A grateful Aloysius Yapp pays it forward as he looks forward to US$250k payday at world c’ship

SINGAPORE – When Aloysius Yapp was eight years old, he encountered his first mentor in pool. He and his mother had walked into TheQShop at Bras Basah, where the owner, Paul Pang, took an interest in the young boy and offered to teach him basic and intermediate pool skills.

Former Cuesports Singapore vice-president Pang went on to become his mentor, taking a 12-year-old Yapp to the United States for the World Junior Championships, and got him a junior sports membership at Chinese Swimming Club, where he could practise without the age restrictions at most other pool halls.

Now 29, and at a career-high world No. 2 on the World Nineball Tour (WNT) ranking with US$196,478 (S$250,600) in earnings over the past two years, the former World Pool Association No. 1 knows the importance of giving back.

This is why he has donated $5,000 to the Cuesports Singapore academy, which is set to open in Tanjong Katong in the fourth quarter of 2025, after its Katong Shopping Centre outlet closed in November 2024. The donation amount will be matched by the national sports association.

Yapp told The Sunday Times: “It’s rare to have someone look after, support and coach you like what Paul did to give me a good start. I feel really lucky and grateful, and I think this is a good way to give back for all the support I have received from him and the association for many years.

“This will help out the academy where I will also be practising in the future, and I hope they can bring in more youth into the sport. If possible, I hope to make this a long-term contribution.”

Yapp has been in fine form in the past year. He was named Most Valuable Player in Team Asia’s 11-6 victory over Team Europe in the inaugural Reyes Cup in October 2024 and captured the International 9-Ball Open title a month later.

After finishing second at the Scottish Open in May, he won his first WNT major title by obliterating Spaniard Jonas Souto 13-1 in the UK Open final.

Yapp, who is currently playing in a minor tournament in Taiwan before the July 3-6 Universal x CPBA 99 Open in Vietnam, is eyeing a deeper run at the US$1 million World Pool Championship from July 21 to 26 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after a last-64 finish in 2024.

While it is a long shot, the US$250,000 winner’s cheque could help him narrow the gap on Russian-American Fedor Gorst’s US$438,611 in earnings at the top of the WNT rankings.

He said: “For sure, I would love to win, but I also don’t really set a big target for myself. I’m just going to do my best and hopefully, luck is on my side too.

“I have had a bad season and struggled almost throughout the whole of 2024 until the Reyes Cup, so rising to world No. 2 feels surreal. I still can’t really believe it, but I’m grateful. No. 1 is on my mind, but it’s going to be very tough to overtake Fedor soon, as he is too far ahead.”

There are other things out of his control, as the Israel-Iran conflict has caused flight disruptions and raises safety concerns in the Middle East.

But Yapp is focused on what he can do on the table, as he has been experimenting with 10 shafts and three butts from his sponsor Universal Cues, after signing with them in October 2024.

He said: “I switched from wood to carbon-fibre shafts because they feel more powerful. These days, the balls tend to feel heavier and the cloth feels slower, so the carbon-fibre shafts help me compensate for the slowness and I can play at a more normal pace.

“But I still feel like my equipment needs some tweaking here and there. There are some parts I need to adjust like the weight and balance to get the ideal cue ball reaction for me... hopefully, I’ll find the best fit before the world championships.”

Meanwhile, at the Cuesports Singapore annual general meeting at the Chinese Swimming Club on June 28, Christopher Chuah was returned unopposed as president for a second two-year term in his current stint, while Pang steps down as vice-president and is replaced by Dominic Pan.

Chuah, who was also president from 2013 to 2021 before Justin Lee took over from 2021 to 2023, said: “I’m happy to be able to continue to serve and build on the good work the team have done over the past two years, and we look forward to the opening of our new academy.

“It is important that we have our own home base and training facilities which can be used by our athletes and more importantly, for pipeline development.

“Currently, youths below 16 are not able to play in commercial parlours. With our new academy, we intend to drive our junior development programme to attract and induct promising junior athletes into our pipeline under the supervision of our coaches.”