At A Glance
- World Cup of Pool champions Johann Chua and James Aranas downed separate foes to inch closer to the knockout stage in the 2023 European Open Pool Championships at the Hotel Esperanto in Fulda, Germany on Wednesday, Aug. 9.
By MARK REY MONTEJO
World Cup of Pool champions Johann Chua and James Aranas downed separate foes to inch closer to the knockout stage in the 2023 European Open Pool Championships at the Hotel Esperanto in Fulda, Germany on Wednesday, Aug. 9.

Chua displayed nerves of steel and turned back Czech Republic’s Roman Hybler, 9-8, while Aranas edged Denmark’s Mickey Krause, 9-4.
Trailing 5-2 in the race-to-9 duel, Chua tried to gain his old deadly form but still found himself struggling as Hybler came closer to winning at 8-4.
The Czech had an opportunity to close out the match on the 13th rack but scratched the 9 ball, allowing Chua to recover and clear the next five racks.
The victory set up Chua a next meeting with United Kingdom’s Jayson Shaw.
It was the second victories for Chua and Aranas after trouncing their first-round opponents Graeme Hamilton, 9-0, and James Devlin, 9-1, both from the United Kingdom.
Aranas’ next foe would be American Shane Van Boening.
Meanwhile, Antonio Raga was relegated to the loser’s bracket after yielding to Poland’s Kondrad Juszczyszyn, 9-8.
Raga blanked Germany’s Ingo Lamberti, 9-0, in his first match in the relegation round to arrange a matchup with Besar Spahiu.
The tournament offers a $200,000 total prize with the champion taking home $30,000 and $15,000 for runner-up