Quest to claim No. 1 spot off to rocky start

The sight of the ball rattling the jaws of the pocket turned Aloysius Yapp's arms into jelly.

Facing Kuwait's Bader Alawadhi in a shoot-out in the semi-finals of the Apex Wisconsin Open on Saturday, the Singaporean world No. 3 pool player was presented with a glorious chance to progress when Bader missed his first three shots.

But, after potting his first attempt and needing just a second to win, he missed the next three shots.

After his second miss, Yapp crumpled onto the table, burying his face in his arms. When he emerged off it, he was chagrined.

On the phone later past midnight in Wisconsin, he told The Straits Times he had trouble sleeping. "I can't stop thinking about that shot. I kind of threw (the match) away," he said.

Yapp eventually lost the shoot-out 4-3 after the game had ended 4-2, 3-4.

Alawadhi went on to finish runner-up to Greece's Alexander Kazakis in the final, also after a shoot-out (3-4, 4-2; 2-0).

Kazakis earned US$25,000 (S$33,691) while Yapp settled for US$7,500. Another Singaporean, Sharik Sayed, clinched a top-24 placing.

The Wisconsin Open is the first of nine competitions Yapp, 25, will take part in over the next two months in the United States and England. He hopes to regain the world No. 1 status, which he achieved last October.

The better a player's finish in such tournaments, the more world ranking points he will accumulate.

It has been a tough start for Yapp, however. He said: "To be honest, the whole time at this Wisconsin Open, I have felt like I was struggling. I just couldn't get used to the conditions."

He flies out of the US on Sunday and plans to shake off the disappointment and focus on the US$100,000 Premier League Pool.

Yapp, who last September finished third at the World 10-ball Championship and then second at the US Open 9-ball Championship, is one of only 16 players invited for the tournament in Milton Keynes, England.

He said: "It's a completely different format of play and I would love to qualify for the (later rounds) but I know it's going to be really tough. My main goal there will be to play my own game again."

Meanwhile, yesterday in Singapore, Glenn Yeo became the first officially top-ranked local player after winning the National Billiards Championship.

The 2017 SEA Games bronze medallist defeated Teo Meng Hue 3-0 in the final at the Ronnie O'Sullivan Snooker Academy at Turf City.

Cuesports Singapore had announced it would introduce a local ranking for billiards - using guidelines similar to those already in place for pool and snooker - starting with results from the National Championship.

Top local player Peter Gilchrist, the four-time world champion, did not participate in the tournament owing to the gulf in standard.

Yeo, 47, who celebrated his third national title following wins in 2003 and 2004, said he hoped the newly introduced rankings might spur more locals to take up the game.

"I've been playing the game for so long, so to me the ranking is not such a big deal," he said.

"After all, billiards is not that popular a sport (here).

"But hopefully, having a ranking (system) can attract newer players to get involved."