BY MARK REY MONTEJO
Jeffrey Ignacio made history Thursday, Jan. 25, by winning the inaugural 2024 Indonesia International 10-Ball Open in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Banking on his powerful breaks and deft touch, Ignacio overpowered Hong Kong naturalized Robbie Capito, 10-3, to become the first champion of the event that drew some of the world’s finest players.
Before humbling Capito in the 128-player field, Ignacio stunned reigning World Cup of Pool champion James Aranas (alongside Johann Chua) in the quarterfinals (10-7) and Spain’s Francisco Sanchez Ruiz in the semis.
For his splendid performance, Ignacio pocketed the handsome purse of $25,000 (around P1.4 million).
He also disarmed Vietnamese Duong Quoc Hoang (10-6) in the last 32 and Greek Dimitris Loukatos (10-3) in the last 16.
A Filipino descent, Capito actually started strong in the race-to-10 contest, taking the first rack via his impressive pocketing.
But Ignacio immediately seized the momentum by winning the next seven racks to build a comfortable 7-1 lead.
Not to be deterred, the Hong Kong player regained his composure winning two of the next three racks.
But it was his last gallant stand as Ignacio finished him off with an array of spell-binding shots.
Other Filipinos who took part in the event but who suffered heart-breaking defeats were Chua, Anton Raga, Dennis Orcollo, Kyle Amoroto, Bernie Regalario and Carlo Biado.
Biado fell short in his hill-hill showdown with Sanchez Ruiz in the quarters.
Jonas Magpantay was a big revelation after finishing third.
International artists who also saw action were Taiwanese bros Ko Ping-Chung and Ko Pin-Yi, Wu Kun-Lin, Alexander Kazakis of Greece and Singapore’ Aloysius Yapp.
