At A Glance
- Filipino cue artist James Aranas gets his shot at glory after earning a wild-card berth in the prestigious 2024 World Pool Masters at Halle39 in Hildesheim, Germany starting on April 25.
Filipino cue artist James Aranas gets his shot at glory after earning a wild-card berth in the prestigious 2024 World Pool Masters at Halle39 in Hildesheim, Germany starting on April 25.

Aranas is eyeing redemption after falling short in the semifinals last year against eventual champion Ko Pin-Yi of Chinese Taipei, 11-9, in the four-day tournament that will feature the top 14 pool players in the world including two wild-card entries. Vietnamese Dương Quốc Hoàng received the other spot.
The winner will get the chunk of the $125,000 (P7 million) prize pool.
"Sobrang saya. Hindi ko akalain na ako ulit ‘yong mapipili para maging representative ng Pilipinas this year kasi last year ako na yung naglaro,” said Aranas told Radyo Pilipinas 2.
Aranase will meet formidable rivals in the likes of Spanish Francisco Sanchez Ruiz, American bets Fedor Gorst and Shane Van Boening, Ko Ping Chung of Taiwan and German Joshua Filler.
Also taking part in the 16-man tourney are Great Britain’s Jayson Shaw, Austria’s Albin Ouschan, Max Lechner and Mario He, Spain’s David Alcaide, Singapore’s Aloysius Yapp, Poland’s Wiktor Zielinski, and Eklent Kaci of Albania.
Since its inaugural season three decades ago, three PH cue masters topped the pool tournament, including Francisco "Django" Bustamante (1998, 2001), Alex Pagulayan (2008), who is currently a Canadian citizen and Dennis Orcollo (2010).