Yannick Pongers and Derin Asaku Sitorus become junior world champions for the first time, while Hong Xin-Yu defended her girls title at the WPA World Junior 10-Ball Championships in Klagenfurt, Austria.
All three junior championships were 10-ball tournaments for the first time in their history, with the Predator Pro Billiard Series having amended the format from nine-ball at the beginning of the year.
18-year-old Pongers, who was competing in his last World U19 Championship, defeated fellow Dutchman Mika van Berkel 7-6 in the final after fending off a valiant comeback from his opponent.
Pongers was 5-2 ahead in the final but his countryman battled back and forced a deciding rack, where a well-executed safety shot on the one ball from the eventual champion allowed him to clear the table and emerge victorious.
Pongers had defeated Eklent Kaci’s younger brother Kledio in the semi-finals, while Van Berkel overcame Hong Kong’s Fu Huan in a contest between two youngsters who have won junior titles on the World Nineball Tour this year.
The Veldhoven-based cueist joins the likes of Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, Fedor Gorst, Ko Pin-Yi, Ko Ping-Chung and Aloysius Yapp in having won the prestigious U19 accolade.
Elsewhere, Taiwanese sensation Hong secured successive titles in the girls division following a 6-4 victory over Sofia Mast, exacting revenge on the American teenager following an earlier defeat in the winners’ qualification round.
Hong whitewashed European champion Linnea Hjalmarstrom from Sweden at the penultimate hurdle, while Mast displayed expert safety play in her relatively comfortable victory over Jolien Schuurman of the Netherlands.
Schuurman was arguably the favourite for the title having won a Women’s Euro Tour accolade in the summer but, despite her beating 2021 champion Lena Primus in the quarter-finals, she was unfortunate in bowing out in the final four.
Asaku Sitorus, meanwhile, defeated American Adrian Prasad 6-4 from 3-1 down in a closely-contested U17 final to become the first-ever junior champion from Indonesia.
Despite being defeated in his opening match by American Hank Leinen, Asaku Sitorus beat the likes of Kento Oda, Ivan Rudenko, Riku Rompannen and Maks Benko on his way to the biggest title of his career.
