Johann Chua has vowed ‘to be the Jayson Shaw of the team’ and the Filipino wants to bring the showmanship and tenacity to the first-ever Asian team at the inaugural Reyes Cup in Manila.
Newly-crowned Hanoi Open champion Chua, who defeated Reyes Cup teammate Ko Pin-Yi to win the prestigious title, experienced a taster of what will be an exhilarating atmosphere when triumphing in Vietnam.
Also a World Pool Championship semi-finalist and a European Open runner-up this year, Chua has progressed leaps and bounds and is the Asian team’s highest-ranked player on the World Nineball Tour rankings.
“I’m getting goosebumps now as this shirt is on my body,” Chua told Matchroom Pool. “It’s a really unbelievable feeling that it’s real now, that I’m part of Team Asia, so I’m really, really excited. I just don’t know what to say.
“It means the world. We’ve been looking for this match-up for the longest time and now it’s finally happening. And for me to be able to be part of the first one, it’s really a moment that I will never forget in my entire life.”
Chua will line-up alongside former world champions Carlo Biado and Ko Pin-Yi as well as Aloysius Yapp and Duong Quoc Hoang on the team captained by the legendary Efren Reyes, and promises to take the mantle of energising and invigorating a ‘calm’ Asian team.
“I’m going to be the Jayson Shaw of the team,” claimed Chua. “I think I need to step up for this one because as you will all notice, the Asian team is very calm. Most of them, whoever will make it, are really, really calm players and I’m going to put a tense on the match.”
The Reyes Cup follows in the footsteps of the famous Mosconi Cup, which became renowned for its unique, boisterous atmosphere and Chua believes the Manila crowd will emulate that and get behind their Asian team to the fullest.
“It’s going to be wild I think,” he expressed. “A lot of people back there are waiting for this one and to see one of the Filipinos make it to the team. So I’m really expecting that my fellow countrymen will really support this one.
“They’re going to be part of the match as well. You know, they’re going to be cheering every time. So I expect like a Mosconi Cup for this one.”
Chua believes that Asian players now have something to set their sets and the selection process will be competitive, with world number four Ko Ping-Chung notably missing out this year.
“I think it’s going to be part of their yearly schedule. We’re going to try to make it for each Asian player,” Chua added, having qualified following August’s European Open in Germany.
“They’re going to try to be in the ranking and be part of the next one. So it’s going to be big for all of us because we have some things to look at now every year.”
