Ko Pin-Yi clinched his fourth ranking title on the World Nineball Tour at the inaugural staging of the Rasson Lushan Open, defeating Jefrey Roda 13-12 in a captivating final in China on Sunday evening.
The world number 14 added to his back-to-back APF Asian 9-Ball Open titles and Bucharest Open accolade, moving back into contention for an automatic spot on the Asian Reyes Cup team courtesy of the $15,000 top prize.
It was an arduous route to glory for Ko as the former world champion needed to come through successive hill-hill affairs at the business end, surviving an 11-10 contest against Germany’s Moritz Neuhausen before his thrilling win over Roda of the Philippines.
Roda held a 7-5 lead in the final, only for Ko to reel off six racks in succession and lead 11-7. The Filipino reduced the arrears nonetheless and was first to the hill, only for a below-par safety shot from Roda to ultimately prove the decisive factor.
Ko had needed the one-loss side to emerge through the double elimination phase following a shock defeat to China’s Fu Jianbo, but the Taiwanese sensation showed his resoluteness from the last 32 onwards as he swept aside the likes of Nguyen Anh Tuan, Marvin Asis and Kuo Po-Cheng.
Meanwhile, it was a breakthrough campaign for Filipino youngster Roda as the 24-year-old bounced back from a second round defeat on his way to a maiden WNT ranking final, notably overcoming his legendary compatriot Carlo Biado 11-8 in the semi-finals.
Roda had already underlined his credentials in the quarter-finals, where he claimed the seismic scalp of US Open winner Ko Ping-Chung, having previously beaten Michael Feliciano and Chang Yu-Lung during an impressive run.
Elsewhere, UK Open champion Robbie Capito went two-and-out following surprise defeats to Zhang Yi and Raymund Faraon, while top ten stars Wiktor Zielinski and Aloysius Yapp were beaten in the last 16 at the hands of Biado and Wu Kun-Lin.
China’s three-time women’s world champion and current Women’s China Open champion in Han Yu reached the losers qualification round, although she was unable to advance further as James Aranas sealed a 9-5 win.
The World Nineball Tour now returns to Europe for the Helsinki Open in Finland from August 1-4, which acts as a warm-up event for the prestigious European Open Championship in Fulda, Germany from August 6-11.
