfinal, the Philippines long time veteran Warren Kiamco, long a mainstay on the international scene but never a winner of the big one, will take on Ko�s teenage brother, the incredibly talented 19 year old Ko Ping Chung.

Spain�s David Alcaide, for years now one of Europe�s top players, will face one of the Philippines flashiest and strongest young talents in 22 year old Johann Chua. The final quarters match will see the Philippines Carlo Biado, a man who�s been knocking on the door of big time success for the last four years, take on another surging international player, China�s Lui Haitao.

Pool fanatics will find it almost impossible to pick a favorite among the eight, as each and every one has shown incredible skill, fortitude and the ability to close out their matches over the last four days. But if you had to pick a slight favorite, Taiwan�s Ko Pin Yi might be a solid selection. Yesterday the 25 year old emerged through a veritable gauntlet after taking two straight hill-hill matches. This is the kind of hardship scenario that often leads to a championship run in pool and indeed today, Ko turned on the afterburners. He first disposed of Mexican Ruben Bautista, 11-3. Then in the round of 16, Ko put the screws to Indonesia�s talented Irsa Nasution, 11 � 5.

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