By MARK REY MONTEJO
Richard Alinsub bucked a slow start to beat Sean Mark Malayan, 11-8, in all-Filipino final in the 2024 Bali 9-Ball Open in Indonesia on Wednesday night, April 17.
Cool and calculating, Alinsub rallied furiously, winning five straight racks to grab an 8-7 lead in the event that drew 128 participants from all over the world.
Malayan, however, refused to give up the fight easily as he won the next rack to once again tie the count at 8-all.
This time, it fired up Alinsub even more, taking the next three racks to pocket the top prize of IDR 100,000,000 (roughly P350,000).
In a show of force, Filipino players made up the semis cast with Alinsub beating AJ Manas, 9-1, while Malayan bested Jundel Manzon.
Alinsub also triumphed over Vietnamese Duong Quoc, 9-5, in the quarterfinals.
For a while, Malayan appeared headed to a convincing win when he broke a 3-3 count on the way to a 7-3 lead.
Unfortunately, he failed to sustain his brilliance, obviously disarmed by Alinsub’s fightback.
Meanwhile, the 10-ball tourney is going on at posting time Alinsub and company competing.
