Favorites roll as 10-ball tilt gets underway
The top guns made their presence felt early as the World Ten Ball Championships got underway yesterday at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
Defending champion Mika Immonen of Finland got things rolling with a 9-4 win over Chen Man Lee of Hong Kong in Group A action. He will face unheralded Ruben Cuna, a surprise 9-7 winner over veteran Ramil Gallego, for an early slot in the last 64. Alok Kumar of India downed Korean Gun Jae Lee, 9-4, while Stephan Cohen of France whipped local bet Marvin Tapia, 9-3 in other Group A matches. Kumar and Cohen face each other next.
The group stage is a double elimination, and there are eight players in each of the 16 groups. A player is eliminated once he suffers his second loss.
Over in Group B, world number one Antonio Lining routed Poland's Karol Skowerski, 9-2, to arrange a showdown with Ukrainian Artem Koschovy, who won his opening match against Omar Al-Shaheen of Kuwait, 9-7. Francesco Diaz-Pizarro of Spain upset Philippine Open quarterfinalist Carlo Biado, 9-6, while Germany's Thomas Engert beat Charlie Williams of the USA, 9-7, in the other group matches.
A pair of Filipinos led the Group C winners. Demosthenes Pulpul was a 9-4 winner over Manuel Perreira of Portugal, while Venancio Tanio went the full distance in a 9-8 squeaker over Qatar's Abdulatif Fawal. Other Group C winners were Malta's Tony Drago, who outlasted Imran Majid of Great Britain, 9-8, and Poland's Radolslaw Babica, who beat world number three Chang Jung Lin of Chinese Taipei by a similar score.
Dennis Orcullo, playing in Group D, breezed past Carlos Cabello of Spain, 9-2, while the United States' Max Eberle defeated Harald Stolka of Germany, 9-5. Orcullo and Eberle square off today for a Round of 64 slot. But it was 17-year-old Jonas Magpantay who stole the limelight in Group D with an impressive 9-3 victory over Ohanna Al-Obaidly of Qatar. The native of Rosario, Batangas, who is the second-youngest player in the 128-man field, showed poise and composure in his first-ever match in an international tournament. "I made some mistakes early on, but he also made mistakes, so I was able to sweep the last racks," said Magpantay, a protégé of Raya Sports president Yen Makabenta.
But Magpantay will have his hands full in his next match when he goes up against China's Wu Chia-Ching, who battled back from a 3-7 deficit to nip Great Britain's Chris Melling, 9-8. Coming out of a three-year hiatus, the former world nine ball champion struggled in his first match and escaped with the close win only after Melling overshot his preparation on the 8 ball and hooked himself in the deciding rack.
World number five Kuo Po-Cheng of Chinese Taipei led Group E winners with a 9-6 beating of Mario He of Austria. He will face compatriot Lu Hui Chan, who beat Italy's Bruno Muratore, via a similar 9-6 score. A third Taiwanese, Che Wei Fu, was also victorious, a 9-6 winner over Hong Kong's Kenny Kwok.
Ronnie Alcano, one of the favored hometown bets in this tournament, blasted Kuwait's Khaled Al Mutairi, 9-5, as he began his quest to become the first player ever to win world titles in eight ball, nine ball, and ten ball. Currently, only Alcano and Efren "Bata" Reyes have been crowned world champions in both eight ball and nine ball. But with Reyes sitting out this tournament, that leaves Alcano as the lone player who can achieve this pool grand slam. "Efren isn't here, so I'll do it myself," Alcano said in jest after beating Al Mutairi. Alcano will next take on Singapore's Toh Lian Han, who beat Brunei's Ak Md Saiful Azri, 9-8.
In Group G, recent Philippine Open winner Thorsten Hohmann of Germany opened his campaign for back-to-back titles in the Philippines with a 9-5 win over local bet Victor Arpilleda. But Filipino Raymund Faraon made up for Arpilleda's loss by defeating Hohmann's compatriot Sascha Tege, 9-5.
Other notable winners were Nick Van Den Berg of Holland, who disposed of local qualifier Florencio Banar, 9-4, in Group H, and American Johnny Archer, who strolled to a 9-2 win over Estonia's Dennis Grabe in Group I. In Group J action, Darren Appleton of Great Britain was a 9-5 winner over Filipino Allan Cuartero, Taiwanese Yang Ching Shun routed Brunei's Ahmad Taufiq M. Murni, 9-3, and Jeff De Luna beat China's Dang Jinhu, 9-4. German favorite Ralf Souquet, still searching for his first title on Philippine soil, moved one step in that direction with a 9-4 win over China's Wang Ming.
Other noted Filipino bets had mixed results. Roberto Gomez outclassed Ricky Yang of Indonesia, 9-3, and Niels Feijen of the Netherlands humbled Rodolfo Luat, 9-2, in Group K action, while Joven Alba beat China's Guo Hoa, 9-4, in Group N. Group O saw Lee Van Corteza bow to Li Hewen of China, 9-3, and Antonio Gabica easily beat Lim Leng of Vietnam, 9-2.
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