Yapp pockets belief after winning star-studded event

After months of struggling with self-doubt, Singapore's top pool player Aloysius Yapp finally won an individual event on the World Nine-ball Tour (WNT) on Nov 22, when he beat German Moritz Neuhausen 13-6 in the International 9-Ball Open final.

- David Lee

With a new cue in hand, the 28-year-old pocketed US$40,000 (S$53,900) after retaining his title and plans to celebrate with a nice steak lunch. He told The Sunday Times: "It's been a while since I last made it so far at a big tournament. To win, it is really helpful for my confidence and WNT ranking."

Yapp, 12th on the WNT, was unbeaten throughout the star-studded US$171,000 event which featured eight of the 11 players ranked higher than him at the Renaissance Resort in Florida.

In the first stage of the double-elimination tournament, he beat unranked Americans Michael Yednak (10-2) and Corey Deuel (10-7), edged out 35th-ranked Bosnian Sanjin Pehlivanovic (10-9), and overcame 10th-ranked Pole Wiktor Zielinski (10-8) to reach the last-16 second stage.