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MP CUP GENSAN TUNA FESTIVAL INT?L OPEN BILLIARDS: De Luna-Ignacio Pair Shocks Hohmann-Morra, Wins MP Cup Billiards Diadem PhilBoxing.com Sat, 13 Sep 2014  GENERAL SANTOS CITY?Unheralded Jeff De Luna and Jeffrey Ignacio scored one of the most improbable upsets in their young career by hurdling legendary opponents to claim the $40,000 top purse in the MP Cup GenSan Tuna Festival International Open Billiards doubles event at the SM City Mall here. Showing the depth of the Philippine talent pool which came in full force to celebrate the 16th staging of the bountiful Tuna Festival here, De Luna's relative experience and brilliance and Ignacio's brute talent proved enough to upend the favorites with a string of riveting quarterfinals and semifinals victories en route to beating the top seeded pair of Thorsten Hohmann and John Morra, 11-6. It was a sweet and personal triumph win for De Luna, who previously lost to Hohmann in the quarterfinals of the 2013 World 9-Ball championship singles event in Qatar. Egged on by droves of local aficionados who watched from the rafters, his doubles partner Ignacio likewise fed off from the support of patrons who watched the event Friday night which included quarterfinals qualifier and eight-division boxing champion Manny Pacquiao and General Santos City mayor Ronnel Rivera, among others. Pacquiao bankrolled and also competed in the $100,000 three-day competition and was pleased with the results, planning to stage another equally big event next month here, tentatively slated on Dec. 8 to 17. "Malaking pagpapasalamat namin kay Congressman Pacquiao (lone district of Sarangani) kasi hindi na namin kailangan lumabas ng bansa para mag-compete. Dito na lang kami magko-concentrate," said De Luna, an international campaigner. Ignacio, who has an uncanny quick-draw, aim-and-shoot style of hitting balls, showed much promise. The 22-year-old cue master, who earlier this year finished runner-up in the World 9-Ball China Open, listened and applied every strategy devised by De Luna, 29, who was once under the tutelage of the "Magician," Efren "Bata" Reyes. The De Luna-Ignacio tandem earlier beat their boyhood idols Reyes, who partnered with the fabled Francisco "Django" Bustamante in an anticipated match-up between teacher and student. This time, the student gave his teacher something to be proud of by thwarting the foreign challenge of Hohmann-Morra, the deadly German-American combo. Hohmann, the German three-time world champion who has made the Philippines his second home, having a Filipina girlfriend and other Filipino relatives, himself, vowed to come back stronger next time. His last-minute partner John Morra, proved to be a solid performer in beating the dangerous Chinese-Taipei squad of Ko Pin Yi and Ko Pin Chung in the other semifinals match-up. Hohmann-Morra settled for the $18,000 runner-up purse while Reyes-Bustamante and the Ko-Ko team went home with the second runner up prize of $7,000, each. In the eventful 17th finals game, De Luna and Ignacio pounced on the bad shot by Morra after a tense positional struggle of carefully placed shots on the "1" ball following a dry break. De Luna and Ignacio went on to clean up the table and leapt into each other's arms in jubilation, wrapping up their first major title in years of partnership. "We just played our game without pressure because we knew we had the local fans backing us up. We prepared for this event by competing in club games in Malaysia," said De Luna, who proved to everyone why he and Ignacio belonged to the rank of top players from the US, Chinese-Taipei, United Arab Emirates, Canada, South Korea and Germany. 
Jeffrey Ignacio (left) and Jeff De Luna raise their arms in jubilation after defeating Thorsten Hohmann and John Morra (inset), 11-6, in the finals of the MP Cup GenSan Tuna Festival International 10-Ball Billiards doubles event Friday night at the SM City Mall in General Santos City. Photo: Mike Young / Team Pacquiao.  |
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