Singaporean player 'soaks balls' for more than 4 hours at World 10-ball Pool

Aloysius Yapp broke the "ball soaking" record of two Vietnamese players at the 2025 Predator WPA Men's 10-Ball World Championship by completing the match after 4 hours and 13 minutes.

Yapp pulled old man Ralf Souquet through 4 hours and 13 minutes - Photo: PBS

Day 2 of the WPA Men's 10-Ball World Championship finals - World 10-Ball Pool 2025 - had no surprises but a highlight for Aloysius Yapp.

Singaporean player Yapp defeated his older German opponent Ralf Souquet in a record time of more than 4 hours, specifically 13 minutes. Both entered the table at 5:17 pm on September 21 at Military Zone 7 Gymnasium (HCMC) and shook hands at 9:30 pm. Yapp won 2-1 (score 3-4, 4-3, 4-2).

The match from table 9 was streamed live on YouTube with nearly 11,000 views. That’s not counting the live stream on the tournament’s Facebook channel. Many Vietnamese viewers were also bored watching the two opponents fight over each ball all evening. Some people just waited to see the result.

Many viewers jokingly called Yapp "Singapore lightning". The 29-year-old player, born in 1996, used his youth to "help" the 56-year-old Souquet, who was unable to walk, walk back and forth in a rare moment.

A day before, two Vietnamese players, Nguyen Van Huynh and Pham Phuong Nam, also left behind a timeline that tested the patience of the organizers and the live audience.

Van Huynh lost to Wesam Hamamm 1-2 after 3 hours and 37 minutes with the score 0-4, 4-3 and 1-4. Meanwhile, Nam Pham won against Casper Matikainen 2-1 after 3 hours and 43 minutes (4-1, 2-4, 4-2). However, after today, the tournament record in Vietnam has a temporary owner, Aloysius Yapp.

Nam Pham "soaked his balls" in just a little less time than Yapp - Photo: PBS

Returning to the winning bracket results on September 21, Duong Quoc Hoang (alias Hoang "Sao") continued to meet another German player, Thorsten Hohmann. Taking advantage of his opponent's rare mistakes, he quickly won set 1 with a score of 4-1. Hohmann woke up and took advantage of Hoang's mistakes to equalize with a score of 4-1. Despite being behind 0-2 in set 3, Hoang "Sao" still came back, winning 4 consecutive games to close the match with a final victory of 2-1 (4-1, 1-4, 4-2).

Pham Phuong Nam also excelled in defeating Mieszko Fortuński 2-1 (4-2, 1-4, 4-2), thereby winning the right to continue in the winner's bracket. In the next round, Duong Quoc Hoang will face Naoyuki Oi (Japan), while Pham Phuong Nam will face Jeffrey De Luna (Philippines).

On the contrary, Nguyen Bao Chau became the only Vietnamese player to lose in the winners' bracket against Mateusz Sniegocki. He and Nguyen Van Huynh will look for a "second chance" in the losers' bracket.

The biggest surprise of the day was Joshua Filler (Germany) losing 0-2 to Lee Van Corteza (Philippines), having to go down to the loser bracket. The loser bracket currently has many big names such as Fedor Gorst, Joshua Filler, Eklent Kaci, Mohammad Soufi...

On September 22, the losers' bracket players will compete in round 1 to find a second chance. The winners' bracket players will continue to compete in round 2 to advance to the tournament to hunt for the big prize.

Winning bracket round 1 results - Photo: BB

Along with the men's tournament, fans can also watch the Poison Cues Saigon Women's 9-Ball Open, starting from September 20. Before that, the billiards event series in Ho Chi Minh City opened with the Box Billiards Mixed Doubles Open, where the couple Joshua - Pia Filler were crowned champions.

QUANG THINH

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/co-thu-singapore-ngam-bi-hon-4-gio-o-pool-10-bi-the-gioi-20250922004008383.htm