Latest news with #WNT
Scottish Sun
7 days ago
- Sport
- Scottish Sun
World Pool Championship ace Johann Chua surges into next round as he wins rack in an instant thanks to little-known rule
British pair also progressed to the next round of the championship POT LUCK World Pool Championship ace Johann Chua surges into next round as he wins rack in an instant thanks to little-known rule Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A POOL star sailed into the next round of the World Nineball Pool Championship with the help of an expert trick shot. The Philippines' Johann Chua thrashed Mohamed Al-Balkhi 9-0 in the first round. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up Almost the perfect start for Mohamed Al-Balkhi 😓 Johann Chua taps in the 1-9 combo for the opener 🙏#WNT #WorldPoolChampionship 🇸🇦 — Matchroom Pool (@MatchroomPool) July 22, 2025 5 Mohamed Al-Balkhi attempted to pot the nine ball by jumping the cue ball over the black and into the one ball Credit: Matchroom 5 His valiant effort saw the nine ball bounce out of the jaws of the pocket Credit: Matchroom 5 Johann Chua then had a chance to win the frame Credit: Matchroom 5 He knocked the one ball into the nine and both dropped into the pocket Credit: Matchroom 5 Chua won the rack and went on to win the match 9-0 Credit: Matchroom And he got off to a flyer after quick thinking saw him take the opening frame. Al-Balkhi first attempted a sublime trickshot, jumping the cue ball over the black to hit the one ball. The one ball then cannoned into the nine ball which hit the jaws of the pocket but refused to drop in. That left Chua with the opportunity to win the first rack and he took it with ease, knocking the one ball into the nine, with both dropping into the pocket to put the 33-year-old into the lead. After that it was plain sailing for Chua as he racked up eight more frames to win the match. The world No.5 now takes on Oliver Szolnoki in the next round. Elsewhere British pair Jayson Shaw and Chris Melling also progressed to the second round, beating Khaled Al-Otaibi and Riku Romppanen respectively. Shaw, who is searching for his first major since winning the 2017 US Open, was happy with his performance despite a few mistakes early on. CASINO SPECIAL - BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS He said: 'I played well overall — made a few mistakes, but I managed to survive and capitalise on my opponent's errors, which ultimately helped me secure the win. I'm looking forward to the next match. 'I'm hoping for a deep run, but I'm taking it one match at a time and staying focused.'
Straits Times
28-06-2025
- Sport
- Straits Times
A grateful Aloysius Yapp takes the cue from mentor to give back, aims for deep run at world c'ship
Singapore's Aloysius Yapp celebrating after clinching the UK Open title in May for his first World Nineball Tour major triumph. PHOTO: MATCHROOMPOOL/INSTAGRAM SINGAPORE – When Aloysius Yapp was eight years old, he encountered his first mentor in pool. He and his mother had walked into TheQShop at Bras Basah, where the owner, Paul Pang, took an interest in the young boy and offered to teach him basic and intermediate pool skills. Former Cuesports Singapore vice president Pang went on to become his mentor, taking a 12-year-old Yapp to the United States for the World Junior Championships, and got him a junior sports membership at Chinese Swimming Club where he could practise without being restricted by the age limit at most other pool halls. Now 29, and at a career-high world No. 2 on the World Nineball Tour (WNT) ranking with US$196,478 (S$250,600) in earnings over the past two years, the former World Pool Association No. 1 knows the importance of giving back. This is why he has donated $5,000 to the Cuesports Singapore academy, which is set to open in Tanjong Katong in the fourth quarter of 2025, after its Katong Shopping Centre outlet closed in November 2024. The donation amount will be matched by the national sports association. Yapp told The Sunday Times: 'It's rare to have someone look after, support and coach you like what Paul did to give me a good start. I feel really lucky and grateful, and I think this is a good way to give back for all the support I have received from him and the association for many years. 