GABICA, DE LUNA IN HOT START; PULPUL, MANALO LOSES IN WORLD 9-BALL CHINA OPEN
BY: MARLON BERNARDINO
MANILA, Philippines---ANTONIO "Ga-Ga" Gabica and buddy Jeffrey "The Bull" de Luna got off hot start in the 2009 (JUS) World 9-ball China Pudong Tang Cheng Open at the Pudong Yuanshen Gymnasium in Shanghai, China on Thursday.
Gabica, the 2006 Doha Asian games 9-ball gold medallist was in awesome form against a local player Cong Cheng and posted a lopsided 11-3 victory. The Lapu-Lapu City native Gabica will meets a Chinese-Taipei player in the next round according to the official website.
De Luna, who took the silver medal in the 2006 Doha Asian Games 9-ball competition brought downed Polish Mateusz Sniegocki 11-7 to set up a clash with another local player in the second round.
However, 2008 World Ten Ball Semi-Finalist Demosthenes "Plong-Plong" Pulpul and Marlon "Marvelous" Manalo were not so lucky as they skidded to the loser's bracket after absorbing a similar 6-11 loss to a local player and a Chinese-Taipei player, respectively.
Pulpul, playing under the banner of Cebuano sportsman Paul Monera Magadan of Magi Group and MPC Glass and Alluminum Trading GM Mark Monera Magadan will face a Taiwanese counterpart in the next round while Manalo, the pride of Mandaluyong City will slug it out with Australia's Louis Condo.
Pulpul and Manalo must win respective matches in the loser's bracket to stay in contention.
Meanwhile, WPA World no.1 and current world 8-ball champion Ralf "Kaiser" Souquet of Germany spearheaded the favorites who hurdled their opening matches after he defeated Japanese Akakariyama 11-3.
Darren Appleton of the Great Britain, the reigning world 10-ball ruler, edged a Taiwanese 11-10, Charlie Williams of the United States nipped Jeong Young-Hwa of Korea 11-4, Kazuo Furuta of Japan beat Ruslan Chinahov of Russia 11-6, Marcus Chamat of Sweden blasted Abdullatef Fawal of Qatar 11-0, Do Hoang Quan of Vietnam hammered Craig Osborne of the Great Britain 11-5, Hayato Hijikata of Japan trounced Tomasz Kaplan of Poland 11-2, Serge Das of Belgium waylaid Vegar Kristiansen of Denmark 11-10, Ernesto Dominguez of Mexico crushed Jonny Martinez of Puerto Rico 11-9, Niels Feijen of the Netherlands clobbered Jason Klatt of Canada 11-6 and 2009 Philippine Pool Championships kingpin Ricky Yang of Indonesia whacked countryman Rudi Susanto 11-3.
Not ot be outdone were former world 9-ball champions Mika Immonen of Finland, who dealt Oscar Dominguez of the United States 11-3, Thorsten Hohman of Germany, who bested a Taiwanese player 11-9, and Daryl Peach of the Great Britain, winner over Mario He 11-4.
US brightest hope Shane "The South Dakota Kid" Van Boening also won his opening match over a Chinese-Taipei foe 11-4.
The format calls they will play a double round robin for the race-to-eleven in the last 64 (Stage 2), while single knock-out affair will be employ in the last 32 in the US $40,000 championship prize with the runner-up will bring home $20,000 while the losing-semi-finalists gets $5,500 each. The prizes up to the last 32 according to the organizing group.
The Filipino pool wizards would like to thank the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) headed by its president Sebastian Chua and chairman Yen Makabenta and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Harry Angping for their undying support regarding the China Open.
BY: MARLON BERNARDINO
MANILA, Philippines---ANTONIO "Ga-Ga" Gabica and buddy Jeffrey "The Bull" de Luna got off hot start in the 2009 (JUS) World 9-ball China Pudong Tang Cheng Open at the Pudong Yuanshen Gymnasium in Shanghai, China on Thursday.
Gabica, the 2006 Doha Asian games 9-ball gold medallist was in awesome form against a local player Cong Cheng and posted a lopsided 11-3 victory. The Lapu-Lapu City native Gabica will meets a Chinese-Taipei player in the next round according to the official website.
De Luna, who took the silver medal in the 2006 Doha Asian Games 9-ball competition brought downed Polish Mateusz Sniegocki 11-7 to set up a clash with another local player in the second round.
However, 2008 World Ten Ball Semi-Finalist Demosthenes "Plong-Plong" Pulpul and Marlon "Marvelous" Manalo were not so lucky as they skidded to the loser's bracket after absorbing a similar 6-11 loss to a local player and a Chinese-Taipei player, respectively.
Pulpul, playing under the banner of Cebuano sportsman Paul Monera Magadan of Magi Group and MPC Glass and Alluminum Trading GM Mark Monera Magadan will face a Taiwanese counterpart in the next round while Manalo, the pride of Mandaluyong City will slug it out with Australia's Louis Condo.
Pulpul and Manalo must win respective matches in the loser's bracket to stay in contention.
Meanwhile, WPA World no.1 and current world 8-ball champion Ralf "Kaiser" Souquet of Germany spearheaded the favorites who hurdled their opening matches after he defeated Japanese Akakariyama 11-3.
Darren Appleton of the Great Britain, the reigning world 10-ball ruler, edged a Taiwanese 11-10, Charlie Williams of the United States nipped Jeong Young-Hwa of Korea 11-4, Kazuo Furuta of Japan beat Ruslan Chinahov of Russia 11-6, Marcus Chamat of Sweden blasted Abdullatef Fawal of Qatar 11-0, Do Hoang Quan of Vietnam hammered Craig Osborne of the Great Britain 11-5, Hayato Hijikata of Japan trounced Tomasz Kaplan of Poland 11-2, Serge Das of Belgium waylaid Vegar Kristiansen of Denmark 11-10, Ernesto Dominguez of Mexico crushed Jonny Martinez of Puerto Rico 11-9, Niels Feijen of the Netherlands clobbered Jason Klatt of Canada 11-6 and 2009 Philippine Pool Championships kingpin Ricky Yang of Indonesia whacked countryman Rudi Susanto 11-3.
Not ot be outdone were former world 9-ball champions Mika Immonen of Finland, who dealt Oscar Dominguez of the United States 11-3, Thorsten Hohman of Germany, who bested a Taiwanese player 11-9, and Daryl Peach of the Great Britain, winner over Mario He 11-4.
US brightest hope Shane "The South Dakota Kid" Van Boening also won his opening match over a Chinese-Taipei foe 11-4.
The format calls they will play a double round robin for the race-to-eleven in the last 64 (Stage 2), while single knock-out affair will be employ in the last 32 in the US $40,000 championship prize with the runner-up will bring home $20,000 while the losing-semi-finalists gets $5,500 each. The prizes up to the last 32 according to the organizing group.
The Filipino pool wizards would like to thank the Billiards and Snooker Congress of the Philippines (BSCP) headed by its president Sebastian Chua and chairman Yen Makabenta and Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Harry Angping for their undying support regarding the China Open.
