World nips RP cue artists

Team World leaned on Wu Chia Ching’s brilliance and pool savvy to turn back Team QC-Philippines, 7-5, in their sudden death team duel to capture the QC Philippines vs The World “The Grand Villards Showdown” championship at the Trinoma in Quezon City late Thursday night.

The visiting squad worked its way back into contention after blowing a 3-1 lead in the early going of the three-day event, overhauling a 6-8 deficit to draw level and force a winner-take-all match in the first-to-score 9 duel.

The 19-year-old Wu, the former world 9-ball champion from Taiwan, then took over for Team World in the final team event, carrying Rodney Morris and Charlie Williams of the US and Raj Hundal of India with crucial shots to turn back Alex “The Lion” Pagulayan, Ronnie Alcano, Roberto Gomez and Warren Kiamco to the disappointment of the partisan crowd.

The 7-5 win by Team World capped a scintillating finish by the visitors, who squandered a 6-4 lead by dropping four straight matches early in the day but fought back by seizing the final three matches, which took the two teams 37 out of the possible 39 racks to finish.

“Wu Chia Ching made all the hard shots imaginable. He’s my Most Valuable Player of the team,” said Morris, the World’s 38-year-old Hawaii-based skipper.