Ricky Yang of Indonesia defeated the Philippines’ Jeffrey de Luna to win the Philippine Open Pool Championship at the SM Megamall in Mandaluyong City Sunday.

Yang scored a convincing 11-4 win in the race-to-11 final game.

Yang earlier defeated Lu Hui-Chan of Chinese Taipei in the the semifinal match with a score of 9-7.

De Luna has barged into the finals after he defeated countryman Demosthenes “Plong-Plong” Pulpul in the other semifinal round. De Luna defeated Pulpul 9-7.

Yang got the top prize worth $20,000 and a trophy.

Four Asian cue artists emerged on top of the tournament and fought in the semifinal games and final game Sunday.

According to Raya Sports' PhilOpenNews.blogspot.com, cue artists from the West “all fell under the onslaught of the new power players from Asia, some of whom were being seen for the first time by their Atlantic rivals.”

The Web site reported that the last three Americans and three Europeans were eliminated on Saturday, including world 10-ball champion Darren Appleton, the second seed.

Pulpul, also called “Plong-Plong,” defeated Britain’s Kelly Fisher, the last female in the tournament (9-2). He also beat Lu (9-1), Elvis Calasang (9-3), Kok Keong (9-4), and Mario Tolentino (9-4).

Chinese Taipei’s Lu, meantime, defeated former US Open champion Corey Deuel (9-6) in a win-or-die match. He also won over Arnel Bautista (9-4), Thorsten Hohmann (9-4), Ko Pin-Yi (9-3), and Rudi Susanto (9-5).

Indonesian Yang was undefeated in the pool event like Pulpul. He scored five victories over Rudoslaw Babica (9-7), Kenji Taguchi (9-2), Leonardo Didal (9-8), Sastoshi Kawabata (9-6), and Chang Pei-Wei (9-6).

De Luna took out Ralf Souquet, the world’s No.1 player (9-6). He also beat Appleton (9-7). Such wins over the world’s top two billiards players earned him the title of “giant killer in the Philippine Open Pool Championship.”

He also beat Radislaw Babica of the Philippines (9-5) to move on to the final four.

De Luna, however, played more games than the other semifinalists because he lost in the third round to Chang Pei-Wei (2-9). He then posted victories over Elmer Kalaquian (9-8), Jestoni Magadia (9-2), Oscar Dominguez (9-4), and Rudi Susanto (9-4).

The Philippine Open Pool Championship was aired live on ESPN Star Sports and ABS-CBN’s Studio 23 and The Filipino Channel.