'This will help out the academy where I will also be practising in the future, and I hope they can bring in more youth into the sport. If possible, I hope to make this a long-term contribution.' Yapp has been in fine form in the past year. He was named Most Valuable Player in Team Asia's 11-6 victory over Team Europe in the inaugural Reyes Cup in October 2024 and captured the International 9-Ball Open title a month later. After finishing second at the Scottish Open in May, he won his first WNT major title by obliterating Spaniard Jonas Souto 13-1 in the UK Open final. Yapp, who is currently playing in a minor tournament in Taiwan before the July 3-6 Universal x CPBA 99 Open in Vietnam, is eyeing a deeper run at the US$1 million World Pool Championship held from July 21-26 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after a last-64 finish in 2024. While it is a long shot, the US$250,000 winner's cheque could help him narrow the gap on Russian-American Fedor Gorst's US$438,611 in earnings at the top of the WNT rankings. He said: 'For sure, I would love to win, but I also don't really set a big target for myself. I'm just going to do my best and hopefully, luck is on my side too. 'I have had a bad season and struggled almost throughout the whole 2024 until the Reyes Cup, so rising to world No. 2 feels surreal. I still can't really believe it, but I'm grateful. No. 1 is on my mind, but it's going to be very tough to overtake Fedor soon, as he is too far ahead.' There are other things out of his control, as the Israel-Iran conflict has caused flight disruptions and raises safety concerns in the Middle East. But Yapp is focused on what he can do on the table, as he has been experimenting with 10 shafts and three butts from his sponsor Universal Cues, after signing with them in October 2024. He said: 'I switched from wood to carbon-fibre shafts because they feel more powerful. These days, the balls tend to feel heavier and the cloth feels slower, so the carbon-fibre shafts help me compensate for the slowness and I can play at a more normal pace. 'But I still feel like my equipment needs some tweaking here and there. There are some parts I need to adjust like the weight and balance to get the ideal cue ball reaction for me... hopefully, I'll find the best fit before the world championships.' Meanwhile, at the Cuesports Singapore annual general meeting at the Chinese Swimming Club on June 28, Christopher Chuah was returned unopposed as president for a second two-year term in his current stint, while Pang steps down as vice-president and is replaced by Dominic Pan. Chuah, who was also president from 2013 to 2021 before Justin Lee took over from 2021 to 2023, said: 'I'm happy to be able to continue to serve and build on the good work the team have done over the past two years, and we look forward to the opening of our new academy. 'It is important that we have our own home base and training facilities which can be used by our athletes and more importantly, for pipeline development. 'Currently, youths below 16 are not able to play in commercial parlours. With our new academy, we intend to drive our junior development programme to attract and induct promising junior athletes into our pipeline under the supervision of our coaches.' Cuesports Singapore board 2025-2027 President: Christopher Chuah Vice-presidents: Ivan Lim, Dominic Pan, Vincent Sum Treasurer: Cheung Yew Tak Assistant treasurer: Emrys Phua Honorary secretary: Sean Mathews Committee member: Ang Chor Ho David Lee is senior sports correspondent at The Straits Times focusing on aquatics, badminton, basketball, cue sports, football and table tennis. Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
RTÉ News
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Watch: news2day Wednesday, 25 June 2025
Making a splash in Dún Laoghaire. The Ark celebrates 30 years. News from the Ireland WNT camp. Two bears have a bath. Stream the show on RTÉ Player or watch it now by pressing play on the image above. Florence takes to the water to paddle along with some new friends at a DLR Sportsability Water Camp. Barry goes to The Ark in Dublin as they celebrate their 30th birthday. RTÉ's Tony O'Donoghue is in Denver with a report from the Ireland WNT camp. And we see two bears who are cooling down with a bath!
