Billiards Sports23 Editorial 2 min read
Johann Chua Claims Philippines Open Title in All-Filipino Final
'Bad Koi' goes unbeaten through a 128-player field and survives a late fightback to take the $20,000 top prize at Gateway Mall.
Johann Chua became the first Filipino to lift the Philippines Open Pool Championship trophy on home soil on Saturday night, outlasting Anton Raga 11-9 in an all-Filipino final in front of a roaring crowd at Gateway Mall 2 in Cubao, Quezon City.
The 34-year-old from Bacolod, nicknamed "Bad Koi," finished a perfect week at the second staging of the nine-ball major, which drew 128 players to the shopping-mall arena from October 20-24 as part of the World Nineball Tour.
A final that swung both ways
Raga won the lag but scratched on the opening break, and Chua made him pay, racing to a 5-0 lead that looked like ending the night early. Raga refused to fold. The man known around Philippine pool halls for his shot-making clawed back rack by rack, and a run of confident play cut the gap to 7-6.
Chua steadied himself and reached the hill at 10-7, but Raga trimmed it once more to 10-9. Then came the decisive moment of the final: in rack 20, Raga scratched on the break, leaving Chua an open table for the championship. He cleared the balls and the crowd erupted.
"We both felt the pressure especially towards the end, but I just got the opportunity to get it," Chua said afterward.
An unbeaten run through a brutal draw
Chua won all seven of his matches in the single-elimination event, and the scorelines were emphatic. His quarter-final was the statement of the week: a 10-1 demolition of Carlo Biado, one of the biggest names in the field and the Philippines' standard-bearer on tour. In the semifinal he routed Bernie Regalario 10-2, reeling off ten straight racks after falling behind 0-2.
Raga's path to the final was just as impressive — he took down Jayson Shaw 10-4 in the quarter-finals before beating Baseth Mocaibat 10-6 in the last four.
A sweep for Philippine pool
All four semifinalists were Filipino, turning the weekend into a showcase for the country's depth in the sport. Regalario had earlier knocked out defending champion David Alcaide of Spain, the 2025 winner of this event, 10-2 in the last 16.
For Chua, the title is his second Matchroom major, adding to his 2024 Hanoi Open crown, and it came in his first major appearance of the year. He is already a two-time Reyes Cup champion and a 2023 World Cup of Pool winner alongside James Aranas.
Chua collected $20,000 for the win, with Raga taking $10,000 as runner-up and the two losing semifinalists earning $7,000 each. The tournament also closed the qualifying races for the Mosconi Cup and the World Pool Masters, giving the week extra weight beyond the trophy.
