Aloysius Yapp continues winning streak with Formosa Cup Taipei Pool Open title
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Singapore's Aloysius Yapp (right) posing with Taiwanese Ko Ping-chung before the Formosa Cup Taipei Pool Open final on Aug 29.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF JACKIE KU
Follow topic:
- Aloysius Yapp won the Formosa Cup Taipei Pool Open, defeating Ko Ping-chung 9-4 in the final, earning US$12,000.
- He overcame an initial loss to Wang Hung-hsiang and defeated multiple Taiwanese players, including Ko Pin-yi, to reach the final.
- Cuesports Singapore president Christopher Chuah praised Yapp's victory, highlighting his consistency and inspiration to local players.
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SINGAPORE – Having completed a hat-trick of major titles during a three-week sojourn in the United States in August, Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp was looking forward to eating “all the rice” at his next destination, Taipei.
As it turns out, the 29-year-old pool pro is also hungry for more titles as he won the Formosa Cup Taipei Pool Open after beating local favourite Ko Ping-chung 9-4 in the final on Aug 29, with the US$12,000 (S$15,000) prize money going some way to satisfy his braised pork rice, teppanyaki and hotpot cravings.
The victory also showed Yapp’s appetite for revenge after the 29-year-old Taiwanese, who was the 2019 world 10-ball champion, had whitewashed him 11-0 in the 2023 US Open semi-finals without letting him pot a single ball.
However, the in-form Singaporean, who had won 27 straight matches across his three major triumphs, faced some early challenges at the Hulk Billiards Flagship Hall.
Nursing jet lag after a 22-hour journey from Newark to Taipei, he lost 9-8 to Taiwanese Wang Hung-hsiang and had to fight his way back from the losers’ bracket, where he overcame Liu Shao-chiang 9-4 and Tang Ching-ting 9-7 to make the final stage.
After beating Tang, he broke the butt of his cue, which he had been using in his major campaigns.
Yapp said: “I felt really tired and struggled, but I also made mistakes of my own. I told myself to try my best and stay in it.
“Fortunately, my sponsor Universal Cues was on site to give me the same model of the cue I have been using to minimise the disruption to my game.
“Even then, I didn’t expect to go all the way, but it definitely feels sweet and I feel grateful and lucky to win this event.”
Facing exclusively Taiwanese players throughout the tournament, he then beat 2015 world nine-ball and 10-ball champion Ko Pin-yi 9-7, Hsieh Chia-chen 9-4 and Chang Yu-lung 9-6, before avenging his earlier loss by pipping Wang 9-8 in the semi-finals.
He dedicated the win to his good friend and fellow pro, the late Taiwanese Chang Jung-lin, who won the event in 2024 but died suddenly at 40 while competing in the Indonesia Open in Jakarta in July.
He said: “We became close after we started practising together since 2016. We were also roommates at times when we toured and I would serve as his translator in the US. I learnt a lot from him and he is probably looking after me now.”
Yapp had won the US Open on Aug 23
Paying tribute to Yapp, Cuesports Singapore president Christopher Chuah said: “Our golden boy has done it again to prevail and emerge as champion in a strong field.
“With the win coming immediately after three World Nineball Tour victories, it proves he is no flash in the pan as he etches his name in pool history.
“We are extremely proud of him and with every victory, he continues to inspire the next generation of players in Singapore.”
Yapp will next play at the Sept 2-5 Zen Custom Cue & Yuan 8 Open and Sept 7-14 China Open in Shanghai, before the Sept 20-28 World 10-Ball Men’s Championship in Vietnam.
