Big 10-Ball doubles upset

GENERAL SANTOS CITY—The Philippines’ unlikeliest doubles team of Jordan Legaspi and Romeo Silvano scored an amazing 11-10 come-from-behind victory over the favored pair of Cheng Yu-hsuan and Hsu Kai-lun of Taiwan to win the star-studded MP Cup 10-Ball Doubles title Wednesday at SM City Mall here.

Legaspi and Silvano were sworn enemies a few weeks back when they went at each other’s throats in billiards competitions in Bulacan town where Legaspi comes from. Fate and circumstance joined Legaspi and Silvano, who decided to team up for the doubles event.

“We were rivals in Bulacan but I noticed his good form and decided to choose him as partner,” Legaspi said of his teammate.

Hsu, ranked No. 60 in the world, and Cheng, ranked No. 87, raced to a quick 4-0 lead and were poised to snatch the crown from the locals with a 10-7 lead in the race-to-11 games finals. But the Filipinos showed poise under pressure and clawed back to win the next four games.

In the 21st and final frame, Hsu scratched on the break, allowing Silvano and Legaspi to wrap up the match with finesse as the huge partisan crowd erupted in joy.

The young Legaspi, 25, and Silvano, 28 from Dipolog City, received the $40,000 top prize from host and boxing champion Manny Pacquiao.

The Legaspi-Silvano pair earlier downed the defending champion team of Jeffrey Ignacio and Jeffrey de Luna, 9-7, in the semifinals.