by Edward Asistin Ricky Yang blitzed through the field of the Philippine Open undefeated and captured the first-place prize of $20,000 USD. His victim in the championship match was Jeffrey “The Bull” De Luna, and this time the bull didn’t know what hit him. Yang is the number-one-ranked pool player in Indonesia. Up to this date in his professional pool playing career, his biggest accomplishment was achieving a second-place finish in the Jakarta Leg of the 2006 San Miguel Asian 9-Ball Tour. He was bested by one of the greatest cue artists of all time that day, Efren Reyes, but took home prize money of $5,000 USD. He was also the 2007 SEA Games gold medalist in billiards. He was second to none this time around and left everybody in the dust. The first semifinal of the Philippine Open was a match between Yang and Lu Hui-Chan (Taiwan). The difference in the match was the three scratches on the break by Lu Hui-Chan. At 3-3 he had the break and scratched. Yang ran out and proceeded to break and run the next rack to go up 5-3. … [Read more...]