CSI MICHIGAN OPEN being easily accessible. Many days he would come home from school, click the television to local sports channel and a live match would be on. One afternoon, the 10-year-old Yapp arrived home to find that his favorite game had been replaced for the afternoon with pool. The colorful balls, the green cloth. He was mesmerized. “It just looked like a new game at the time, and I Yapp’s star has been on the rise, with a final-16 berth at the 2019 U.S. Open earning TV time. guess I took a lot of Diamond Las Vegas Open hours before Yapp earned international recogniinterest from there,” Yapp said. COVID-19 hit the pause button on biltion in 2014, when he won the WPA That’s putting it mildly. Yapp iniliards and basically the world. Yapp reWorld Junior 9-Ball Championship. He tially quit classes at St. Patrick’s School turned to Singapore and decided to use made a quick transition to the profesin Singapore in 2011 to focus more on the time wisely, working with coach sional level, placing ninth as a 19-yearpool, ultimately enrolling in a program Toh Lian Han on strengthening funold at the 2015 World Cup of Pool at Coleman College that allowed him damentals as well as his mental game and ninth at that year’s World 9-Ball to work on his game and studies with — which, it turned out, needed a shot championship. He added a top-five a more flexible schedule. As a result, of confidence. finish at the China Open in 2018 and Yapp has become Singapore’s first full“I felt like I couldn’t believe I could earned top-10 finishes at the following time professional pool player, earning play at a high level,” said Yapp. “I kept year’s U.S. Open 9-Ball championship, income from not only tournament windoubting myself and during matches China Open, Japan Open and World nings but also funding from the counwhen I knew I had a chance to win or 9-Ball. He opened his 2020 season try’s Sports Excellence Scholarship take the lead, I would choke.” by struggling to a top-25 finish at the program. In Michigan, Yapp opened with victories against Filipino Warren Kiamco and Michael Schneider of Switzerland. Gomez then ushered him to the loser’s bracket in straight sets in the race-to-four, two-set format. “I struggled with my break and made a couple of mistakes because I couldn’t get used to the table conditions,” said Yapp. “He broke really well and played almost flawless.” Facing elimination, Yapp faced Tony Robles, with a berth in the single-elimination knockout phase hanging in the balance. The competitors battled back and forth in both sets, fighting to a match-deciding rack in each. Luckily for Yapp, Robles made mistakes Austria’s He had Gomez on the ropes in the semifinals, but fell short in the shootout. in both deciding racks which November 2021
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