MANILA, Philippines – The title as the winningest country in World Cup of Pool history now solely belongs to the Philippines, all thanks to Johann Chua and James Aranas.

Chua and Aranas earned the country a record fourth World Cup of Pool crown following an 11-7 win over Germany’s Joshua Filler and Moritz Neuhausen in the finale in Lugo, Spain on Sunday, July 2 (Monday, July 3, Manila time).

They became the third Filipino pair to rule the annual nine-ball tournament for doubles teams, joining the legendary Efren “Bata” Reyes-Francisco “Django” Bustamante tandem and Dennis Orcollo-Lee Vann Corteza duo.

Reyes and Bustamante topped the inaugural edition in 2006 and repeated in 2009, while Orcollo and Corteza reigned in 2013.

A championship drought followed as the Philippines suffered a string of heartbreaks, with Carlo Biado and Jeff de Luna falling short of the crown when they settled for a runner-up finish in 2019.

But Aranas and Chua ended that decade-long wait for another title as they completed a stellar campaign that saw them eliminate the winners of three of the last five editions.

Chua and Aranas gave defending champion David Alcaide Bermudez and Francisco Sanchez Ruiz of Spain the boot early with a resounding 7-5 win in their opening-round clash.

After surviving Chinese Taipei’s Ko Pin-yi and Ko Ping-chung in the last eight, Aranas and Chua then hacked out a thrilling 9-8 win over Austria’s Albin Ouschan and Mario He, the 2017 and 2019 winners, to advance to the final.

Chua and Aranas blew a four-rack lead against the Austrians but they managed to pull through, setting up a championship duel with Filler and Neuhausen.

The same thing happened in the finale as Aranas and Chua raced to a 9-2 advantage only to witness their German foes win five straight racks to threaten a comeback.

But the Filipinos arrested their collapse just in time and clinched the 17th game to move on the hill, 10-7, before a foul by Neuhausen allowed Chua and Aranas to run out the 18th rack to bag the victory and the $60,000 purse.

In the process, the Philippines broke its tie with three-time champion China and prevented a three-way logjam at the top with two-time winner Germany.

Filler and Neuhausen pocketed $30,000. – Rappler.com