Irish Examiner
17-06-2025
- Sport
- Irish Examiner
Ireland's WNT to face Belgium at the Aviva in first leg of Nations League play-off
The Ireland Women's National Team (WNT) will take on Belgium in the first leg of their Uefa Nations League promotion/relegation play-off at the Aviva Stadium on Friday October 24. They will play the return leg on Tuesday October 28 and should the aggregate scores over the two games remain level extra-time will be played followed by a penalty shoot-out if required. Ireland finished second in Group two in League B on goal difference have an opportunity to secure promotion to League A if they overcome Belgium in their two leg play-off. The game at the Aviva will be the fifth outing for the WNT side at the national venue and to date have attracted a collective attendence of 117,438 spectators. Speaking on the clash being played at the Aviva, head coach Carla Ward said: 'The game against Belgium is massive for us in wanting to get promoted to League A in the UEFA Nations League but also with helping us in the qualifiers for the 2027 FIFA World Cup, so it is fantastic that we will play the first leg in the Aviva Stadium. 'The Aviva Stadium is one of the best stadiums in the world and I've been there as a fan on nights when the Irish fans create the atmosphere that they are famous for and it is really special. I'd encourage our fans to help make this another memorable night by securing their ticket and getting behind the team.' Ticket and full match details will be announced over the coming weeks.
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
A Study Says Gray Hair May Be Reversible
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." A study links graying hair to stem cells getting stuck, unable to color new hair growth. Stem cells travel back and forth within compartments, but when they get stuck in one compartment, they cannot regenerate into pigment cells. Restoring mobility of the cells could allow the continuation of pigment production, eliminating graying hair. If only our pesky stem cells didn't get stuck in place after a while, maybe we wouldn't have gray hair. Really. In a study published in the journal Nature, researchers from New York University's Grossman School of Medicine revealed how stuck melanocyte stem cells (McSCs) can't make the protein needed to pigment hair, potentially explaining gray hair. Using mice as the research subjects, the team found that McSCs travel between compartments of developing hair follicles in a healthy situation. The differing compartments allow the McSCs to mature and pick up the protein that can regenerate into pigment cells and continually color hair as it grows. These McSCs shift back and forth between maturity levels over time as they continually move between the compartments, a unique aspect of the McSCs. But in some cases, the McSCs can get stuck in the hair follicle bulge compartment and become unable to move back to the germ compartment, where the WNT proteins encourage the cells to regenerate into pigment cells. Getting stuck means no pigment cells, which means gray hair. 'It is the loss of chameleon-like function in melanocyte stems cells that may be responsible for graying and loss of hair color,' Mayumi Ito, study senior investigator and professor in the Ronald O. Perelman Department of Dermatology and Department of Cell Biology at NYU Langone Health, says in a news release. 'These findings suggest that melanocyte stem cell motility and reversible differentiation are key to keeping hair healthy and colored.' Basically, if the McSCs can keep moving—or, if they get stuck, we can somehow prod them to get going again—we should expect more colorful heads of hair the world over. 'Our study adds to our basic understanding of how melanocyte stem cells work to color hair,' Qi Sun, postdoctoral fellow at NYU Langone Health, says in the release. 'The newfound mechanisms raise the possibility that the same fixed positioning of melanocyte stem cells may exist in humans. If so, it presents a potential pathway for reversing or preventing the graying of human hair by helping jammed cells to move again between developing hair follicle compartments.' The McSCs focus on pigment-making, and are different from cells responsible for hair growth, Sun says, so hair can to continue growing even without pigment. The NYU study showed that as the hair regrowth process aged, the number of McSC's lodged in the follicle bulge continued to increase. At some points, this non-pigment producing follicle bulge contains roughly 50 percent of all McSCs. The McSCs that remained mobile retained their ability to produce pigment, but with the ever-shifting requirements of McSCs breaking down over time, the rise of gray hair coincided with aging. And while stress has also been associated with graying hair, unrelated Harvard research says that stress simply increases the hair regrowth pattern, speeding up the aging process for hair follicles. 'For unknown reasons, the melanocyte stem cell system fails earlier than other adult stem cell populations, which leads to hair graying in most humans and mice,' according to the NYU study. The next step for the NYU team involves looking at how we can get McSCs, once stuck, moving again. Because once they move, they create pigment. And that could mean the end of gray. You Might Also Like The Do's and Don'ts of Using Painter's Tape The Best Portable BBQ Grills for Cooking Anywhere Can a Smart Watch Prolong Your Life?
