Four players with different storylines that we will watch unfold in today’s Mantra International Open semifinals.

Jerson Cumayas, this young man is showing off his potential by defeating countrymen AJ Manas, Carlo Biado, and Michael Baoanan en route to the semifinals. There has been hype building up around his name from last year, and by making it to these rounds, it just proves that the hype is real — another young gun from the Philippines is ready to conquer the pool world.

Dennis Orcollo – The hall of famer is proving that there’s still a lot left in the tank. The recently turned 45-year-old world champion is gaining a lot of momentum, beating Ko Ping Chung and Aloysius Yapp, which sends a message that he’s still a force to be reckoned with. A win in this tournament will only give Robocop more fuel to compete this year.

Jesson Marabi – Like I said before, this young man is underrated. We don’t hear much noise, but he’s a player who is still improving and hasn’t reached his full potential. A 5th place finish in the WPA Oceania tournament just proves that he has the talent to compete with the best of them. Winning this tournament will give him more opportunities to get his name out there.

Jeffrey Ignacio – Well, this guy is turning out to be who he was when he first burst onto the scene. The high hopes and expectations are being met, and his game has improved a lot starting from last year, winning the Heyball Malaysia stop. A back-to-back championship is hard to pull off in this modern-day era of pool competition with the talent around the world, not just in the Philippines. So achieving this feat would really put Ignacio’s name on top as one of the very best players at the moment.

Who do you think will win the Mantra International Open? The Semifinals will start 2:00 PM Philippine Time and the Finals will be at 6:00 PM.

Credits for the Header image to Allison Chang.