A record 17 Pinoys through to last 64 in world 9 ball
Photo by Sid Ventura
Talk about a show of force.
The Philippines showed why it is one of the greatest pool-playing nations in the world when Filipino cue players accounted for 17 of the 64 players left in World 9 Ball Championships in Doha, Qatar.
Antonio Gabica, Caneda Villamor, Roberto Gomez, Venancio Tanio, Joven Alba, Israel Rota, Lee Van Corteza, Ronnie Alcano, and Raymond Faraon all won their do-or-die matches in the losers' bracket yesterday to advance to the knockout stage that reels off today with the round of 64.
The nine survivors join Dennis Orcullo, Django Bustamante, Efren "Bata" Reyes, Carlo Biado, Oliver Medenilla, Jeff De Luna, Allan Cuartero and Antonio Lining, who earlier advanced outright after winning their first two group stage matches.
The lone casualty among the 18 Pinoys seeing action in Doha was qualifier Francisco Olita, who dropped a heartbreaking 8-9 knockout match to Soheil Vahedi of Iran. Were it not for that close loss, the Philippines would have gone a perfect 18-for-18 after the group stage.
Photo by Sid Ventura
Nonetheless, accounting for 17 out of the final 64 is still a very impressive — and unprecedented - feat.
Longtime pool sportswriter Ted Lerner said in his World Pool Association column that he was pretty sure this was a record for a single country in the world pool championships.
But the hard part begins today as the knockout matches get going, and already, the 17 Filipinos are sure to be reduced to 16 after Medenilla and Corteza drew each other in the upper portion of the round of 64 bracket.
In the same upper half of the bracket, Tanio faces the Netherlands' Nick van den Berg, Biado tangles with Iran's Takhti Zarekani, Gabica squares off against 2001 champ Mika Immonen, Cuartero battles Ahmad Taufiq Murni, and Alba plays Chinese Taipei's Chang Jun Lin.
In the lower half, Alcano is pitted against Chris Orme, Rota battles Chang Yu Lun, Lining plays perennial contender Oliver Ortmann of Germany, Orcullo faces Indonesia's Muhammad Zulfikri, Reyes locks horns with Carlos Cabello, Bustamante battles Sascha-Andrej Tege, De Luna plays Fu Che Wei, Gomez faces the man who beat him in the 2007 championship match, Daryl Peach, and Faraon takes on Stephan Cohen.
Photo by Sid Ventura
Should Orcullo and Reyes hurdle their respective opponents, they will face each other in the round of 32. De Luna and Gomez are also on a collision course in the next round if they win today.
Other contenders who advanced include Niels Feijen of the Netherlands, American Shane Van Boening, England's Darren Appleton, last year's runner-up Kuo Po Cheng of Chinese Taipei, and Germany's Thorsten Hohmann and Ralf Souquet.
In the tournament's biggest shocker so far, Mariusz Skoneczy of Poland ousted former champion Wu Jiaqing of China, 9-8, after Wu incredibly missed an extremely easy shot on the 8 ball in the deciding 17th rack.
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