Feijen captures first World 9-Ball crown

MANILA, Philippines - After beating two Filipino bets on his way to the finals, Dutch Neils Feijen capped his title drive with a 13-10 triumph over Austrian Albin Ouschan to rule the 23rd WPA world 9-ball championship Friday night at Al Saad Sports Club in Doha, Qatar.

The cuemaster with the monicker “the Terminator” got the better of Ouschan in a safety battle to seize a 12-8 cushion and set the foundation for his first ever world title.

 “I think I really deserve it. You just gotta go grab it. Nobody’s going to give it to you. It was the fight of staying composed, patience, executing well and blocking out all those bad things and the good things. The hardest thing was staying in the moment. And I think I did really well and in the end I finally snapped it off,” said Feijen.

The victory, worth $30,000, ended Feijen’s years of frustration. He had two previous heartbreaking defeats in the finals of the world 8-ball meet – in 2010 and 2011 – before finally striking gold Friday.

“You don’t get many finals in your life. Some people never get one chance to get a final. It took me a couple of years to get a final again and this is the first 9-ball final I had. I was thrilled to get a chance and I said go ahead and take this chance,” he said.

Feijen was responsible for finishing off the bid of the last Filipino standing, Elmer Haya.

The Dutchman foiled the amazing run of Abu Dhabi-based OFW Haya, the tournament’s surprise package, with an 11-7 win in the semis Friday afternoon.

Before that, Feijen also slammed the door on world no.2 Carlo Biado, 11-7, in their quarterfinal duel.

Unheralded players like Haya and Johann Chua, who also reached the Last-8, generally carried the fight for a Phl contingent that saw some of the fancied bets take an early exit. Legendary Efren “Bata” Reyes didn’t survive the group stages while Dennis Orcollo, Lee Van Corteza and Jeff de Luna got the boot in the Last-64.