By MARK REY MONTEJO
Johann Chua couldn’t sustain a hot start and bowed to hometown bet Nguyen Anh Tuan, 13-4, in the final round of the 2025 9-Ball Peri Tribute Cup in Đà Nẵng Peri Pool Arena in Vietnam Friday, June 19.
Coming off an 11-3 demolition of Carlo Biado in the semifinals, the 33-year-old Chua went off to a promising start but eventually ran out of gas as Tuan completed several tough shots for a 7-2 lead which the latter preserved to seal their race-to-13 title match.
A Southeast Asian Games multi-medalist, Chua took the 10th rack but it proved not enough to start a rally.
The Vietnamese then went on to finish off Chua and pocket the top prize in the VND700,000,000 (around P1.5 million) tournament.
Apart from Biado, Chua also claimed the scalps of AJ Manas (10-3), and Jeffrey Ignacio (9-2) in quarterfinals, and Last 32.
Chua, the 2023 World Cup of Pool also survived Vietnamese Nguyen Van Huynh in their hill-hill Last 16 duel, 9-8.
He also swept his first-round assignments after beating local bets Tat Duy Kien (9-5), Luong Chi Dung (9-2), and Nguyen Hoang Tuan (9-6).
Aside from Chua, Biado, Manas, and Ignacio, several top-notch players from Philippines took part in the 128-man field, including Michael Feliciano, Mark Estiola, Alexis Ferrer, Bryant Saguiped, Aivhan Maluto, Jesson Marabi, Amiel Leonor, Baseth Mocaibat, Raymond Faraon, Tristan Deocareza, and Anton Raga.
