FILIPINO cue ace Johann Chua began on the right track with a victory but then suffered back-to-back losses yesterday (Monday night in Europe) to fall to third place overall standings in the IFX Premier League Pool tournament at the Hills Hotel in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Entering the day on top of the 16-player heap, Chua started with a 5-3 win over German Moritz Neuhausen but fell to Vietnamese Duong Quoc Hoang 4-5 and American pool legend Shane Van Boening 1-5, respectively.
This enabled Hong Kong-born Filipino Robbie Capito, who now represents the former British crown colony in international play and won all his three matches, to wrest the lead with a record of 12 wins and three losses in the prestigious 9-ball tourney offering a top prize of $20,000 (around P1.149 million).
Englishman Jayson Shaw, who won two of his three matches, including a 5-1 lacing of former world 9-ball and 8-ball champ Francesco Sanchez of Spain, moved up to second place with an 11-4 win-loss record, the same slate as Chua but with more racks won – 66 to 65.
Neuhausen was running fourth (10-5) while Van Boening was in fifth place with an identical card but the German had more racks lost – 53 to 48.
Pinoy teenager AJ Manas was among the six players who fell out of contention and proceeded to the next stage, winding up in 15th spot with an 11-4 mark.
